Thanks Grant, but I think we were talking about what tires you and Jan Sell. Thanks to both of you for expanding our choices. It's showing in the tire market, and that's Good. Hmm, let's see, do I want pragmatic tires or aesthetic tires...?
On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 2:37:30 AM UTC-5, grant wrote: > > Tires: My apparent infatuation with stout tires comes from the way I ride > now --- to work, downtown, and in the hills and on trails solo and with a > few friends, often enough with a load. I'm not meticulous with maintenance. > I've had about 500 flats in my life, and I don't like them anymore, and for > me, just being OUT on a bike is great enough---a zippy ride won't make it > any better, a slightly less zippy ride won't make it any worse. > > If a guy on a carbon bike sees me as a carrot and zips by, I don't even > pick up the pace. I often ride aggressively when I ride for recreation and > I'm by myself, but these days I slow down if I'm about to blast by an > unsuspecting rider. I'm rarely in a hurry, except when I do short timed > rides maybe twice a week...but even then, I compete only against myself and > on the same bike, so a climb of 7:50 on my Marathon-tired Sam is comparable > to the same time on my Little-Benned Homer. My Cheviot will have Little > Bens, too. > > I've had it with flats---and blown sidewalls, and seeing sunbaked iffy > sidewalls while the tread is still fine---so I like strong sidewalls and a > little extra tread and a belt. If I were riding 400k brevets, I'd go to a > lighter tire with a thinner sidewall and less tread and maybe even no belt, > because I'd want to make the time limit and I'd want the speed edge > advantage, which is both real and psychological. > > When I mount a tire, I ride it and forget about it, as opposed to trying > to sense how it compares with what tire it replaced. Jan and I are good > friends, have been for a loooong time, and although I GET how a J vs G > thing can come up when it comes to tires or trail or whatever, it's always > a strange feeling to be put in the ring with a friend I have tons in common > with. We both like bikes...prefer steel ones....lugged if > possible....useful too....nice looking by our own standards, and there's > about 85 percent overlap in that category...Jan is a friend, not a > competitor or business adversary, and he always asks about my family when I > talk to him. Our relationship shouldn't be public, but for the record, it > is good. > > Part of my thinking-about-this-stuff might be that I'm almost 60. I feel > great, but am NOT as fast as I used to be. I am physically strong on the > bike and have never quit riding or had a slack time, but a lot leaves > between the age of 28 and nearly 60, and most of the time I think I'd > rather go back to 1982 with my 2014 attitude, than have my 1982 speed in > 2014. > > I think it's fine that there's debate--light vs heavy and all that, but > just-----like------figure it out. Sort it out for yourself and your riding > and move ahead with a mix of conviction and flexibility, seriousness and > humor, or just make up something that makes sense to you.....something like > that. > > -- 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.
