Originally Posted by
nellborg
If purchasing Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass tires for a gravel bike that does basic Wisconsin pea gravel and some pavement, can anyone compare their experience with their Extralight vs Standard model? Is the difference in ride quality noticeable? Is the Extralight casing really fragile?
I haven't run the Snoqualmie Pass size, but have run both the extralite and standard casings of the Bon Jon, and extralite of the 32 and 28 sizes as well. I can tell the difference between the extralite and standard casing, but I can't say that I can really notice an actual performance difference between the two. I had the Bon Jon extralites on another bike that I rode gravel on, and loved them. So, when I wore out the tread on some Challenge Gravel Grinder Race tires at the 1,000 mile mark on my other gravel bike that I also tour pavement on...I thought that perhaps I would need the sturdier sidewalls of the standard casing, so went with that. I've got over a thousand miles on the standard casing, probably about 50/50 pavement and gravel, and they have been very good. The gravel I typically ride is what I would call sandy mixed with class 5. There is so much sand mixed in, that it seldom will pack, but the rocks aren't sharp. If I ride gravel when visiting MO, the rocks are larger and sharper, but there is also typically a hard packed track I can stay in..... Either way, I've had no issues with flats/excessive wear. I think the Rene Herse are likely ideal for the crushed limestone that one typically finds on rail trails. I've ridden quite a few miles on the 32 extralites on a variety of crushed limestone trails, and gravel...and tons of road. They seem to be a very fast, comfortable tire on trails or pavement. I tried the extralite 28s on my main road bike that I mostly use for group rides, and I had a tendency to flat. It did pick up quite a bit of big truck tire wires. I ride highway shoulders with the 32's and Bon Jon's where I would flat on the 28's, no issues with the larger sizes.
I'm going to try mounting the 28's on another road bike that will likely only see paved trail touring...perhaps they will perform well there. Despite the thin casing that give it such a nice ride, I seem to be getting decent life out of them. The Challenge Gravel Grinders probably would have lasted longer had I used them exclusively on gravel, as the rubber was too soft a compound to see a lot of road use.