Cascade Crew

Al Hasse

I found a decent quality tire with a reflective sidewall. Since I take the reflectors out of the spokes because of the unbalance they produce at higher speeds on the downhill rides, I needed something to take their place.

This is just at twilight, against my garage door, and reflective sidewalls reacting to my camera flash. Think I can be seen now???

aaron_sK · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:17 pm Post subject:

Tron tires! Thumbs up

flea · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:45 pm Post subject:

Do you have a Tron suit too? Smile

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:47 pm Post subject:

Workin' on it Laughing

flea · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:05 pm Post subject:

Well then, let me suggest this.

http://www.80stees.com/products/Quorra-Tron-Costume.asp?referer=froogle_TRON020&gclid=CPWa8rz3kawCFSY0QgodEERNpA

But in all seriousness, those tires really do work well. I have seen them, or something close, and they stick out like a 6ft retiree in a Tron-chick suit on a sub base. Shocked

blue89 · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:46 am Post subject:

Cool!!!!

Al Hasse · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:06 am Post subject:

I thought so Cool

I made a couple of compromises with these for some extra safety. The bike is a racer, though I don't use it for racing. The old tires almost slicks for low rolling resistance, but offered little wet traction, these have some tread for wet traction (we are in the Pacific NW Laughing

). They weren't as expensive as the racing tires either Very Happy

The only issue I have with these new tires is the width, they are a metric size 700X28C and the widest that will fit through my brakes is 25C, so I had to slightly force them through.

blue89 · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:46 am Post subject:

Isnt the old standard size a 26"? I remember having an old 21 speed street bike with 27" rims. Ran into a guy at work with a "niner" mointain bike that had 29" wheels. When did the new sizes come about?

Al Hasse · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:59 am Post subject:

700 is 27", or very close to it. My trusty Windows calculator comes up with 27.559", so a bit larger than I thought. This one started out as a 16 speed when I was in SoCal and the roads were mostly flat, but after moving up here, I had a triple chain ring put up front for hills and now have 24 speeds.

26" I think is still the standard for mountain bikes, mine has them and IIRC, only a 7 cog cassette on the rear for 21 speeds.

blue89 · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 12:24 pm Post subject:

Wasnt sure if they did the larger 29" size with road bikes too. I was a little startled to see huge rims on a mountain bike.

Richster · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:52 pm Post subject:

That's cool Al, just don't piss any drivers off, or with those tires or you'll become a glowing target!

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:41 pm Post subject:

Well, those didn't work out too well for me. A little too wide for my bike, and I flat-spotted the back tire a couple of times for pedestrians and other cyclists being stupid. One spot went through to the puncture liner. I went back to something a little more normal for the bike that has minimal tread on the rolling surface and fits through the brakes when they're opened up.

Since mornings are quite chilly, I bought some weather-proof booties for my shoes, and a pair of weather-proof & breathable long cycling pants - each with highly reflective piping and logos on them. I already have the jacket to go with. I also have a rear pulsating (not a flasher) light which also has two side shining amber lights for night time - along with a 600 lumen headlight and flashing light.

A week ago yesterday, I participated in a ride from the Red Hook Brewery in Woodenville to the LTD Pub in the Fremont District, it was 42 miles round trip along the Sammamish River Trail and Burke-Gilman Trail with the halfway stop at the pub and BBQ at the brewery at the end - all sponsored by Red Hook Cool

Though the weather was miserable, the ride was still quite fun and pretty much incident-free considering more than 1,000 riders.

This was the scene at the LTD Pub, bike parking was a challenge to say the least.

And most of my small group, me on the right. I work in some capacity with the 3 to my immediate right, the other two are friends with one of the other three. We had two others, but they went in for a brew prior to this shot Laughing

Now I'm trying to commute at least twice a week to/from work using those same trails (I have the Seattle-To-Portland to ride in July). The only car traffic I have to deal with in in downtown Seattle prior to getting on the trail, and in Bothell after leaving the trail, a total of about 5 miles out of 27 (one way). And, except for downtown Seattle, it's all flat and I can cruise at about 18-20mph and average 14mph for the trip.