OP Here, First of all, Thank you all for chiming in. Lots of great advice! Which I appreciate. It seems like the decision to upgrade my tires is a definite at this point. I’d like to go with Oracle Ridge 48mm tires. Does anyone know if I’ll have clearance issues with my 2021 Sam (the first year of the lime olive) running Paul Mini Motos? If so I guess I'll find some cantis.
I don’t plan on competing in the race, I’ll definitely be in the “participant” category, maybe even the “party” category. That being said, I want to make my bike as enjoyable as possible for this “race”. Hang with a group, do my part pulling and catching a draft when I’m tired. I considered using my Tanglefoot Hardtack but that will be signing up for a solo ride with how I’ve got that setup. I could use my Some Grand Randonneur but the low trail geo might not be so fun on the chonk. Besides, that bike really has more in common with a fast road bike than a gravel bike. Ultimately my desire to switch up the wheels has more to do with lower tire pressures than lightening my bike. I’ve considered just running my dyads with tubes and sending it anyway, but I’ve ridden a lot of Vermont class 4 on my Hardtack and everything the Vermont Overland people say about them is true. I could certainly run tubes but here we are anyway. On to how my bike is currently set up: It’s a fairly standard build for a Sam. Cockpit: Nitto Noodles 42, 100mm Nitto stem, Shimano aero levers, dia compe bar end shifters Wheels: Deore to dyads wrapped in UD Cava JFF Drivetrain: Sugino triple to a 9spd rear. I think the derailers are microshift. Sitting on a brooks and I'll be using SPD pedals that day. I just like them anytime I've got drop bars, feels right to me. I was thinking of swapping to a zero setback post to account for the slack seat tube. Get me in a slightly more aggressive position over the bottom bracket. I have short legs, so as it is my seat if fairly forward on the setback post that currently resides on the bike. I don’t want to turn the Sam into something its not, nor am I under the impression that a seat post and wheels will do that. But I think there are things I can change about my build to have some more fun at the event. Thanks again! On Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 4:38:04 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: > I do some pretty gnarly rides on various wheelsets with either butyl or > tpu tubes. Just carry two spare tubes and a frame pump and call it a day. > > On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 3:18 PM Ted Durant <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 10:44:38 AM UTC-5 Davey Two Shoes wrote: >> >> I'm going to ride my Sam Hillborne in the Vermont Overland this year and >> as such I feel compelled to convert from tubes to tubeless. My current >> wheelset is the 36 spoke deore/dyad setup so many of us know and love(?). >> I'm considering the following options; either replace the rim with a >> Velocity Quill and reuse my 36 spoke hubs or having a 32/32 or maybe 28/32 >> spoke wheelset built up with Velocity Quills. I plan to run 48mm Rene Herse >> tires. I'd like the bike to feel quicker and more inspiring with this >> wheelset, I've often thought that the "ploddy" feeling my Sam has is down >> to the uninspiring wheelset. >> >> >> I was very surprised at how nimble my Sam Hillborne felt when I first >> rode it. It's nothing like my Chapman (built with old skinny 753 tubes), >> but it's not anywhere near as dead as some other bikes I've had. I'm light >> (used to be 125lb, but have gone up to 135lb in the last year), ride 48mm >> tires on 32 spoke wheels on all 3 of my Sams. I have used 3 different tire >> sets on them - Rene Herse Switchback Hill, Panaracer Gravel King Slick, and >> Ultra Dynamico Cava JFF. The tires make a noticeable difference, with the >> Cavas being noticeably more "ploddy" than the others. I would note that >> Rene Herse Juniper Ridge (48mm knobby) do not fit in my Hillbornes. >> >> In my experience, I would expect you to notice more difference between >> the Dyad and Quill rims than from losing 4 spokes. The only way I'd expect >> to notice the effect of fewer spokes would be the wrong direction - an out >> of true or worse wheel. >> >> Ted Durant >> Milwaukee, WI USA >> >> -- >> > 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 view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cbc028f1-d904-4880-ae58-ee43e0aad930n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cbc028f1-d904-4880-ae58-ee43e0aad930n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- 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 view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ed74f9a5-52b0-42d0-aecd-14b4e26304b3n%40googlegroups.com.
