TOURING TIRE TEST CONTINENTAL PASELA

for several years I rode heavy load touring in Florida year round from
15 to 40 miles/day commuting with a camping load at 40-50 pounds rear
15-20 front.
The wheel equipment evolved from generic freewheel to sunrim cr-18/dt
14 spokes/shimano deore hubs/grade 25 bearings/wood or finish line
grease AND preventive maintenance.
Riding evolved from 3 broken spoke tuneup days/month, 2-3 lost travel
day for unscheduled maintenance to near 100% reliability from a
scheduled 3-4 hour weekly tuneup.
BUT! Tires were problematic. New tires were, well, new carrying enough
tread to go uncut over unending fields of broken glass heaved at 2AM
from speeding cars and suvs by frustrated drunks, sidewalls had not
yet collapsed from fatigue. As I observed in tech, the Conti TT's in
use, an excellent café touring and around the block tire, would need
relief and replacement at the Mississippi before going onward.
The TT was it. The tire for the trip across Yemen. World class. Yeah
but...
Ongoing discussion of the TT in tech leveled off that yes the TT
floated but the sidewall was weak and yes the sidewall probabbbbly
gave the TT that excellent café touring handling that would save your
butt from squashing as you rode from asphalt thru sand at 5PM at the
edge of US22 but would collapse outside Eldorado as you passed the
annual clan reunion. As always, with a tire or component not
overdesigned for the task at hand, the necessity to go on is inverse
to the tire's capacity to do so.
As a response to the bulletproof touring tire vacuum, one small cycle
shop offered the pasela T-messenger mailodor:
http://www.panaracer.com/eng/products/index_ur.html and I bought 2-3.
I rode into the Elysian fields on Pasela t-serves. Hellaluja! Not
quickly as the T is somewhat wooden ( a TT comparison) in response.
Not dumb unsafe wooden just feely wooden like the grip: good grip all
day but not the nayborhood GT tire. I had sets of Belgian taxi cab
radials in 165x15 felt the same. Solid, slid well, predictable but you
felt kinda stupid driving them that way even down off clingman's dome.
A reduction of 20% less "flatout" speed than the TT with the T-serve?
The T looks like an auto tire, an expensive quality auto tire. The T-
serve's surface has bumps on it! Bumps that do not wear out on the
first or 100th ride. Now isn't that sumpthin? Try that with a TT,
right? Where the side pins are entertaining but shortlived . Golly
lookit that!
I ran 3 and all 3 ran for 80% of the tread depth. A big improvement
from the TT 's averaging sidewall failure about 50-60% treadwear.
Conti suggests what 75lb? for normal riding. Buy a walmart auto floor
pump and pump the TT to 90 or more when loading the rear rack and keep
watch on it or the sidewall will pinch out at rim edge. A 75 lb
pressure is café sport. Walmart's garage has an air compressor
pumping to 100 pounds: ask, pump, feel for hardness and give!
The TT does not puncture easy with a liner. The T messenger never
punctures with a liner and specialized thorn proof tube
http://specialized.com/bc/SBCEqSection.jsp?sid=EquipTubesRoad, or
better yet without the liner! As the liner tends to damage the tube
with its overlapping ends and [censored] you off no end trying to get liner
in with the thorn proof. Doublestick tape.
Never punctures. Never punctures. Never punctures. Never punctures.
I digress: there's a four wide boulevard I crossed on one commute
where most commuters would know me including the county traffic guy
intent on killing me by changing the traffic light patterns.
One day the CTLG had me going across the late for work crew's path.
Cycling in "complete oblivion" onto their right of way, I heard the
crew rev up 150' to the east, stood and pedaled for the berm. Peddle
peddle peddle peddle. Ah [censored]. The berm was A BERM straight up
sodwall 8" high and here I was ramming along with a cold diet pepsi
in one hand and lunch bag in the other.
NO BRAKES!: casually lifting the front (40lb rear) Wham. Into the berm
with the rear. Onto the grass and relative safety.: wheee
Up the road and the tire was scuffing. Rear axle came loose! Twice
this happened. The T-serve absorbed road shock into the carcass
forcing the axle from dropouts. Not road shock denting the rim. This
is good, no?
A good touring tire! A 21 century touring tire! A tire to tour with
confidence and a heavy load.
Out of curiosity I bought the then new Conti Contact
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/city/contact/contact_en.html
FOR THE FRONT WHEEL. After years of HD touring, one load carrying tire
type goes on the rear, a lighter lead tire with good turn in response
for the front like on your standard farm tractor. Some experts suggest
a 35 rim rear with a 32 front-we're talking 700c. straightaway speed
haulers.
But the last on hand Pasela T-serve's right sidewall gave out at
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=28.49209&lon=-80.77849&s=100&size=l&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG
and the Contact was mounted on the 32 rear. Front was carrying a Conti
TT I was NOT I*&T#%$##^^^^$ going to mount the spare TT rearward.
ENOUGH!
The T-serves sidewall wore thru in a two inch strecth and the reason
was not well defined. The sidwall's rubber fell from the webbing.
Webbing like a net held the strong spec tube for 20-30 miles before
mounting a new tire.
Well, for all those tech posters both hi and low spittin on the TT and
Conti I can only sing long and loud that the Contact does the job
almost like the TT's vast capacity for goin down the road fast and
with total comfort - without the TT's capacity for premature sidewall
failure. The Contact is a touring tire not a café touring tire. You
may be able to cross the country on one set of Contact.
The Contact is slipperrrrier than the TT, maybe slipperrrier than the
T-serve at the give way and slide point. The T-serve's woodeness tells
you to ease up, stay upright where the Contact stays responsive but
sllliiides just like you done hit a patch o grease in the two turn.
That's from the extra rubber depth in a more dirt grip tread surface
pattern
The Conti all ride capably on hard dirt and packed gravel, the T-serve
also but less grip at the sport speeds. I project the T-serve would
outlast a Conti over long packed dirt road hauls possible to the point
of excluding the Conti for that use say in Montana.
Right. But! I stopped HD touring and came to rest several hundred
miles not months after mounting the Contact so a stiff long term test
didn't happen .
Conti tells me there is a superduper Contact:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/city/TopContact/topcontact_en.html.
Advice: if ura goin, buy the better version.
I bought more Pasela T-serves from a second MO: Universalcycles.com.
The T-serves from Universal were taller than the first batch and not
as surface shiny as the first. I haven't run them as the Contact wears
well. The T- serves wear like duh duh iron or something, The T-serve
should give complete satisfaction if you're into long wear as a good
thing for long range touring. Myself, I'll sacrifice some wear for
staying out the the other guys trunk for the short range haul and
around the block but then there's the clan meeting so inspections are
priorty.
Both tires are built around Kevlar or aramid. If you're new here, only
a Kevlar or aramid carcass will tour in 21. These materials do not
distort, expand, come loose under load that is thje tire stays round,
doesn't flatten out so much at the bottom like a natural fabric,
polyester, rayon, nylon ect will cawsing you to pedal against the
bulge, dragging it and wearing it along the road surface which is
nowhere.
This is good.