vtchuck

I recently purchased a pair of 700c x 32 tires from Rene Herse. They are really nicely made. look great and mounted easily on my 700c x 20 rims.

But they are not giving them away! Not a heck of a lot less than auto tires from Costco.

So they're made in Japan.... by the same company that makes PanaRacers? Or did I get that wrong? Is R.H. the only place you can purchase them?

TIA

Dylansbob 

They were distributing them fairly widely during the season last year, I saw them at Nashbar. Maybe supply chain, maybe they decided to keep them "exclusive"

scarlson 

Yeah, Panaracer makes them. janheine has claimed that they are a completely different casing than any of the other panaracer offerings (Gravelking, Pari-Moto, etc). He claims that Pari-Motos have less rubber to compensate for the less-supple casing, so they roll with about the same resistance "but they wear out faster". That hasn't been my experience, but maybe he would say I am not serious enough to know the difference...

I recall seeing them at bike shops, but due to past trauma I try not to go into bike shops. Makes me short of breath like climbing Puy de Dôme.

El Chaba

As nearly as I can tell, Grand Bois was the company that solved the problem of there being no clinchers wider than 28 mm or so except with very heavy, unresponsive casings since several French companies ( such as Wolber) quit in the 80s. Bicycle Quarterly/Compass/Rene Herse used to sell these tires. With the introduction of the new branding, any reference to Grand Bois went down the memory hole. That fact alone makes me seek out Grand Bois when I need wide clinchers.

lasauge 

As someone who has been a fan of that tire line for quite a while and was formerly employed by a major retail company that carried them, my understanding is that only being able to get them directly from the RH site is just a temporary situation due to global supply disruptions - there just weren't enough tires getting to the US to supply them reliably to any other distribution channel.

Soody

I've always wanted to try some Rene Herse tyres.
Cheap alternative, for the narrower sizes (only goes up to 33), is the originally rivendell commisioned panaracer variants that planet-x sells. I paid £13.99 each for these. They are real nice.

They're out of stock now and the price has gone up to £16.66 (still a good deal imo). I do wonder if they'll ever come back. I assume planet-x bought up a bunch of stock cheaply, and are now maybe trying to have more produced? It's hard to understand how they would still be so cheap. Even regular paselas (which i quite like) are a fair bit more.

RH Clark

I put a pair of the 26"X2.2 's, the lightly treaded ones in standard casing, on an old rigid aluminum MTB for city riding. Definitely the best tire decision I ever made. Yea, they are expensive, but so is every other name brand tire these days.

shelbyfv

I have a pair of extralights in 35. I may be the only user who is not a huge fan. I found that at normal (per a chart) air pressure the sidewalls squashed down and they felt squirmy. If I put in enough air to make them handle well, they didn't ride any better than a GK slick. Flat prone as well, IME, and our roads don't have a lot of debris. They do noticeably mute road buzz. In the future I'll stick with GP5000 in the smaller sizes and GravelKings for the larger.

ofajen

I wore out a set of those RTP, which was a lot of miles. At least 3500 miles on the rear and more on the front. They roll great in dry conditions. The thing I really didn’t like was how difficult they were to put on and get off the rim, even after thousands of miles. Also the minimal tread is not quite ideal for my trail riding conditions.

I switched to Continental Race King (Front) and Speed King (rear, if I don’t need Race King to keeping moving in the mud), the ones with Black Chili compound. They roll about the same as the RTP, the tread is better suited to light trail rides, especially now in winter when there is a lot of soft mud. Also they are a thousand times easier to deal with. The Speed King goes on and off without tire levers and without even strong finger effort. YMMV.

Otto

Dylansbob 

That sums up my experience as well. I also had the original Schwalbe Supermotos that were the same way. By the time you got enough pressure to keep the sidewalls from collapsing, they weren't as impressive of ride.

scarlson 

That is a good point. I had forgotten about Grand Bois as well, or I would have mentioned them in my above post! And those GB casings seem more similar to the Compass ones than do the Pari-Motos. I just wish I could get them in some wider sizes. Maybe I will get some of those red-tread Hêtres for the Herse tandem, if I can find them. They'd be more period-correct-looking, echoing those old Michelins. Wasn't Jan saying something about how the red compound wasn't as grippy? Was that to knock his rival's tires?

