Tom D. wrote:
Use the super fancy handmade "open tubular" type tires and I suspect the ride is better still (I personally haven't tried any of those fancy $50+ clinchers). Anyway, at any given per-mile cost I really don't know that tubualrs are better. The good ones are awesome, but they cost almost $100, and punctures cost either a lot of time and hard won skill to correctly repair, of must be sent to Tire Alert (or the like) to be fixed, which costs significant money.
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with the usual caveat "your mileage WILL vary.." I've tried a number of high-zoot clinchers, including the Vittoria open CX, on very high-quality period clincher rims (Mavic Mod series), and they can't compare to a Clement silk. Even the best Vittoria tubulars have a "dead" feel to me that makes them not much fun to ride on, although I do it.. (oddly, the cheap Vittoria Rally tubular may actually have a livelier feel than the more expensive tires..worth doing a comparison if you have a taste for that..this might have something to do with the relative cross-sections of the tires involved) ...
I've tried Continental Sports (not bad, but only that), and Continental Gator-skins. Paselas too. I haven't tried Veloflex clinchers, so I haven't tried everything yet...but they seem as if they'd be very similar to the Vittorias... perhaps someone who knows can clarify this.
No clincher I've ridden can compare to a good tubular, except one tire: Rivendell Roly-Poly. Unfortunately, the Roly-Poly does not come in a wire-bead, so it can't be used on older clincher rims with no metal bead.. but on any good rim with a metal bead, to hold the tire well-in-place, the Roly-Poly is peerless. The Roly-Poly has the closest ride to a Clement CdM that I've experienced. Not the same, but in the same league. The R-P is lively, very comfortable, fast, and not too heavy.
The Ruffy-Tuffy is the same tire, with a thicker rubber casing...the perfect tandem or hybrid tire.
Personally, I think the Roly-Poly is the best product Grant has developed, and I hope he sells a bazillion of them and retires rich on those alone..although, that said, his marketing being as it is, that's not likely to happen.
Charles Andrews SoCal
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