Steve, I draw no conclusion from the observations. I'm just reporting my observations. When others post a tire report, many ask for # of flats and # of miles. I'm just giving the data. It's a fact that if I hit the right shaped object on any tire, I'll get a puncture.
Soma does offer the NewExpress in 700C, from 23 to 35c widths. They are distributed by Merry Sales, which means you can order them from Rivendell and let them put the markup in their register. Everybody wins! On Jan 24, 8:43 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Man, you're making me miss my Bleriot all over again!!! Maybe > shoulda' hung on to that one... :-) > > I wish Soma or Riv or someone would come out w/ a similar 700C tire, > as it sounds great! > > On Jan 24, 7:09 am, William <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The Soma New Express 650B tires that I purchased from Rivendell are > > great tires. On the 200k brevet I did this weekend I was alongside > > many 700x23, 700x25, 700x28 riders on some pretty rough pavement on > > Sir Francis Drake and elsewhere. I noticed lots of grunts of pain and > > loud knocks and rattles from the skinny tired bikes and their riders, > > while my 650x38 Somas took the bumps in stride. I didn't feel any > > penalty on the rolling resistance side, catching plenty of skinny > > tires bikes on descents when just coasting. On one descent in > > particular, I was braking to not run into the group in front, and the > > skinny tired rider next to me was pedalling. This isn't scientific, > > but qualitatively I felt no penalty. On the climbs there were riders > > faster than me that disappeared into the distance, and riders slower > > than me that I passed. I didn't feel my tires had anything to do with > > it. > > > I've got about 1000k on these tires and have had zero flats, after > > getting 2 glass flats in Pari-Motos in about 100k. I plan on using > > the Pari-Motos a lot more in the summer when glass isn't invisible on > > wet roads. > > > I'm still a new 650B road rider, but I've ridden Gran Bois Hetres > > about 50 miles, Pari-Motos about 50 miles, and Roly-Polys about 50 > > miles. The Soma New Express seems to fit right in there with the > > other wide tires. 70psi was too hard for me, but 55 in front and 60 > > in back seems to work great for mixed quality pavement (I'm about 175 > > lbs). I'll try to do a better comparison with the skinny Roly Polys > > and will also try the Soma B-Lines which have an unreinforced casing. > > I can't say that I expect a profound difference in "suppleness" at the > > same pressure, but I'll try to have an open mind about it. > > > If you want to use a 650B bike as an all-road machine, and want an > > great tire at a great price, I strongly recommend the Soma New > > Express. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
