tire talk

There is an update on my Continental Top Contact Winter II tire review. New information is at the end of the review for those interested.

I finally made up my mind about which tires to get for the cyclocross bicycle. I settled on the Continental Super Sport Plus sized at 700x23c. They fit nicely on the 622x15c rims I have (Shimano RS10 wheel set). Obviously, since this is winter, I have no opinion on how they work and feel on the road since it is winter out there, but they seem like they should be ok.

Visually, they look almost hilarious on a cyclocross bike. 700x23c tires are obviously quite narrow and given the clearance that a 'cross bike has for mud etc the gaps between the frame/fork and tire are quite large compared to what they look like on a proper road bike or on a 'cross bike with larger tires mounted. It won't affect the performance since I am not racing (if I was racing at a high level, it would make a difference) but it does look a little silly. :)

They are quite thick on the rolling surface and remind me of the Schwalbe Marathons. This is a good thing since they mass about half of what a Marathon does. In theory anyway, the tires should be pretty puncture proof.

I got the folding version of the tire. They are very difficult to mount though. Much more so than normal folding tires. It took me over 20 minutes to get the front tire mounted and I blew out an inner tube in the process (pinched it). Once mounted though, they settled on quite nicely and did not have any side to side wobble which some tires have. I will have more to say about them obviously once I can get out and ride on them.