I spent the past week finishing my Roy Thame build. I decided on what I thought would be the nicest selection of parts I had in the bin for a touring bike: Brooks Pro saddle, MAFAC brakes, TA triple crank set, SunTour Cyclone derailleurs, Simplex Retrofriction shift levers, Weinmann concave rims on ZEUS hubs, Nitto B135 bars and Campagnolo Chorus pedals.
The first try was with my default 28mm folding Paselas. Hadn't mounted the front one yet in this picture:
I took the bike along in the back of the car last weekend for a trip to the coast and had just reached highway cruising speed as the front tire blew off the rim with a rather loud bang in the back seat. Forgot to properly check the rims for hooks. There weren't any, really. They do make a lot of noise, BTW, those 105 PSI's, when they escape all at once.
Anyway, I was really set on riding the bike, so I raided a local bike shop for some new tires. The most interesting pair he had were 37mm Continental SportContacts. I rode around on them all Sunday, and they are pretty comfy, but they also feel a bit sluggish, compared to narrower tires at a higher pressure. They're twice as heavy as the Paselas, and gave the bike a sort of a wannabe 29-er look:
So I ended up putting in another set of wheels with 30mm Challenge Strada Biancas, which I like better. I took it out for a spirited 10k ride tonight, and I'm now pretty happy with it.
