WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425 
|
Post by WDB on Jan 12, 2020 15:16:28 GMT
My ‘letter of collection’ came this week, and AW Cycles is getting the Portobello in for me for next weekend.
What does the committee think about tyres? The standard ones are a nice width, but almost slick, with grooves rather than anything you’d call tread. That’s fine on tarmac, of course, but would have been even more unhelpful than the Friston’s gravel-oriented rubber on this morning’s muddy bridleway. If it is to be the machine on which I occasionally follow Boy2 into the woods, it’s going to need something a little rougher, don’t you think?
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 12, 2020 15:22:24 GMT
Your current tyres will probably be fine if it's dry, but yes, if you're going to use it in mud, then something chunkier will help.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 12, 2020 16:23:53 GMT
Semi-slick, perhaps? I’m not going to be riding this thing all day on tarmac but it would be a shame to slow it down too much. Grip at the sides might be good enough. I’m hoping it won’t often be as muddy as today.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 12, 2020 18:32:35 GMT
For what it's worth, I use Specialized Fast Traks on my MTBs in the summer and Continental Mountain Kings in the winter. The Speshys seem to have far more grip than their modest tread pattern should allow and they definitely roll faster than the knobblies.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 12, 2020 19:17:54 GMT
Winter tyres for bikes now, is it?
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 12, 2020 20:09:15 GMT
Now then!
Yeah, I've always switched them out in the winter. But also, oddly enough, for summer hols when I might be on sand tracks. Wider knobblier ( is that a word? ) tyres work better on loose surfaces.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 12, 2020 21:34:31 GMT
This will certainly have the width at 47mm. (The Friston, with its Mercedes-in-reverse asymmetry, has 42mm on the front but only 37mm at the back.)
Thinking about it, today was the first time I’d struggled for grip or traction since hitting a patch of very soft sand on a forest trail in France in July. Then, of course, I was fine as soon as I hit firm ground on the other side; today I had to do some manual de-clagging of tyres and frame to get going again. I suspect the wider-spaced knobs on my old Cannondale’s MTB tyres would have collected less mud in the first place — which may also be true of the grooved slicks on the Portobello.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 12, 2020 21:50:51 GMT
Counter intuitively perhaps, but I've never really minded a loose back end, ( if you see what I mean? ) washing out at the front is much less useful and tends to hurt.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 12, 2020 21:59:11 GMT
Agreed. It was the front end that I lost in France (Bonnie Tyler reference, anyone?) and that did hurt. The trouble today was that the mud was so thick and sloppy that I had trouble making any progress at all. My back tyre is one of these, which may give you an idea of the problem. www.wtb.com/collections/gravel-cx/products/riddler700cAnd how might these be on the new bike, in place of the standard Horizons? The size is right, which is a good start. Tan walls too. I really like those. www.wtb.com/collections/gravel-cx/products/sendero |
|
|
|
Post by tyrednexited on Jan 12, 2020 22:11:36 GMT
....sorted, then...  |
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 12, 2020 22:49:14 GMT
Might help, but really you can do as much good with technique. Try to keep your weight to the back of the bike and avoid getting out of the saddle on the gloopy stuff. Even when climbing try to keep some weight on the nose of the saddle (however much that may prove uncomfortable) Road techniques of getting up and weight forward just don't work on the slippy stuff.
Tan walls are kinda retro cool though. I get that.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 13, 2020 6:07:03 GMT
Humph, this is me, remember. There’s plenty of weight over the back wheel, believe me! 🦒
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jan 13, 2020 9:43:49 GMT
Not doubting your mass WDB, it's what you do with it and how you distribute it that makes a difference !
😉
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Jan 13, 2020 19:34:50 GMT
I prefer ‘gravitas’.
|
|
|
|
Post by tyrednexited on Jan 13, 2020 19:57:24 GMT
..isn't that what Kim Kardashian has got...?
|
|
