A tyre testing year
In January ’24 we did a ride down the Murray River using 70mm Schwalbe G-One tyres, with tubes. Got one flat which would not have happened if it was running tubeless. Otherwise, we were happy with the tyres. But a lot of catsheads were developing in that river/irrigation country and a few months later it may well have been puncture-central.
In July ’24 we did a ride from Belgium, across France to San Sebastian using 57mm.
Schwalbe G-One tyres, run as tubeless and the route was quite often off-road.
There were no punctures or other problems, and some advantages in the 57mm tyres. But, if, on a future ride, we were going to stick to roads and tracks (unlike what google maps/destinations dishes out sometimes), what tyre would be best?
For on-road, we could run lighter, faster and still well protected tyres. We could have a big enough bag to favour lower pressures than you normally run on traditional 40mm tyres.
We have a test ride this November (Alabama) and have picked out the Schwalbe G-One R.
The Schwalbe website talks about a particularly smooth ride with low rolling resistance and high impact protection, “ideal rolling behaviour”. Sound good?
Running 700c as tubeless saves 175 grams per wheel and gives this tyre the best protection.
The G-One R is made for gravel racing. It has side grip and is very low on rolling resistance (17.6 watts). Compared to recent rides on 57mm and 70mm, will my speeds be going up for no extra effort? This requires another bike tour to determine.
You Don’t Normally Get to Choose Between Different Tyres When You Buy a Bike
In the bike touring world there are different tyres that offer different sets of advantages. These may be from faster, on-road touring tyres, to tyres for travelling through the bush. There are also some that are particularly durable. It depends on what you want and where you are going. Ten years ago we rode the Gibb River Road using 40mm tyres. Now people might say you need wider tyres for that. But, we are finding from using the whole range from 40 to 70mm, that it’s only on the margin that tyre width is an issue. You enjoy the advantages and put up with disadvantages. If it’s a dry year and the Gibb River Road has just been graded, 40mm is fine.
More is not always better. Wider is not always better. The wider tyres are a bit slower. Knobby treads are slower on tar. But, with wider, you can go more places.
The G-One R is categorized by Schwalbe as a “race gravel tyre”. Late this year we’ll report back on the experience of using these on a bike tour. If they make sense they will show up as an option on the Vivente SKU Builder.
To an extent, you can change tyres later. But that is restricted to the tyres that fit the rims There are two rim sizes: 622mm (40mm and 45mm tyres), and 584mm (50-70mm tyres). You can change rims but the new ones need the same number of spoke holes that are in the hubs.
Strategies Behind Trip Planning
It’s sometimes said that all you need to do is book and you end up fitting bike tours into your busy life. But before the booking there needs to be at least some planning. Behind the planning are a few basic strategies, including “how to get to the ride start?”
One way has been to ride to an airport, pack there, fly, land, unpack, ride. Sometimes, inserted in there, might be to land, unpack, travel on a train from the airport with luggage already on the bike, ride.
This leaves cars out completely.
Another is to leave both flying and cars out. Ride to a ferry, bus or train and travel to a ride start. Ride. Return on public transport.
We are planning our Jan 2025 ride to include
- riding from Vivente base at Sheffield (Tas) to Devonport.
- Go to Geelong on the ferry (Spirit of Tasmania).
- Ride up to Ballarat then around the Mallee and Wimmera.
- Catch the Overland train from Bordertown to Murray Bridge.
- Ride around the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula and then to Adelaide.
- Take the Overland back to Geelong..
This whole circuit requires no packing the bikes. It avoids the busy 200km of A8 highway between Bordertown and Murray Bridge where there are no side roads. It does not use a car or plane. It capitalises on the fact that the Overland takes bikes and that it’s stops include Murray Bridge, Bordertown and Geelong.
A critical part of this planning is to research the rules that will apply when you front up with your bike at the bus/ferry/train. In this digital age that is not hard to do. Once you know the rule that will be applied you can decide if you can work with it. An example for us was a recent public transport leg in Spain on one of their long distance trains that required the bike to be packed and no more than 140cm long. It didn’t mention “boxed” so we applied the “small tarp or shower curtain” system. Here’s how we did it.
9sp to 10sp conversion with GRX
Jo Jo Vivente sent us a message from Poland where she is touring…
Upgrade of 9sp Vivente to 10sp, helps solve the issue with cheap 9sp rear derailleur.
The Power of Bicycles
More than its commitment to making best quality bikes for travelling, is Vivente’s commitment to just riding bikes. We can all forget that bicycles are extraordinary machines, in the flood of choices we have in modern times. Take 15 minutes and be reminded as you listen to F.K Day talk about the Power of Bicycles.
9,000km to the Fist Puncture
Cezary and his mate riding around Australia have reached Perth. They started in Melbourne and are going counterclockwise. They are both using 50mm Schwalbe Mondials and got 9,000km to Newman, in the Pilbara, before the first puncture, which was a slow leak.
Vivente Test Riding Means we don’t ship bikes in some months
I do the final packing myself after checking everything.
- 2nd Nov – 28th Nov – no shipping.
- 21st Dec – 6th Feb – no shipping