sjanzeir

So... Yeah.

I always wanted brown sidewall tires on my Hemingway because I thought they'd look cool AF. so I fell upon a pair of Schwalbe Billy Bonkers:




Boy, do they look cool! But as soon as I got the bike out on the street and pedaled away, I realized just how foolish the move was. Given that 99.9 percent of my riding is on tarmac, the last thing I needed was the inherent flex of tread knobs robbing me of valuable energy to accelerate. Torquing down on the cranks felt as mushy as chewing gum - a far cry from the ready efficiency of the Big Apples. Pedaling up even the slightest uphill felt like I suddenly just took on 20 extra pounds, with the rear tire feeling as though it was digging a groove into mud. Even pumping them up to the maximum 65psi didn't do a darn thing to help. I took them off after that one test ride and put the Big Apples back on, and all was right with the world again.

After I took them off, I took a closer look at the tread and the little knobs. Fiddling with them with my fingernails, they flex extremely easily with any amount of force, which explains why the rear tire felt gum when I was trying to accelerate: The knobs would bend forward under torque, giving me that rubber band feeling. By contrast, the Big Apple just up and goes.

I gotta hand it to the Bonkers, though; they've got quite a few redeeming qualities: Perhaps unsurprisingly, the problem was only pronounced on smooth, hard-packed asphalt (which is becoming increasingly common around town.) As soon as I hit some coarse, well aged tarmac, though, the Bonkers will suddenly feel right in their element and make me fly. The knobs would just lock themselves in with the well eroded to gravel and push forward. On top of that, they are pleasingly comfy, offering a plush ride quality that didn't seem to deteriorate as I pumped them up to maximum pressure. They were also easy and straightforward to mount and take off.

I just wish I had more opportunity to ride proper gravel. The Billies would've been bonkers.

BobbyG

I was a daily commuter on paved streets and my bikes all had smooth, supple road tires. My 2015 Charge Plug (not a folder) came with Kenda Small Block 8's which had micro-knobbies. I really wanted to like them and gave them more of a chance than I should have. They were light and supple, but the knobs slowed them down. And with knobs on the shoulders of the tires they had limited grip while cornering.

When I bought my used 2007 Dahon Boardwalk last year I bought Schwalbe Marathon Racers which were lighter, smoother and more supple than the bottom of the barrel drudgery donuts the seller had put on the bike.

I used to care about style, but somewhere in my 40s I just wanted to enjoy the ride, and for me and my riding style that's light, supple, wide-ish and SMOOOTH tires...except in winter when one of my bikes gets deeply treaded, studded snow tires.

Every once in a while I end up on a stretch of loose sand or loose gravel and I wish I had knobbies, but they are not worth the drudgery of pushing them over pavement the rest of the time.

79pmooney

Yup! I bought as pair of on-sale bright green Vittoria clincher CX tires as city snow tires. I'd ridden the green and black tread road tires for years and knew their wet road grip. Well, these CX tires had tread a full step grippier, knobs and long hairs. So sticky I could swear they were going to pull up the pavement and jam the chunks in my fender. Didn't take me long to realize I needed to seek out gravel, sand, water, leaves - anything but dry pavement!

Rolla

Gotta love the irony of choosing tires for a folding 20” based on looks. 🤣

t2p

Maxxis DTH or Grifter has tan sidewalls and should roll better than William 'Billy' Bonkers

sjanzeir

It's a work in progress

sjanzeir

And this from someone who's got "Gary Fisher" and "Schwinn" in their profile. Gotta savor the hilarity.

t2p

I forgot to include 'Ignaz' in front of Schwinn

Ron Damon

I looked into the Billy Bonkers, but opted instead for the Maxxis Grifters to avoid what you experienced with the former.


53-406

Ironfish653

FTFY: The perils of using a Hardpack XC/BMX tire as a street tire.

The Kenda K-Rad and Maxxis Holy Roller are a little more to the "street" side if you want something that rolls fast, but still has some bite on loose surfaces.