Read my Initial Impressions of these tires here.I've been using Greenspeed Scorcher TR 40-349 tires on my Tikit for about 2 months now. They installed on the bike without problems and did not require any adjustment to the fenders. I've been running them at 45-55psi which has resulted in a fast comfortable ride. I can't quantify the speed very well as I don't have a bike computer installed, but on a 25km highway ride [no wind] my total time was within 90% of the avg speed I've achieved on a 700c road bike - not bad at all. Better still rough roads and surface irregularities are damped quite effectively by the larger volume and lower pressure in these tires. Not only does this make for a comfortable ride, but I think it contributes to the decent speeds I've been able to achieve. Definitely a win-win.
I've used these tires all over town in both very wet and dry conditions as well as off road a bit. The only place where I have had traction issues is in damp dirt/muddy areas which is a lot to ask of a slick tire! Again I think the higher volume and lower pressure of these tires really adds to the traction you can get - making them very reliable in just about every situation.
So far I haven't had any flats with the Scorchers despite running through lots of debris, but I do think I have a very slow leak on the rear. It hasn't been bad enough to bother fixing, but I'm losing enough air in a week to be noticeable. Since I tend to pump up my tires every couple days this isn't a problem for me. I should note that I am running the TR [Thorn Resistant] version of the Scorchers which may account for my lack of flats. The standard version is probably lighter and a bit faster, but not as flat proof.
The only downsides to using these tires over the stock Schwalbe Marathons is they lack the reflective strip around the sidewall that the Marathons have. Also they were a tight fit with the single sided Tikit front rack. They worked, but if I was going to use the single sided front rack and Scorchers I'd file down the small tab that holds the shower cap cover to give the tire enough clearance so it didn't rub.
I bought my Scorchers from the ever helpful Dana at Bent Up Cycles.
2 comments:
You apparently have not stressed them enough. How have they held up over the long term?
My wife and her parents are on tour right now, and so far my in-laws have had 4 Scorchers disintegrate in the first 200 miles of riding, some of the tires with less than 50 miles on them. Not a good record. They had to have a batch of Schwalbe Marathons Fed-Ex'd to them so they could continue.
Hey Rick,
Well my original pair of GS Scorchers [349] are going strong now at the end of their second season. Not sure what I can do to stress them more. They get ridden hard all around downtown through all the typical debris you see on the side of a road in a large urban centre. I got my first flat toady in two years. But, in general the tires look perfect still.
My newer pair [406] have only one season, but get used in the same way and this bike gets ridden with panniers so they have more load on them. So far they've been great and I've had no flats on this set.
When they wear out I'll be buying more Scorchers as they are so much better than any other tire I've owned.
When I had bents I loved Schwalbe Stelvio tires. I got quite a few emails from other folks that had problems with them. It seemed Scwalbe had a QC issue with a batch or two of these tires. I loved them so much and had no issues that I'd buy more today if I had a high performance bent again.
Similarly a number of folks have reported online problems with Schwalbe XR touring tires which are also a favourite of mine. Since they've performed so well for me I'll keep buying them.
It seems that every major tire manufacturer has some QC issues occasionally so I can't really say much about your wife's experiences other than I'm sorry they had problems. I know at least 8 other riders who use GS Scorchers and have not had any issues over the years and I've never read any issues with them online other than your post here...so it seems like an isolated incident.
Marathons are tough tires, but deadly slow...I was super glad to get them off my bike and get the Scorchers on.
Anyways I hope you family enjoys the rest of their tour and they have no further tire troubles.
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