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Awesome day for a ride, I had to work actually, meet a client 9am and check out a few other job sites, a typical day of work riding typical route as well
Route on Google map
first thing I did this AM was check the tire pressure, the original inflation was to 40 psi and in a heated garage, I'm still parking my bike outside till snow flies, temp was 18° this morning, the tire was down to 35psi, I pumped it up to 45 based on more darkside research
even at 45psi, the cage tire feels softer rubber and carcass than the TKC80 I've been running. the TKC80s I believe are Bias Ply so I'm runin a radial ply car tire in back and bias ply knobby bike tire in front
when I first hit the pavement, my bike had been warming for close to 10 minutes, so it was completely warm on the temp guage, I grabbed a handful of throttle to se if I could spin it up, it gripped well on cold pavement , then a brake test , it skidded probably the same distance as a bike tire, hard to tell, pavement is getting cold, it did skid straight, no tendancy to kick out to one side or the other like a bike tire, from that point, I took it easy and gradually leaned more, cornered faster, it became very confidence inspiring
One thing I have never been able to do with a bike tire is slide all my weight off the bike in a corner without upsetting the bike with this tire, it's easy, it gets around corners plenty good cause its so easy to get your weight off
turn in doesn't feel any more different than comparing a 17" front tire to a 19" if anything, its quicker, but I'm comparin from comming off a bald knobby TKC80 in back that was squirley all over the place
On gravel and even loose freshly graded gravel traction is fantastic, I think as good or better than a new TKC80 or Karoo
much more rear brake power
corner on gravel, hang off just like on pavement , my pace was 45-60 most of the day
I'm sold, bikes otta come with a car tire in back, how does it handle ? like a radial tire, the sidewall squishes on one side, the other side stretches straight, when yer straight up, both sides bulge a bit, isn't that the way all radial tires work
Now I'm planning to get a studded Hakk 5 for after snow flies to compliment the front studded Karoo T I have left over from last winter