Experimental winter bike # 7

Yeah, I know... more bike stuff.

On Friday, all the parts for this bike came together. I (David) had already traded for the frame, I picked up a rim and spokes from One-on-one on Thursday, and went to the Depot on Friday to find a crank set and chain. The tires are left over from experimental winter bike # 5, but due to Greentyres’ odd size measurements, they didn’t fit that bike. So on Friday, I threw the thing together at the Depot, and I was so anxious to ride it that I drove home and took the bus back to the Depot just so that I could ride it home.

The maiden voyage went poorly. The perfectly true wheel came untrue before I even made it up the hill. So the next day I trued the wheel on the bike and then tightened each nipple an extra ½ turn. That evening I gave the bike another test ride. I decided to take the Swede Hallow trail. However, this trail abruptly ended in a pile of dirt, so I just biked around the old neighborhood instead. By the time I got home, the wheel was again a bit wobbly. After such a through tightening, I just knew that the tires had to be the cause. Which was part true. The actual cause was that the spokes had too much room to move up and down since I was running a double-layered rim with a solid tire. So after some digging around in my pile of old wheels, I found a suitable single layer rim, and spent part of Sunday rebuilding the wheel (while Heather and I watched Nascar – actually, Heather slept through most of the race; she woke up at 4:00 AM).

Sunday evening, I took the bike out on the first actual commute. This time, everything stayed true. Thus, I was finally able to pay attention to how the solid tires actually perform. They were definitely not awful. They are substantially heavier than pneumatic tires. However, since I was riding such a light bike, it was hardly an issue. Rolling resistance on the other hand, made a huge difference. Changing between my various bikes usually makes a difference of 1 to 2 MPH in my cruising speed. But this bike, with these tires put me down at least 5 MPH. On the plus side, though, What time I loss in speed I likely made up for by taking the most direct route to work, which is coated with a thick layer of broken glass. Plus, on the ride home from work Monday morning, I stopped at the Spot to drink a few with Andy, and this gave me the opportunity to impress folks by lodging darts into my tire. Nevertheless, it is looking like I will be switching back to normal winter tires at some point. The other downside to these is their stiffness. They allow you to feel everything on the road that is bigger than a grain of sand. Had I chosen a thinner model with a higher PSI equivalent, I probably could have solved the rolling resistance problem, but the stiffness would probably have given me calluses. All in all I would say these tires are ideal for a light weight commuter bike that has lots of suspension; I would highly recommend them if that is what you are going to put them on.