Dark Side tyres

[seumasl]

Schwalbe Marathon Supremes on the front of my Q-NT and a Big Apple on the back, they roll very well, used to have Vredstein S-liks on the front but these are faster and a tad more comfy
                                                        Seumasl

[Charlotte]

Fitted the Duranos onto Alex rims last night.  The 26" folding tyre went on okay, but the 20" wired front was a total bastard to mount.  Ten minutes of hurty thumbs and harsh language.  I seriously hope I never have to do that in the piddling rain.

Ride report this weekend 

[Tigerrr]

Is that an HP  speedmachine? The one that was in Bikefix?  If so it is indeed a lovely bit of kit - much lighter than the old model. Happy riding.

[Charlotte]

No, it's an Optima Baron, bought from Iddu.

[matthew]

Fitted the Duranos onto Alex rims last night.  The 26" folding tyre went on okay, but the 20" wired front was a total bastard to mount.  Ten minutes of hurty thumbs and harsh language.  I seriously hope I never have to do that in the piddling rain.

Ride report this weekend 

Does this mean its going round the Hilly 50?

I thought you were bringing the penny for that. 

[Charlotte]

I'll be fixing my way round the Hilly 50, yes.  Just not on the penny.

I'm too new on the Baron to be sure I can make it up (or down) any of the hills alive.  It's a bit mental.

[clarion]

It's a bit mental.

You'll get along famously

[Charlotte]

Very interested on how the Durano perform...

First decent ride on them this weekend - about forty miles on varying surfaces.

They're ludicrously fast, massively grippy_* and not at all sproingy.  Which means that on small wheels, you're looking at a ride quality which could be best characterized as, "uncompromising".

This was largely what I wanted, so I've definitely got no complaints.  Maybe putting them on a small wheeled upright would be more comfy.  I can see them working really well onna Moulton, for instance.



_{*They were so grippy that they made me a bit over-confident, I think.  In combination with XT disc brakes, this may be counter-productive.  I was leaving it later and later to grab a handful and on one memorable occasion, as I was steaming through Richmond, the lights went red as I was hooning round the bend in the high street.  I managed to leave about six feet f the sticky black stuff on the road as I locked up the rear in a very impressive skid.  YHBW...}

[Mr Larrington]

First decent ride on them this weekend - about forty miles on varying surfaces.

They're ludicrously fast, massively grippy_* and not at all sproingy.  Which means that on small wheels, you're looking at a ride quality which could be best characterized as, "uncompromising".

Curious.  I find Cosimo the Stealth Baron to ride rather well.  Is yours a standard one or an X-Low, Auntie C?

[Charlotte]

Standard.

It's more comfortable than I was expecting, but having come from a fully suspended 'bent, an aluminium-framed low-racer on skinny tyres was never going to be a magic carpet.

But bejaysus, it's fast 

[Mr Larrington]

Standard.

It's more comfortable than I was expecting, but having come from a fully suspended 'bent, an aluminium-framed low-racer on skinny tyres was never going to be a magic carpet.

But bejaysus, it's fast 

Ah.  Cosimo is an X-Low and has a 10cm longer wheelbase as a result, so probably flexes the frame a bit more.

[Von Broad]

Fitted the Duranos onto Alex rims last night.  The 26" folding tyre went on okay, but the 20" wired front was a total bastard to mount.  Ten minutes of hurty thumbs and harsh language.  I seriously hope I never have to do that in the piddling rain.

[Just done a search....so tagged this thread....it seemed fitting to my experience].

I'm just about to set off for the Elenydd....my preparation is all over the place, I'm already about 3 hrs behind -  but I have two new tyres that, gratefully, arrived today, a Durano and a Kojak, neither of which I have tired before. So...which one do I take?

Tried fitting the Durano first......hell bells, I had to get a scaffold pole as extra leverage to get the ******* thing on.
I remember the ICE people telling me that they'd found Alex 406 rims to be difficult sometimes, but I've never had a problem with the Marathon racers, but the 406 Alex rim + 406 Durano + welsh mountains = forget it. What's all that about? And it also means metal tyre levers. In abundance. Without question.

