CCS Tire Upgrade: Schwalbe, Conti, Maxxis...

[Asher]

I got a small puncture in my Schwalbe Marathon.

It was in the rear, a small piece of glass wedged between the treads. It was a tiny hole, it would take a whole day for the tire to lose pressure, but still a puncture, so it didn't strand me on the road. I don't get why they use that tread pattern which is vulnerable in the cracks. Also seemed like a hole tubeless sealant would've taken care of.

Just replaced the tube, the tire has been fine since.

 

[Asher]

New Schwalbe catalogue, for 2019.

Mainly was hoping they'd make an even bigger G-One Speed, but alas no change. But Schwalbe is definitely putting a big focus on ebike tires, and giving them prime placement.

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/catalog...ad/PDF/Kataloge/2019/Bike2019_English_low.pdf

 

[larry-new]

I got a small puncture in my Schwalbe Marathon.

It was in the rear, a small piece of glass wedged between the treads. It was a tiny hole, it would take a whole day for the tire to lose pressure, but still a puncture, so it didn't strand me on the road. I don't get why they use that tread pattern which is vulnerable in the cracks. Also seemed like a hole tubeless sealant would've taken care of.

Just replaced the tube, the tire has been fine since.

Be sure and ream that hole out with the appropriate sized tool...to make sure no glass remains in the rubber.

 

[DanInStPete]

Greetings all! I haven’t checked in in quite a while as I’ve been chasing some rabbits.

@Asher I went down the “normal” pedal bike hole myself. I didn’t want skinny tires and you’re right there are not many options. The Cannondale Bad Boy One was interesting but very pricey with aggressive geometry. I wanted something comfortable with flat bars, but then I started looking at gravel bikes and ended up getting the Raleigh Willard 3. I put on some G-One Speeds in 40mm, best I could do. The 30 degree ShokStop stem and Thudbuster ST seat post rounded out the comfort, and it’s super sweet and pretty gentle on my sketchy back.

But this is a tire thread, so there was this other rabbit...

I really wanted to try those big fat G-Ones. I also had a lot of curiosity about mid-drives, and thought I wanted to go trail riding again. All of those things, with the addition of Haibike’s surplus inventory for 2017, ended up with me having a Haibike Full Nine 6.0 in my garage.

The first thing I did was put on the G-Ones in 2.35. Wow, what a ride! Very motorcycle feeling, having to lean on the bar a lot to initiate turns. I put about 800 miles on them, but when I got my 2nd rear flat, for no apparent reason, I changed over to 2” Big Bens, and now it handles a lot more like my CCS with the 2” Almotions.

The original idea was to have 2 sets of wheels for the Haibike, trail and street, but now it seems unlikely I’ll spend much time out there (trails are at least an hour away). So I’ve ended up with a street mountain bike. As a purely street machine the CCS probably makes more sense, though those forks and the rear suspension are very, very nice to have. The additional torque is really apparent, and I also get about 20% more range out of 500Wh on the Haibike than I do on 614Wh with the CCS.

I’m not sure where all this is headed. I’m sure a therapist would have something to say about post-divorce obsession or something But whatever, I’m having fun!

Cheers!

 

[Asher]

Ha that is quite a collection you've formed in short order.

Were you running the rear G-One tubeless? With so much weight on the rear, I'd probably hesitate to run it with tubes because the puncture risk is so high. Also the Gs are rated for higher puncture protection than the Big Ben's if you do it tubeless.

Why do you think the Haibike is so much more efficient? FWIW I get 9 watt hours per mile on my CCS, mostly Eco with bursts of 1-2.

I do wonder if, as people try them out, if we'll see tires on city and gravel bikes and such get bigger. Right now there are so few pedal bikes that can take true balloon tires, besides beach cruisers and those rare bikepacking rigs. Admittedly, between cost, durability, and tubelessness, the Gs are a little forbidding for commuter application, but I'd run them without hesitation.

 

[DanInStPete]

That's a good point on tubeless; no I had tubes. I had considered converting but never got to it. Maybe that was the problem?

Yes I do remember that your range is really amazing. As for efficiency I know the Haibike is suppose to be around 15 lbs. lighter (though I have not weighed them). With my 230 lbs. I'm not sure that makes a huge difference. I can only attribute it to that and mid-drive efficiency. I thought it would be about even but the difference is much larger than I was expecting.

I generally ride 20-23 MPH. The Haibike got a bikespeed-RS before I even rode it which removed the speed restriction. It's seamless and completely concealed, and the PW motor works really well on the street with it. Anyway, it makes the comparison even as far as speed is concerned. I ride about the same speed on both bikes.

 

[Asher]

So you had the Gs on the Haibike and not the CCS? Well the tires and to a lesser extent the 15 lb weight difference might explain it. Still a pretty big difference.

As I've mentioned, I like replacing the heavy front suspension fork with a steel fork, Salsa CroMoto, paired with a balloon tire. If you really want, you can add a Shockstop handlebar suspension. I think the increased agility and loss of weight is more than worth the absence of a suspension fork.

 

[DanInStPete]

Yes the G Ones on the Haibike, that’s them in the photo. Now it’s:

CCS - 2” Almotion
FullNine- 2” Big Pen Performance Line
Willard 3 - 38c G One

I like the Almotions, however they never felt as confident in corners even as the stock Kendas. The Big Ben is a little grippier and more confident, at the expense of a little rolling resistance (not noticeable). I would choose them over the Almotion if I were doing it over.

The G Ones on the Willard 3 are just fantastic in that application. They added 20% to my enjoyment of that bike over the crappy gravel tires that came on it. The ShokStop and Thudbuster ST really made it nice.

