Paul Petch

Low weight is not everything it seems

It has been 5 days since I threw my leg over my old faithful so off to the Port Hills I went this afternoon. 22degs and sunny with a cool sea freeze…. perfect! I could not be bothered to change rubber from the weekends epic so off I went with the XTR wheel set and Crossmarks. With just a few days off the bike I could feel the burn a little more than I remembered on a few sections up the Rapaki track so out of the seat I went….. to find the back just spun out! Thinking that it was my body weight being to far forward (read my lack of skill) I tried again….spin out…..spin out.

After not riding these tyres for quite a few months- the weekends ride gave witness to how terrible the are on anything with moisture…. and now they have also proven a hazard on gravel, rocky, loose stuff, sandy top (basically anything!). What is strange is that once upon a time I used to rave about these tyres- swear by them- tell stories of woe about them, name my pets after them. But not anymore… these ‘things’ are off to spend the rest of their life on the commuter- as I think tarmac is where they belong. Pffft.

Funny how things change with the terrain and style of riding eh? Since I’ve been here having some tread has actually allowed be to ride better, faster and more technically.

Now I’m on the hunt for a grippy tread that rolls ok with a realistic weight….it’s a dirty job but someone has to do it :D

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Bike Stuff and tagged with Gear and Reviews, port hills, tyres. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.