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Old 12-09-13, 04:25 AM
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bitingduck
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Cool - thanks for putting this together.

Various comments:
- Evo Pistas - they're great tires, but aren't super durable. When I was racing a lot I'd go through three sets per season, and I was usually using cheap tires on 32 spoke box rims for training. I'm not convinced there's any performance advantage to the either the treaded or non-treaded in any particular environment-- tread doesn't really add much value to bike tires in general. I always got whichever ones I could get a reasonable price on.

- I've used the Tufo S3 Pro on the track, but never the lite (and I think I have S3 pros on most of my wheels right now). There are apparently a lot of differences among the various "S3" tires, but I know the pro works well, even at Carson. The Lite comes in various colors-- any that aren't black are probably a bad idea in Carson or any other steep smooth wood track.

- The non-Evo pistas cost about the same as a Conti Steher, and aren't nearly as nice a tire.

- I haven't ridden the Conti Tempo II's, but I did ride some Tempos a long time ago, and found them to be a much harder grey compound than the other Conti tires and would probably put them in TT-only, rather than all around. I wouldn't want to ride them slow up high.

For Clinchers, there are at least couple that seem to work well in Carson:
- Conti Supersonic - they're a lightweight clincher that sticks well. I've ridden them in Madisons at Carson. Carleton and I disagree on the durability-- he claims they're race day only and wear quickly, but my gf has used them a bunch on some of my wheels and gone from the track to road to off road (fire roads) on them and they've held up well for a long time. The difference might be that Carleton weighs about twice as much as she does.

- Vittoria Rubino Pro (black) - they used to be the stock tires on Felts, not sure if they still are, but they stick fairly well. Not a spectacular tire, but they don't suck.
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