meic wrote:I dont know what Vantage means about being noisy, I could not hear anything from the back of my bike except the rattle of my loose panniers on the large bumps, especially with the noise coming from the front. Normally when you go over a hole you hear a "bump bump" sound, yesterday I had the odd sensation of the second bump never happening.
I hear a quiet whirring noise on road, not very intrusive, but they can make a slightly louder pinging, resonant kind of noise on gravel or such like.
Niggle described the "noise" better than me. Nothing from the rear admittedly and whilst I do hear it while on gravely surfaces from the front, I wouldn't say it was ridiculously noisy, just more so than I noticed with the Landcruisers. I am going to be upping the pressures a little at a time though as the front tyre bottomed out on a drainage channel that the old tyres rolled across at the same pressures today. No pinch flat though. Speed has definitely increased on the bike path though so it wasn't just a one off
Bill
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
Tyres arrived yesterday and I put them on after lunch being sure to check my paranipples belts as advised by Mr. Vittoria! Since I've never fitted folding tyres before it was rather like wrestling with Ka the python to get them into a tyre-like shape but by time I did the second I had the hang of it. After that they were dead easy to fit - I literally made by fingers bleed fitting the 25 mm gatorskins but there was nothing like that. I thought they looked direction sensitive and had to hunt to find the direction info. - Vittoria ought to mention that in the instructions. The guards cleared them after tweaking the stays a little though annoyingly the fixings coincide with the widest part of the tyre - I need to investigate this. Anyway I quickly pumped them up to 3.5 bar front 4.0 bar rear (probably a little overinflated by the graph) and went out for a short spin of a couple miles....
Wow! - someone said they rarely rave over bicycle kit but the transformation over the old Conti TTs was remakable. On the flat it was apparent that they rolled better and the ride was smoother but the biggest difference was on the gravelly cycle track 1/4 mile from home that I use all the time - I was able to use one gear higher on my 13-30 7 speed cassette (about 15% higher) for much of the time.
This morning I did the bi-weekly shopping trip of 5+ miles return and it confirmed what I found yesterday. Of course the laws of physics remain the same and I still had to climb the rise at the end with the shopping on board - that felt much the same except for the smoooothness.
Very many thanks for putting me onto these - I can't actually see much point in riding a bike with narrow tyres anymore now! I found a review on yacf forum with a bit from niggle and some more from someone who'd ridden the LEL on the 32mm version!
If I have any reservations at all it is that, because they are almost slick, they will be slippy if the cycle track gets muddy which it can in the winter. I guess I'll just slow right down for these sections as it's probably worth it for the other benefits.
Mine arrived this weekend, 416g on the scales. Very nice ride to work this morning, Old tyres were M+. Very still morning with the sun burning through the mist (a good start to the working day), so hard to gauge speed. They popped onto TK540 rims no problem with thumbs only.
Only positives to report so far. NCN 11 had its Hawthorne hedges cut recently on my patch. No visits from the fairy who shall no be named....
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
Some farmers have been out with their hedge cutters. Just a tiny hole in the innertube and no foreign bodies still around to hang the guilt on. Probably a stab wound from a thorn.
meic wrote:Some farmers have been out with their hedge cutters. Just a tiny hole in the innertube and no foreign bodies still around to hang the guilt on. Probably a stab wound from a thorn.
There's no defence against them,some are over 25mm long and if thy're attached to a small twig at jusstt the right angle...........
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
The only cycling I seem to be doing these days is along part of route55 from Bolton to Trafford and is tree lined all the way. Which means wet leaves. Lots of'em. As much as I enjoy the Hypers speed and comfort, they were slipping and sliding all over the place on my last ride so the Landcruisers were put back on yesterday. British weather. Hate it.
edit: And having rode the Landcruisers and re-experiencing just how draggy they are compared to the Hypers...the Hypers are back on. Oh well
Bill
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
Vantage wrote:The only cycling I seem to be doing these days is along part of route55 from Bolton to Trafford and is tree lined all the way. Which means wet leaves. Lots of'em. As much as I enjoy the Hypers speed and comfort, they were slipping and sliding all over the place on my last ride so the Landcruisers were put back on yesterday. British weather. Hate it.
edit: And having rode the Landcruisers and re-experiencing just how draggy they are compared to the Hypers...the Hypers are back on. Oh well
Re the sliding in the wet, I have only experienced this when the tyres were relatively new, now they grip at least as well as any other tyre on wet tarmac. On another thread Brucey blamed this issue with Vittoria tyre on excess release compound used during manufacture and recommended cleaning with something, possibly lighter fluid? However wet leaves are best avoided with any tyre IME, ditto wet mud, take care...
I'm still using mine on our local stretch of NCN2. It's a mixture of gravel and tarmac and now we have wet leaves. I'm pretty sure I'll be OK where the leaves overlie the gravel but on the tarmac it's a different matter and I'm being ultra careful, taking the curves very slowly etc. If and when I slide mavbe I'll return to the conti TTs.
NetworkMan wrote:I'm still using mine on our local stretch of NCN2. It's a mixture of gravel and tarmac and now we have wet leaves. I'm pretty sure I'll be OK where the leaves overlie the gravel but on the tarmac it's a different matter and I'm being ultra careful, taking the curves very slowly etc. If and when I slide mavbe I'll return to the conti TTs.
I don't believe the Conti's will be any safer on wet leaves over tarmac...
NetworkMan wrote:I'm still using mine on our local stretch of NCN2. It's a mixture of gravel and tarmac and now we have wet leaves. I'm pretty sure I'll be OK where the leaves overlie the gravel but on the tarmac it's a different matter and I'm being ultra careful, taking the curves very slowly etc. If and when I slide mavbe I'll return to the conti TTs.
I don't believe the Conti's will be any safer on wet leaves over tarmac...
Nor would any tyre on wet leaves.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Back when I used to tow my daughter around most days in the trailer, it was at this time of year that I had to change from my smooth tyres like Gatorskins and Duranos to the treaded ones like Marathons and Paselas. It wasnt slipping out on corners particularly, so much as losing traction going up the hills on the damp, leaf strewn roads. The tread on the tyres was enough to stop the back wheel spinning on the slimy bits.
