I doubt it was because they were using Schwalbes, even if they were marathon tourguards or whatever. When you are riding on a fully loaded tour with over 30-40lbs of gear, I don't think a heavier tire with stouter sidewalls is going to affect handling or shock absorption capability that much. I think the initial theory a few posts up nailed it: they refused to lower their tire pressures despite the terrain. In my experience, for tires over 35mm wide, lowering tire pressures from typical pavement pressures helps smooth out the bumps significantly, and can be the difference between barely making forward progress and being able to continue comfortably at 10mph or more. This is especially true on 'washboard' roads, where (I have found) a lower PSI can really work like magic. Of course, there are other aspects of the bike that can contribute to offroad/bumpy comfort as well, such as riding position and what not.
On Sunday, August 5, 2012 11:32:43 PM UTC-4, Anne Paulson wrote: > > Replying to my own post: > > I was just reading the Bicycle Quarterly blog, noting that they say > that Paselas (which I was using) are fast-rolling tires, whereas > Schwalbes are both slow and harsh-riding. So maybe that's the > explanation of my riding companions' complaints. They were using > Schwalbes. > > On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Anne Paulson <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I just last week got back from a 2500 mile tour, Mexico to Canada via > > the Sierra and the Cascades. Once again, as often happens, my riding > > companions sometimes complained that about rough roads. And once > > again, in the main I didn't notice the roads being rough, although the > > dirt detours that I took a time or two and my companions didn't were > > pretty bumpy in places. > > > > I'm at a loss to understand what I'm missing. This was a loaded tour. > > I was riding my Atlantis with 26 x 1.5 Panaracer Paselas, which should > > be comfortable tires, by my companions were riding fine touring bikes > > (Surly LHT, Co-Motion Americano, other touring bikes) with reasonable > > touring tires (mostly Schwalbe Marathons, one guy had Vittoria > > Randonneurs I think). Why are these fragile flowers noticing bad roads > > when I don't? What are they doing wrong, that they're riding touring > > bikes and complaining about chipseal? > > > > When I ride at home on unloaded bikes, my friends sometimes complain > > about bad roads when I don't, but I chalk that up to their insistence > > in riding 25 mm tires pumped up to 120 pounds while I'm happy on my > > Roadeo with 28 mm tires. > > > > -- > > -- Anne Paulson > > > > My hovercraft is full of eels > > > > -- > -- Anne Paulson > > My hovercraft is full of eels > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/ig2XguB_cl0J. 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.