On my tandem, even at max pressure, the Compass Barlow Pass tires I've got are like that. It is terrifying to have tons of grip, diving into a downhill corner at high speed, and then having the rear tire completely collapse and the back end wash out. Countersteering a skid on 2 wheels is good fun when riding a Yamaha DT on snowy gravel, but not so when it's a tandem on pavement with a loved one on the back. Almost highsided the Colin Laing that way. To keep the back tire from collapsing, I have had to train my stokers to tuck forward in downhill curves, transferring weight toward the front wheel. Goading the stoker to move forward so we don't crash makes the stoker scared and stiff, which also messes with the handling. But descending like a bat out of hell is the way to have fun on a tandem. And the only thing scarier than descending on low-pressure, supple tires on your tandem is climbing without them.

nlerner

Looks like Blue Lug in Japan sells the Gran Bois Cypres 700 x 30 tires:

https://global.bluelug.com/grand-bois-cypres-700c.html

I have those tires several bikes and really like them a lot. I’m also running the 650b x 32mm version on one bike that’ll only fit “skinny” 650b with fenders.

garryg

I have Rat Trap Pass fatties on my Long Haul Trucker and really enjoy how they perform on the gravel trails i tour on.

Dfrost 

I’ve been using Compass (pre-RH) tires, all Extralight casings, for at least a decade - Chinook Pass (700x28), Stampede Pass (700x32), Loup Loup Pass (650Bx38), and just a bit on Babyshoe Pass (650Bx42). The last were essentially a (very generous!) thank you gift. I like the 38’s slightly more on my predominantly pavement rides on the far-from-smooth Seattle and PNW roads, but will mount the 42’s when I know there’s going to be really rough pavement and/or gravel that I’m willing to tackle. BTW, no problem mounting/dismounting without tools after the initial install on HED Belgium, H+Sons tb14 and Pacenti Brevet rims.

Obviously I like ‘em, and have more tucked away for the future. I used Grand Bois Cyprés 30’s (actually end up at 700x33) and Cerf (700x28) before these. I’ll get 6500-7000 miles out of each tire, half the mileage when new on the front, then move it to the rear when the old rear gets thin in the center. Yup, they’re an expensive “habit”, but with only three bikes (four sets of wheels) including my wife’s, I obviously think they’re worth it.

2flit

I used the 38mm Compass Extralights on a 14 day tour and found them far more flat prone than the Panaracer T-SERV . It's a trade-off.
I have used them commuting on Orcas Island and they roll faster but I've had more flats with them than the other tires I ride. I am no longer buying the extralights for general purpose and touring use. I'd rather roll a little slower and avoid the flat tire.

GhostRider62

I have bought dozens and dozens of Chinook Pass (700x28), Stampede Pass (700x32), Bon Jon (700x35) Loup Loup Pass (650Bx38) tires.

I have never worn one out.

Why?

The casings assplode. Whether on the sidewall or under the tread from running over a pebble.

Compass/RH are comfortable. They are also slower than other tire choices. GP5000 in 28, 30, 32mm are much more cost effective with fewer punctures and much faster. I gave up on RH/Compass tires. Too much money and a PITA with flats.

The Golden Boy 

I've got 2 bikes with Compass 35s on them and I like the tires a lot.

RH Clark

I've only got a few hundred miles on mine. I was really impressed in the ride quality and rolling difference, but I had very aggressive tires on this bike to begin with. For the specific purpose of small-town city type riding, I can't imagine anything better. I wouldn't use them for some of the riding I do. I ride multiple bikes, but for an all-around ,do nearly everything, they have become my favorite so far. I would be interested in looking into the Speed King you speak of. What is the full name? I am not familiar with that tire?



The RH tires did give me fits mounting. They weren't so hard to mount as to set the bead perfectly. I remounted 3 times using soapy water and even a little Vaseline.

ofajen

Continental Speed King RaceSport

https://www.continental-tires.com/bi...speed-king-2-2

Race King Protection

https://www.continental-tires.com/bi...ing-protection

There is also a Race King RaceSport that is slightly lighter and faster.