Maybe I should be grateful that I feel compelled to take those.
The Kojak was a bit easier, but not by much. I'm taking that.

Blimey....forget performance, but think more about meeting the fairy at 1am somewhere between Wales and arrivee!!
No thanks. 

[Mr Larrington]

Not used Duranos but their predecessors - Stelvios - went on OK in both folding and non-folding form.  Marathon Racers, OTOH, were total sods.

My Sinister Agents sur le Continong advise of the existence of the Schwalbe One in 406 and 571 sizes but I suspect these are wizzy race jobs.

[henshaw11]

Marathon Racers, OTOH, were total sods.

Ah, so not just me then - on both front (20) and rear (26) DA16s I've pinched the bloody spare tube in my ineptness, and had to fix the original 

[Von Broad]

Not used Duranos but their predecessors - Stelvios - went on OK in both folding and non-folding form.  Marathon Racers, OTOH, were total sods.

It's all about the rim I think.
This is a Alex DV 15. Where that falls in the scheme of things I've no idea. I've had a while though.
No complaints, still good, but honestly, I've never had a tyre/rim combo like it before.
Just changed back to the Durano. I need all the help I can get
And metal tyre levers are your friend. No question.

[tonycollinet]

Wow.

That is a serious bit of necromancy you've got going there. Must have taken months to dig down to those levels of the forum strata

[Von Broad]

Wow.

That is a serious bit of necromancy you've got going there. Must have taken months to dig down to those levels of the forum strata

Bit less time with a search box 

Just before it descends into the vault again though, to wrap up my contribution to this, I took the Durano on the Elenydd, with the Alex rim. And I had a visitation in the first 50km. But more essentially - I packed a metal tyre lever along with the Pedros. And I needed it. Big time. That, along with the chain tool and power link that came in handy when the chain broke in one of the remotest parts of the ride made a significant contribution to me getting round.

[mrcharly-YHT]

IME Durano (+) are a pig to fit to any rim. When I used them I made sure I had at least 4 tyre levers in my bag.

Kojaks were pretty easy by comparison but not really very fast.

[Mr Larrington]

At least one team has used Kojaks at Battle Mountain, though David Wielermaker was skeptical about their ability to do the job at really high speed.  The effect of a front deflation at 70 mph is spectacular, and to think I'd picked the mid-course point for my marshalling duties that night because nothing ever happens there.

There are rumours of 406 radials from Schwalbe in a much narrower section than the plump Michelin solar racer jobs some teams are using.  That plus tubeless sounds like the way to go.

[Jon P]

Fitted the Duranos onto Alex rims last night.  The 26" folding tyre went on okay, but the 20" wired front was a total bastard to mount.  Ten minutes of hurty thumbs and harsh language.  I seriously hope I never have to do that in the piddling rain.

[Just done a search....so tagged this thread....it seemed fitting to my experience].

I'm just about to set off for the Elenydd....my preparation is all over the place, I'm already about 3 hrs behind -  but I have two new tyres that, gratefully, arrived today, a Durano and a Kojak, neither of which I have tired before. So...which one do I take?

Tried fitting the Durano first......hell bells, I had to get a scaffold pole as extra leverage to get the ******* thing on.
I remember the ICE people telling me that they'd found Alex 406 rims to be difficult sometimes, but I've never had a problem with the Marathon racers, but the 406 Alex rim + 406 Durano + welsh mountains = forget it. What's all that about? And it also means metal tyre levers. In abundance. Without question.

Maybe I should be grateful that I feel compelled to take those.
The Kojak was a bit easier, but not by much. I'm taking that.

Blimey....forget performance, but think more about meeting the fairy at 1am somewhere between Wales and arrivee!!
No thanks. 

Agree - you need two metal tyre levers, both uplevering at the same time, to get it off.  Or a screwdriver comprising one of them.  Getting the bugger back on is sheer buggery as well, a metal lever on one side and a thumb on the rim opposite to stop slippage.  Purists say this will cause punctures, but I've always had to, and it never has.