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Switching to 25s

02.08.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

Challenging day for a ride. Temp 73F (nice!), but wind from the south at 16 mph, gusting to 36. It was even blowier than last week, when I cut the ride short because the gusty winds made the bike seem unstable.

But I rode today anyway, because I have new toys. Actually, they’re a lot more important than toys. I bought new tires. The ones on the bike were showing signs of wear. The Specialized Mondo Pro on the front was the original tire, so it’s been on almost a full year. I felt it was losing grip, and the surface was cut up. The Vittoria Rubino Pro on the rear was a nice tire, but had flattened in the center of the tread, and was due for a replacement.

So I put on a pair of new tires. They had to have puncture resistance, and I decided that they had to be 700C x 25mm, rather than 23s. Nashbar had a nice price on just the tire I was looking for, so the bike now has a pair of Hutchinson Top Speed Kevlar Protech tires.

Why 25s? I mentioned a couple of months ago that one of our club members had switched to them, and liked them. That planted the idea. After reading more about the difference between 25s and 23s, I concluded that they were worth trying.

I figured my best bet on a windy day like today was the Veloway. It’s a three-mile circuit, so it would be into the wind half the time, but thickets of cedar and live oak that line the track block the wind somewhat, part of the time.

The ride over there was a taste of things to come. A gentle downhill a mile into the trip often gives me my highest speed of the ride, but today going into the wind, I topped out at 16 mph.

One benefit of the 25s was immediately apparent. They were more stable in the wind. I was also putting the good advice I got last week about riding in the wind to good use, and that helped — but the tires were the biggest change I’d made, and I was pleased to see the difference.

Once I got on the Veloway, another difference was evident. Better grip. I could attack the turns on the course with more confidence than I’d had with the old tires. I did five laps and then headed home, for a total ride of 21 miles. The 25 mm tires do seem to offer a softer ride than the 23s.

One of the arguments people use against 25s is that they have greater rolling resistance than 23s. According to Al Ardizone in the Feb. 5, 2009 edition of Road Bike Rider, that’s not true. He says 25s actually have less rolling resistance, and suggests riders use their weight to determine which size tire to ride. I’m still over 200 lbs., so according to his formula, 25s are right for me.

He’s also a proponent of lower tire pressures, for greater comfort with no loss of speed. Al suggests 85-100 pounds pressure. I had been running 105 lbs. in my old tires, and have the new ones at 100 now — recommended pressure is 87-101 lbs. I’ll decrease the pressure a bit on upcoming rides to figure out what’s right for me.

Interestingly, these might be last year’s model, because Hutchinson’s web site doesn’t list a Top Speed model. Their current Equinox seems to have the same specs as my tire. A check of Road Bike Review shows mixed reaction to the Top Speeds — some say they performed well, other say they’d never buy another pair. Anecdotal evidence is interesting, but a sample of only five reviews is not enough to generalize from.

So I’m looking forward to riding with the new tires. I’ll be watching closely to see if they’re as puncture-resistant as billed, and if they deliver increased comfort with no loss of speed. But after only one ride, I think I can safely say that I won’t be going back to 23s.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // Equipment, tires, Veloway, wind

Dodged a trainer again

01.30.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

exercise-bike-1We’re going to have two mild weekend days, and I’m looking forward to getting in some bike rides. It’s a good thing, too, because I’m getting to the point where I would otherwise have to put in some time on a stationary bike.

I hate stationary bikes. The golf club I belong to has some recumbent stationaries in the fitness room. I rode them some last winter, but have been able to avoid them so far this year. Recumbents have no relation to the kind of riding I do, so they provide a workout, and make me sweat, but I don’t feel as though they provide as much benefit as I think they should.

At the fitness club my wife visits, the stationary bike situation offers more options. She lets me go there on the occasional guest pass, and I’ve been to spin classes there, although not this year, and I’ve ridden an upright stationary bike — the kind with the screen for picking the type of workout and the level of effort. They’ve got some spin bikes in the room with all the ellipticals and stairmasters and the other bikes, as well. Haven’t tried one yet.

Likewise, I’ve never even thought about getting an indoor trainer to use in the house — the kind you mount a real bike on. I think pedaling a real bike indoors would absolutely drive me bonkers. It’s a moot point anyway, since there is no room in our house for a trainer. We don’t have a basement, and both of our extra bedrooms are already being used for other purposes — both are full of furniture.

To me, biking is something you do outdoors, on a bike. I’m lucky to live in an area with a mild climate year round, and the chilly weather we’ve had lately is an anomaly. So if you can put up with a little time off the bike, the good biking weather will return soon enough, and you can do your pedaling outdoors again.

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Categories // Equipment, fitness Tags // trainer

Broken glass

01.17.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I don’t know what conditions are like where you ride, but it seems that the routes I ride have been plagued with more broken glass than is typical.

One particularly irksome spot is in a bike lane on a street that leads to two of my most frequently-traveled routes. Someone smashed a bottle there at least a week ago. It hasn’t been cleared yet.

I seem to manage to avoid the glass, at least the stuff I can see. My recent flats were caused by tiny shards of glass I couldn’t see, because they weren’t mixed in with lots of other obvious glass. It’s still a surprise to me to see that a sliver of glass so small that it can hardly be seen — even when you find it in the tire by running your fingers across it — can cause a puncture.

Part of the problem around here is that we’ve had very little rain recently, so the glass doesn’t get washed into the gutters. It’s bothersome to the point that when I have a ride where glass is not a problem, that’s worth making note of.

The Specialized Mondo Pro tire on my front wheel continues to perform amazingly well. It was the original tire that came with the bike, so I’ve had it for 11 months, and it’s got about 2,700 miles on it. It’s only flatted once, but I think it’s nearing the end of its natural life. The rear tire is the one that flats most often, but I still can’t complain about it. It’s a Vittoria Rubino Pro. However, it doesn’t appear to be able to last as long as the Specialized. I suspect I’ll be hitting the LBS within the next month to get two replacements, and start the serious biking season with new rubber on both wheels.

The city is pretty good about sending street sweepers around to sweep along gutters, but they usually do a street no more than twice a year. If some kind biker from the neighborhood were to head over there with a push broom and a paper bag, the glass problem could be irradicated quickly. Hm. It’s almost two miles from my house, but since I travel it three or more times a week…

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Categories // Equipment, Specialized Tags // broken glass, tires

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