Interesting test on BRR of the different casings of the Rene Hearse Snoqualmine pass. The Extra Light is a very very fast tire, unfortunately the sidewalls are so weak that they probably flat if you look at them wrong. In general I am not afraid of thin sidewalls but the Extra Light is too extreme for me. But if you are looking for a very fast and light tire and you don't care about weak sidewalls, the Extra Light is probably the best there is. The Standard casing is slower by 4 watts, but oddly enough has worse puncture scores than the Extra Light. The Endurance+ casing gives much better sidewall protection but also adds 11 watts over the extra light. I would have to say the best overall would be the Endurance, it has decent, but not great RR numbers and has good protection.
For comparison, over the same four pressure categories (adjusted for tire size) the 36 mm Strada Bianca Pro HTLR measured: High pressure: 15.7 W Med pressure: 16.9 W Low pressure: 19.5 W Extra low pressure: 24.2 W
The SBP scores about 1 to 3 W worse than the RH Extralight and about 1 to 2 W better than the RH Standard. The SPB absolutely blows away these two RH tires in puncture resistance and durability. I've used the SBP (36 mm) and the RH Extralight (38 mm) and found the SBP vastly better.
The SBP scores about 3 to 4 W better than the RH Endurance and about 8 to 9 W better than the RH Endurance Plus. In my experience the SBP has better puncture resistance and durability than the RH Endurance (I've never used the Endurance Plus). Those two RH tires cost even more than the already expensive SBP and I never see discounts on RH products.
That said, RH offers a great range of sizes and I've seen good reviews of their knobbies.
Pretty impressed with the stats on the Endurance except for the measured size. That's just a false claim at that point. My Snoqualmie Pass extra light tires measured 42 on i23 rims, but they also blew off and damaged my hearing.
I hear (ba dum psh) the tubeless has gotten better but I'm afraid to try. Unfortunately Soma SVs in the awesome 700x48 TERRORcota color is harder to find, so if the 45mm SBs aren't released by spring I may get the new Rene Herse 48s (in endurance).
Yeah, I just read that review this AM when I got up & couldn't fall back asleep. I love that BRR did this; it's nice to see some quantified relative results that aren't roll-down tests by RH. (I think real-world testing makes a lot of sense and agree with principle of capturing rider hysteresis ... but am always a bit skeptical of the roll-down test methodology. In any event, I think a steel drum is probably well suited to a test like this where you're just looking at pure casing differences across the same dimension of tire).
I've been riding the EL Snoqualmie Pass for a few years now. I have never actually cut a sidewall and I do ride them on mild DC-area gravel (C&O Towpath, some gravel roads). I really enjoy them on the pavement, though. I have flatted by punctures in the tread; usually this is when riding through a construction site or similar side-of-the-road debris. I've always felt these were road-tire-level fast tires; it was nice to see that confirmed in numbers.
Tubeless has been hit or miss. I've had some good success in the past and appreciated the tubeless when I did puncture as I was able to quickly plug the hole (it was too large for sealant alone). On the set I'm running right now, I couldn't get them to hold air even for a full ride (I think leaking around one of the beads -- beads are not perfect) so I finally put in latex tubes and have been riding them like that, thinking someday I'd take another stab at tubeless (after I puncture a tube, probably).
On the whole, I'm a fan of these tires for road rides. They don't give up many watts compared to a fast road tire, add a lot of grip and fun factor, and generally have been plenty durable for me. But tubeless setup is finicky and as far as I'm concerned they are limited to hooked rims. (I also had a RH tire (Barlow Pass) blow off hookless rims; I was lucky to be riding very slowly at the time.)
I will definitely consider the Challenge SBP HTLR in the future. Probably 40mm size; that works well on the bike where I'm using the SPs now.
Interesting results from BRR. In my several years of use of both the RH Barlow Pass ExtraLight and the same casing on SOMA SV EX, I've NEVER had sidewall failures. I prefer the SOMA because the tread cap is thicker than RH, and thus much longer lasting and less succeptable to glass shard punctures. Curious to trey the SBP, given the comments above. Thanks.
stu wrote:For comparison, over the same four pressure categories (adjusted for tire size) the 36 mm Strada Bianca Pro HTLR measured: High pressure: 15.7 W Med pressure: 16.9 W Low pressure: 19.5 W Extra low pressure: 24.2 W
The SBP scores about 1 to 3 W worse than the RH Extralight and about 1 to 2 W better than the RH Standard. The SPB absolutely blows away these two RH tires in puncture resistance and durability. I've used the SBP (36 mm) and the RH Extralight (38 mm) and found the SBP vastly better.
The SBP scores about 3 to 4 W better than the RH Endurance and about 8 to 9 W better than the RH Endurance Plus. In my experience the SBP has better puncture resistance and durability than the RH Endurance (I've never used the Endurance Plus). Those two RH tires cost even more than the already expensive SBP and I never see discounts on RH products.
That said, RH offers a great range of sizes and I've seen good reviews of their knobbies.
My RH Barlow Pass 38 barely clear on my old Diverge with CLX hoops, stretching to 39mm. Did you find the SBP 36 to be much narrower than the Barlows you had? I'm tempted to try the SBP 40, but only if it runs on the narrow side. Did you find the SBP 36 less plush than the Barlows? Thanks.
TheSubaruGuru wrote:My RH Barlow Pass 38 barely clear on my old Diverge with CLX hoops, stretching to 39mm. Did you find the SBP 36 to be much narrower than the Barlows you had? I'm tempted to try the SBP 40, but only if it runs on the narrow side. Did you find the SBP 36 less plush than the Barlows? Thanks.
The SBP is a full 40mm tire. The handmade tubeless is going to be more plush than a vulcanized tire like RH due to its design. The high thread count and the flat design gives it more compliance that a conventional u-shaped vulcanized tire.
My 36 mm SBP measure 38 mm on 25 mm (inside) rims. They would probably be right around 36 mm on 20 mm rims.
The 36 mm SBP is more plush than anything else I've ridden lately. I gave up on the Barlow Pass Extralight almost 4 years ago due to constant punctures so I can't offer a fair comparison. I will say the 36 mm SBP is at least as plush as the 44 mm Snoqualmie Pass Endurance.
stu wrote:My 36 mm SBP measure 38 mm on 25 mm (inside) rims. They would probably be right around 36 mm on 20 mm rims.
I emailed Challenge about the SBP sizing. The width printed on the side of the tyre is calculated on a 22mm ID rim, so they should measure true on a i22, small on a i20 rim and large on a i25 rim, etc.
