Compass Tyres

[Relayer]

A recent blog post by Jan Heine - Introducing the Full Line of Compass Tires has given me a lot of food for thought.

As some of you may have noticed I have been switching the tyres on my RST back and forth between Panaracer Paselas 1.75" (folding) and Shwalbe Marathon Supremes 1.6"; the former being attractive for comfort and good path/track capability and the latter puncture resistance, stronger sidewalls. The quandary of which tyres has been driving me mad for a long time now.

Anyway, Jan Heine is espousing Compass tires which are generally wide and used at low pressures as "... designed to offer performance above all.". As I read through this I wondered about puncture prevention, and I also wondered about "extralight" casings being vulnerable to splitting? THe following extracts from the Comments section particularly caught my eye:-

"The extralight casing offers better performance and costs more. The standard casing already offers excellent performance and comfort, and if you are on a budget, it’s all you need. If you want the ultimate tires for your bike, then choose the extralight casing.
As far as durability, the puncture resistance is the same for both. The thinner extralight sidewalls may suffer from cuts more easily, but we’ve ridden these tires on some very rough gravel roads and even mountain bike trails without problems."

and

"A flat protection layer would ruin the performance and comfort of these tires. If you are concerned about flats, we recommend tire wipers, which remove debris from the tires before it can get embedded in the tire and puncture the tube.".

Given the amount of cycling Jan Heine appears to do and the kudos he has in terms of balloon tyre research I have no reason to doubt that this is the way to go with my RST!  I am therefore planning to wear out my Paselas and then replace them with the 26" x 1.75" Compass Tyres ... nor more worrying about punctures or potential splitting sidewalls for me.   

Jim

P.S. has anybody here used tire wipers?

[jags]

love to try these grand bios they are supposed to ride like top quality tubs .
as for tyre wipers an old guy in the group i used to go out with years ago had a piece of metal attached to his brake calibers roughly about 2 mm from top of tyre.

no idea if it worked or not but he was a super cyclist so there must be some truth in it.   mind you jim there are very expensive so unless you have a few extra bob tucked awayt be worth waiting to hear from someone that uses them.

[julk]

I am old enough to have used tyre wipers, they appealed to my techical senses.
The theory was that they knocked out grit/glass before it was driven in by several rotations of the wheel.
They were a faff to fit as in my case they had to fit around mudguards.

It is probably fair to say that I also stopped using them a long time ago - if they worked it was impossible to say.

I now use the most comfortable tyres I can get, with some puncture resistance and of a width large enough to run at lowish pressures.
For me that is 26x2 Schwalbe Folding Duremes, until I find something better...

[John Saxby]

Jim, on the Compass 26 x 1.75's:  These tires, and the various related Grand Bois options, have a good rep among the guys at my local shop, Tall Tree Cycles here in Ottawa.  They regularly stock & sell Grand Bois tires.  They're assembling my Thorn Raven just now, and I followed their advice to use 26 x 1.6 Marathon Supremes for the touring I'll do, mostly on tarmac.  They said they'd had problems with the sidewalls on Panaselas, and reckoned the Supremes' durability would make them better suited to loaded touring than either the Panaselas or the Compass 1.75's.  (They offered similar advice on the Schwalbe Marathon Racer 26 x 1.75's.)  Thinking that I might want to try the Compass 1.75's at some point in the future, though, I have fitted fenders (mudguards) which will work with both the 1.6 Supremes and the Compass 1.75's.

For another perspective, you might look at Bike Touring News, written by Jim & Stacey Powers in Boise, Idaho -- they've done off-road touring with Grand Bois Hetre tires, and found them very reliable.  Here's the link:  biketouringnews.com

[Danneaux]

has anybody here used tire wipers?

Me, for just over 25 years.

Public Works spreads sharp grit on the roads when the weather is freezing, and this caused me more flats than glass when I was commuting, especially in the wet. Ever try to slice dry rubber tubing for the Bunsen burners in science class? The razor blade won't make any headway so long as it is dry. Add a drop or two of water as a lubricant and it cuts like a hot knife through butter. Same for wet tires; sharp stuff always seems to penetrate most easily in the rain, when it is the most inconvenient to make repairs.

I found tire wipers to work well for my needs, skimming just *over* the tire (air gap of about 1mm). They really work best on a slick or file-tread for obvious reasons; they can quickly flick sharp objects off a smooth tread before it gets embedded in with further use. Like Julian, when belted tires became available, I switched to those and removed the tire wipers. And yes, agreed! They were a faff to fit on fenders.

For what it is worth, my most-used were versions by Bicycle Research (piano wire and clear vinyl tubing), but my all-time favorites are some post-War Pelissiers made of Ergal aluminum. Works of art, these. Complete with enclosed springs, they weigh 3.6g each.

Compass tires are in effect *really* nicely finished Panaracers, made by Panasonic.

Best,

Dan.

[Swislon]

When i first got my RST it was fitted with Panaracer Paselas and they lasted one ride on a Yorkshire Dales bridleway.The side walls were cut up so bad I had to replace them.
I read all the comments on Jan's blog entry on his new range of Compass tyres last night as it happens! Some people were having problems with the side walls, I think if I remember right Jan's advice was to ride "light". i.e. try and avoid the worst part of the road if you can e.g. debris strewn highway shoulders (but i think you would do that anyway)

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/introducing-the-full-line-of-compass-tires/

I have the 700 * 29mm Grand Bois tyres which i like very much indeed. They are on a audax style bike and only ridden on roads. One puncture so far, caused by a thorn from a hedge that had been trimmed. Far too many to avoid them. And yes it went through the side wall!

I have some 700*32mm ready to go on my new Club Tour. Again I will ride them on roads and cycle paths and bridleways that i know are not too rough. Real roughstuff the plan is to use the Duremes.

I don't think these tyres are fit and forget. They have to be looked after but then i would look after any tyres I was riding anyway. The ride is well worth it, light, supple, fast and very comfortable.

[Relayer]

Thanks for the very helpful comments guys, I had never seen or heard of tyre wipers before ... I can't see me going down that road.

Julian, I ran a pair of Duremes on the MTB I had, I think they are excellent tyres but unfortunately they won't fit into a RST.

John, I agree that for loaded touring you need strong reliable tyres, and more so if you're going to remote places, in these circumstances the Supremes are excellent. I imagine the Compass tyres would probably be good for shorter runs over relatively tame surfaces, but in any case it's nice to have alternatives.

Steve, again very useful pieces of wisdom. I have another bike fitted with 2.25" Marathon Extremes for real roughstuff.

In all honesty I'll probably be switching tyres on the RST forever because I do like both the Paselas and the Supremes, it's just that my heart tells me Paselas and my head tells me Supremes. Maybe someday I'll try to squeeze in a pair of 2.0" Supremes, but I'll need wider mudguards as well ... the quest will go on.   

Jim