And yeah, now that I’ve seen how nice (though expensive) the ShokStop is I can see how it would be great with a Salsa fork on thr CCS. That would be a sweet upgrade.

Now that I have the Big Bens on the Haibike maybe I’ll do the same 20 mile ride twice in the same day, once on each bike, and get the data. Might be interesting.

 

[Asher]

If you want to give your CCS more of a sportyroad bike feel, I highly recommend Velo Orange's Postino (I believe the Jitensha handlebar is similar).

 

[Cmulv]

@Dunbar so you have the 2" Almotion, and you think the 2.15" would fit? That has to be close to maximum width then, at almost 55mm?

@Asher yes those tires seem to be extremely popular and I did consider ordering them, but I wanted to make sure I’m not missing

Hey did you ever try the schwabe 2.0
I'm going to either order the 55 mm or 50 mm width Swabbies

I only have about 2mm of clearance on my original kenda's so I really be surprised if I can go above 50. Any thoughts?

 

[Cmulv]

Yes the G Ones on the Haibike, that’s them in the photo. Now it’s:

CCS - 2” Almotion
FullNine- 2” Big Pen Performance Line
Willard 3 - 38c G One

I like the Almotions, however they never felt as confident in corners even as the stock Kendas. The Big Ben is a little grippier and more confident, at the expense of a little rolling resistance (not noticeable). I would choose them over the Almotion if I were doing it over.

The G Ones on the Willard 3 are just fantastic in that application. They added 20% to my enjoyment of that bike over the crappy gravel tires that came on it. The ShokStop and Thudbuster ST really made it nice.

And yeah, now that I’ve seen how nice (though expensive) the ShokStop is I can see how it would be great with a Salsa fork on thr CCS. That would be a sweet upgrade.

Now that I have the Big Bens on the Haibike maybe I’ll do the same 20 mile ride twice in the same day, once on each bike, and get the data. Might be interesting.

I think I'm going to order the 50 mmmm all motion v-guard

That looks like the lightest schwabe Tire at that size with the best grip and cushion

You still think Big Ben is better

Schwabe has the allmotion rated higher in almost all categories

Let me know. I'd like to get the widest tires but I don't think the 55 mm 2.15 would fit unless they're about the same size as the original kenda's

 

[Riding High]

Put a Marathon Plus on my wife's bike after a flat on the rear wheel. PITA to change tire on the rear hub, hoping Schwalbe will make it a long time.

 

[Cmulv]

I have continental contact plus 700c x 32 and it rides a lot better. It accelerates faster and the bike feels a lot lighter.

The only downside is that it tips over a lot quicker so I had to get used to it.

*edit*
Oops it was actually 700c x 37.
I think I posted somewhere else that it's 32, but it was 37.

Anyways the bike accelerates a lot quicker and feels lighter.

How do those tires do over bumps and rough road though?

I'm actually looking to go the other way and get the widest tires possible to help cushion the ride

Yeah just curious how is your riding experience on rough roads

 

[Cmulv]

On the gravel, the Marathon Plus (700c x 45) was not any better at all. For some reason, I actually prefer riding on the current Continental 700c x 37 on the gravel.

I don't know what you mean by going over bumps, but going down stairs is not any harder than the Marathon Plus.. it didn't have any good shock absorbing function.

The only part I feel the difference is.. say you had to jump over a curb that's about 8 or 10 inch high, I can just jump over the front wheel by lifting the front of bike (if you know what I mean) and the rear kinda just follows. When I do that, I feel more "bam!" on the current tire than the 700c x 45 Marathon Plus. But only slightly more.
Also I found that when I had my Marathon Plus, the air escaped quite a bit when I rode down the stairs.. I don't know if that was the tube's problem but happened on different tube as well.

But for normal commuting, the Continental 700c x 37 wins, hands down.
In my opinion, the CC, CC Air, CCS and CCX, so all the CrossCurrent series should have came with skinnier tire for everyday commute.

I was a little hesitant on getting a set of skinny tires, but I looked at different bikes.
For example, Yamaha CrossConnect has 700c x 35. It is an everyday commute bike and is very similar looking to Juiced CrossCurrent.

So I was like why not, just give it a try.
For me, the 700C x 37 has been so much better... in my opinion Juiced CC series should have skinny tires like Yamaha CrossConnect.
If you want a wide tire...there's Juiced RipCurrent.

I guess I was talking more about potholes

Where I ride the roads have a lot of cracks and potholes and uneven patches.

I fine with the Hub motor the back is really heavy and a lot of times you go over a pothole and you feel a real Bang from the weight of the bike

I got a suspension seatpost which helps but still obviously it's a pretty heavy bike

I mean overall I like it it's definitely been really cool and I enjoy riding

But I actually wished Juiced bikes made it so you could put plus size tires on

They've actually found that a good set of plus size tire is basically roll about the same as the tires the Juiced bike comes with

I'm talking like 2.4 in wide or even 2.8 in

Yeah the marathon Plus are actually not comfortable tires

They're really heavy tires and really bulky and they're not great tires for anything else but puncture protection

I got some all motion that I'm going to try putting on schwabe all motion

Anyway I was just curious how you find the bike is going over potholes and rough pavement you no cracks and divots. I mean when you go in 25 miles can be pretty rough on a heavy bike. But if those tires works for you that's all that matters

 

[Dunbar]

I took what looks like a drywall screw through my rear 28x2” Marathon Almotion last week. That’s the only thing that could puncture my Almotion tires in about 10k miles. I ordered a 28x2.15” Almotion tire and tried to install it on the rear but it rubs on my Blackburn fenders. It might fit in back with no fenders installed. I ended up installing the 2.15” up front (fits fine with a fender adjustment) and swapping the front 2” to the back wheel.