geek questions: Pana XC pro

"w e i" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> a few geeky questions here (to carla and others around ny) background: currently i have 2 sets of
> wheels with 2 pairs of blue ones. and i mostly ride around ny area (hartshorne in jersey****,
> stillwell+greenbelt***, staten island**, blue mountain***), 26 lbs fs bike, running 35 psi front
> and back

Hartshorne is a sweet trail. Stillwell and Greenbelt rock (Jim is the trail steward for the
Greenbelt). Blue Mountain is even sweeter.

> is there really a big differnece between the old model (made in japan with red hook-up beams) and
> new model (made in taiwan)? i rode thru a pair of the old model and got 2 pairs of the new model.
> i might be on drug here but i feel the new ones are not as grippy when climbing in loose ground
> condtion, whether sitting down and grind or getting off saddle and pound

The ones made in Japan have a higher TPI (127 I think). The ones made in Taiwan have a lower TPI (60
I think). Get the ones with the higher TPI and anti-snake bite, they have stronger sidewalls and are
better at preventing pinch flats when you run them at low tire pressure.

> what's good psi for a 140lb guy? how low can i go?

You should run the tire pressure makes you feel comfortable with the handling of your bike. It
should be high enough to prevent pinch-flats. Try it at different pressures. I personally run them
low because I like to carve into my cornering, it provides better grip that way, especially in the
tight and twisty singletrack that we have around here. Your weight, the trail conditions and tire
size/wall stiffness are the important factors in determining your tire pressure.

> we normally go to stillwell if we have half day, hartshorne if we got more time, any other good
> trails you would recommend? (we are well behaving kids, love woody single tracks)

Come on out and ride Rocky Point, Cathedral or Calverton with us sometime.

> any other good tires that's similar or better than xc pro

If you get the chance, you should also try Tioga 2.1 DH's. Also, IRC Mythos run really fast on the
trails here.

- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

w e i <[email protected]> wrote
>
> is there really a big differnece between the old model (made in japan with red hook-up beams) and
> new model (made in taiwan)?

BIG difference. The Japanese ones have a much higher TPI and are way more supple. Stay away from the
cheap Taiwanese jobs.

> any other good tires that's similar or better than xc pro

I'm a big XC Pro fan. The only thing they really aren't good for is mud, as the knobs are too small
and too closely spaced to shed mud well. The other flaw is that they seem to wear extremely quickly
on pavement, so if you use the bike for commuting/road riding, you'll be putting a lot of money into
tires. But otherwise, they are my favorite all-around tire.

CC