I think tires can make a big difference, and could easily bridge that gap between "good" and "great."
I put Marathon Supremes on a bike, after running 700x60 Big Apples, and the Marathons felt doggier. Plus I was measurably slower against my friends, and up timed climbs. I just switched them for 29x2.1 Vee Rubber mini-knobbies, and they are much faster, both in feel and empirically. Tubeless setups, same bike, same rims, same gearing, different performance. The only other change was wider bars, but I don't climb out of the saddle on a geared bike on the pavement. I would love to try Supermoto tires, and I'd put the BAs back on a bike, but I'm unlikely to ever use those Marathons again. They really did make me disappointed in the bike I'd bought. Big Apples on frame 1: reasonably fast with the lunchtime roadies. Single Marathon Supreme on the back, noticeably slower. Frame 2 with both tires Marathon Supremes, rear tubeless: slower yet. The Marathons did well in the dirt, though, which was unexpected. Frame 2 with Vee Rubber knobbies, both tubeless: superfun, way faster. I was now towing or dropping riders who had been towing me. 20 seconds faster up the 1 mile climb than my previous fastest, which was set on my Quickbeam, 84" gear, C-lines. Philip www.biketinker.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