All of these tires seem to have similar construction and flexible sidewalls and are much faster than, for example, any version of the Cross King, Trail King or Mountain King. Also faster than the cheaper Race King versions that lack the Black Chili compound.

Otto

JulesCW 

My experience with the 650b Gravel King "slicks" on our tandem confirms Jan's claim. We've used Gand Bois and the Compass/Rene Herse tires over the past 7+ on that bike for 20k plus miles of loaded touring and just riding along -- last summer in a fit of cheapness I bought a set of the GKs and mounted them right before a 1200 mile tour -- at the end of the tour the rear GK was showing cords, and the front was almost these -- that's between i3 to less than /2 than half of the typical life I get out of the Herse tires.

FWIW, on that tour on the GKs we got more flats that we've ever had before -- 12! The roads were not notable different than the typical roads we ride. My N of 2 experience with the GKs is anecdotal, not necessarily reliable data from which you should extrapolate.

ehcoplex 

My experience as well- getting RH tires bead-seated properly was extremely difficult on my wheels. But the ride......... very, very nice. After time spent on expensive, supple tires it's really no fun to ride on cheap, stiff tires.

2flit

Those 55-622's (455g) are a whole lot less weight than the RH extralight 55-622 (595g)... interesting eh?

due ruote 

I’m a big fan of Soma Supple Vitesse tires. No experience with C/RH, but I have heard they are similar.
We use the 38mm SSV EX on our tandem. It’s a 320g tire and we went over 2500 miles on the last set with one flat.

randyjawa 

My tires failed badly in Jamaica one year and I had no choice but to buy what ever I could find. I could not find anything except a set of 23mm ones at a shop in Black River. I did not really want tires that thin but there was nothing else.

Turned out I could not even mount them on my rims (too tight). I took them back and my friend, the fellow who owns the shop, allowed me to do so. He then offered to order me a set and I specified 700c x 28, my preferred tire. A few days later, I rode my motorcycle back to Black River, paid my friend $26.50 US for a set of Compass tires. I bought them with a bit of triplication as they were 32mm (not sure that they would clear the stays or anything else for that matter - I ride an early eighties Bianchi there).

Well, the tires fit with the width of two human hairs between the chain stays but they did fit and I love them. These days, thanks to this experience, I go for bigger tires. Compass tires, yes but not the special one that have earned the reputation for being excellent. None the less, the cheap tires I bought in Jamaica are excellent and practically bullet proof (that NOS gumwall in the back failed after one year of riding - so much for old tires, even when new)...


Fitted to my Bianchi with a 35 spoke rear wheel...

no67el

All of this! Riding on RH/Compass tires (or the Soma Supple Vitesse) was a revelation--- the only clincher tires that felt like riding tubulars. Expensive habit though--- hard to go back to my old heavy/stiff sidewall tires after feeling how lively and smooth the RH tires ride. Light, supple tires really bring bikes to life--- more than any other component, tires matter! For me it's worth the price, but I still wince....

I feel like flats and sidewall issues are just some kind of random luck---I can go months without a flat and then get three in a week. But I've put 1000's of miles on RH/Compass tires over the past 3-5 years, mostly on dirt and gravel, and I've only had one flat---which was on a brand new set of tires while descending some glass-smooth asphalt! Go figure. Similarly, I bought a new set of Soma SV 33c tires and tore the sidewall on the very first ride! I was not happy, and it made me worry about the softness of the sidewalls going forward..... but I repaired sidewall with some dental floss, some vulcanizing fluid and a bit of sidewall cut from a donor tire, and those tires are still going strong.

I have a set of RH Humptulips Ridge 26" knobby tires on my drop-bar mtb, and they've actually worked pretty well in the snow and ice of Vermont winter roads.....

For me, seating the RH sidewalls has been a matter of putting a LOT of air pressure in the tire--- up to and slightly above the max rating seems to result in a nice "PING" or two as the bead seats....