walnutz

After catching up on this revived thread, I have a question. These tires sound awesome, but I am wondering if the recent growth (no pun intended) of high volume tires has allowed other manufacturers catch up.

For example, I'm riding WTB Horizons (650x47) and they are awesome, but I'm also new to higher volume tires, so any large tire would probably be rocking my world right now. Would I see a huge difference in Compass/Rene Herse?

Just honestly curious. Happy riding!

Wildcat445

With all my issues as of late, it has to be Thrash Lite. I'm actually looking forward to getting out to a crushed limestone trail in a month or so and try the tires there.

These tires defy everything I ever knew about tires and inflation. The whole idea just seems so wrong on the surface but it works! I don't plan on any rugged terrain beyond limestone or gravel, but I do get a little concerned about the sidewall strength. I guess we'll see how it works out.

noglider 

You're right that going to a wider tire is one perceptible difference and going to a lighter tire is yet another perceptible difference. You've done one but not the other. If you use a light, large volume tire, yes, you will see yet another difference, but it's not possible to say for sure that you'd find it huge. Some people consider it huge, and some don't. But most of us here on BF are discerning, so you probably would.

On the other hand, @ascherer put some of these tires on his wife's bike. She's not a bike nut, and she said they made a huge difference.

walnutz

That all makes sense, thanks. I think they’ll be my next tires, but I have a few thousand miles before then.

ascherer 

Yeah, she noticed right away, and thiose are standard sidewall Bon Jons. I have the extralights. By way of comparison, I built up a commuter/grocery schlepper and put Pasela Protite 35s on that and the difference to me is stark. But they were half the price on a bike that's for regular NYC work duty so I felt like it would be kind of a waste to put extralights on.

OTOH my Mercian is a stiff crit frame and still has skinny high pressure Michelin Pro Comp 4s I think, which are very supple, smooth tires. I enjoy that ride sensation, but when those go I'm going to have a reckoning of some sort. Maybe if I switch I'll enjoy riding it in the city more?

ofajen

I’ve had a pair of RTPs on my vintage MTB for just over two years. Overall, they have really been a delight. A great ride and make the bike faster. Rough estimate of 2500 to 3000 miles on them.

I bought some Race Kings in January of this year and had been riding them on the MTB since our trails get soft and wet during the cool weather season. They felt a lot more stable on soft trail surfaces than the RTPs.

I finally put the RTPs back on this week since it was drier, and they definitely felt a bit faster than the Race Kings, which are pretty fast for knobby tires.

I was nervous about the rear RTP tire being so thin and having a bunch places where it had already been punctured. And yeah I flatted the rear tire first time out on a small bit a glass.

So, I put the rear RTP tire out to pasture this week. The front tire has yet to flat during that entire time and still hasn’t worn fully smooth in the center so I’m still going to ride it for a while.

I could have just put on another RTP in the rear, but I’m trying out a Continental Contact Speed 26x2.0 on the rear to see if it is qualitatively similar (fast, fun and light) but slightly more flat-resistant.

The Contact Speed is, of course, less expensive and also has a bit more of a protective layer. Still it seemed a very flexible carcass as I installed it and I rode the same route at the same vigorous pace I did the day before with RTPs on both wheels. Encouragingly, the ride felt about the same which is to say awesome.

So, we’ll see how it goes!

Otto

noglider 

@ojafen, I hadn't heard of the Contact Speed. It looks nice and priced reasonably. Maybe that would be ideal for my spouse in 700x37. She could use some faster, softer tires, but if she hears I put on a puncture-prone tire on and she gets a flat, she'll be annoyed. Tires like the Contact Speed are a breakthrough in combining puncture protection without much sacrifice in ride quality and speed.

ofajen

Bicyclerollingresistance says the 37mm Contact Speed is a couple of watts higher than the Bon Jon Pass. If I had to guess, I’d say the 26x2.0 version is a similar, small bit more than the RTP, but still very good. I’d be delighted if someone would actually measure those tires.

At the same time, the Contact Speed has somewhat better measurements for puncture resistance. So, we shall see if it continues to feel satisfactory on the rides and holds up well as far as flats go.

It may end up that I split the difference and keep an RTP in front and the Contact Speed in the rear.

Otto

Wildcat445

I hereby curse you further! Now I've been on some proper trails and these things defy everything I've ever thought about tires. I'm no pro cyclist by any means--I just plod along at my own pace. Still, these tires...

Your comment about tires just wanting to roll, and roll, and roll...that's exactly what I've run into. My better half rides a bike with larger tires (650B x 2.3") and can't go as fast, and I feel like I'm coasting more than I am pedaling. Even when I'm by myself and coasting, the speed doesn't trail off like it did with my other tires. With those, in fact, I could feel the drag increase when the pressure would drop from 100 psi to 85-90 psi.

I'm running 40 psi rear and 33 psi front and that seems to be my sweet spot, but other pressures change the hardness/softness and handling without altering the rolling resistance.

On crushed limestone, these tires glide over it. I don't feel every little thing on the trail--even small branches are only a minor blip I hardly notice. I also found I coasted a lot here too, which wasn't possible on the original tires.

On the paved asphalt trail yesterday, I broke out by myself for a few miles to confirm my speed improvements. I'm consistently able to maintain speeds anywhere from 2-3 MPH (even 4 MPH) higher than with the old tires. And I was able to get up to and sustain a faster speed easier than I've ever been able to in the past. It's not that my strength has improved; if anything, I've had very little time to ride this year so I'm still woefully out of shape.

These make the cycling pleasant again. And more rewarding since I can cover more ground with my efforts.

Now if I ever have to go bike shopping again, I have to make certain that whatever I buy will fit one of these Rene Herse tires.

mech986 

​​​SquidPuppet , I know you haven’t been around almost 1.5 years, hope you are ok. Any updates on your Rene Herse tires experience? I’ve ridden Bon Jon Extralights for 6 years now, gone through 3 sets, about 4000 miles, 1 flat, 4 Eroica California (2 shorts, 2 medium routes). Very little problems.

Life is too short not to ride on nice tires.

Polaris OBark

I finally started running these tires tubeless, which has further elevated the experience to near hallucinogenic bliss.

Fahrenheit531 

They just got some more of my money.
The buying always hurts.
Then I ride them.