If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that ‘useful’ things like practicality and functionality can often take a back seat to more basic pursuit of aesthetics and taste. If you haven’t, then your name might just be Paul.
You may have also become aware that there is occasional flagrant flouting of certain guidelines by curators and purveyors alike. Long black socks, red bar tape and big bidons, facial and leg hair, some have even been known to experiment with the much-maligned and socially destructive drug EPMS. Some things shouldn’t be tampered with, while others are prone to some manipulation as seen fit by circumstance. And some things will always be ‘just the way it is’.
Take tyres for example. Rule #8 was one of the first decreed (it was the eighth, if memory serves) and is one of the more complex in its simplicity. To put it in layman’s terms, tyres are a simple thing to get right. Black. They match any bike regardless of colour and will always look good no matter how much abuse they receive. But look more closely and a myriad of options are offered; match this to that or that to the other bit, and the other bit back to that. Or just go black. See, told you it was simple.
So why should choosing a new set of rubber be a cause of consternation? I needed to replace my trusty Pavé CG’s as they’d seen better days, from the cobbles of Belgium and France in April through a winter of more off-road detours than any road bike should be subjected to. Punctures became a feature of almost every ride, two at a time on a couple of outings. The green tread was worn and cut up and my mates were getting sick of waiting and probably wanted to strangle me with a tube as I attempted to get aired up and mobile yet again. Hang on, green? Surely not compliant…
Well yeah, the hue that is ubiquitous with Pro bikes in the European spring is the one color of tread that gets an automatic pass due to that other great cornerstone of the dual pursuits of Cycling and Looking Fantastic: heritage. From Malteni orange to Lampre pink, green goes with anything and everything in Spring. Vittoria’s Pavés and FMB’s Paris Roubaixs have seen more action on more bikes on more cobbles than Mother Theresa has seen sick kids, and thus get almost as many blessings as she gives out on a mission to Africa. But go back further still, and the sidewall colour of choice to set off any steed is the gumwall. Or skinwall. Maybe tanwall, depending on your diocese.
It should’ve been easy to choose a new tyre due to my spate of flats. Thick, heavy rubber with all kinds of Kevlar reinforcement, varying TPI counts and tread patterns all were mulled over, for about five minutes. I wanted gumwalls. To hell with practicality and functionality, not to mention cost. I made the call to my rubber pusher Graeme and he administered the goods stat. Thinner, lighter, faster, probably less durable; my new Corsa SC’s may not solve any puncture issues, but damned if they don’t look the business. Fantastic, even.
The gumwall is back, and there’s no going black.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/gummy/”/]
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Holy cannoli, the Merckx looks fantastic!
I wanted some gumwalls on my #1 to go with the new Ksyrium Super Light wheels I just put on it. Had them on hand and while not the best color, heck, if green is GO for spring, blue will suit me well for some cool winter riding. I'll have to get a photo as the wheels + tyres have really classed up the bike. Veloflex Masters, blue tread, tan wall.
My Tommasini has some Veloflex Masters in black with gumwalls and boy they look sharp on a classy older bike.
HUGE fan of classy looking throwback tyres on modern race bikes.
If you're worried about lifespan of sexy tyres...just get a bunch of bikes! I have Vittoria Open Corsas on my Casati, Veloflex Masters on my LOOK & Tommasini, none of them a high kilometerage but if you are only riding the bike one day a week, well, then they last pretty long.
Hurrah for the Veloflex Masters - superb cornering, sadly cut a bit easily, but look class
@Ron
How the hell do you keep the Veloflex sidewalls clean? Despite cleaning mine every other ride with a nail brush and degreaser, they are becoming really stained, especially towards the bead, which is a c shame
@Skip
Shoulda specified the 4000S
Dr. C - I try not to shift my chain into them! Nah, just kidding. Mine have definitely gone from light gum to darker tan with use but they don't look too bad. I don't do anything special with the Veloflex tires I have. New ones definitely look better than old ones, but they wear kinda quickly so I rotate and replace them. I have Masters, Records, and Paves. I think the Paves were phased out and are now the...Masters? I'm sure someone knows.
I've been riding a pair of Vittoria Evo Corsas for a long, long damn time. Though not as tough wearing at GP 4000s, I can't complain about these. I have found Veloflex tires to wear faster, but I do have four road bikes...
The tires I have had trouble keeping clean...GP 4000s in limited edition white! Not the walls of the outer tread like Vittorias but the entire tread! A naive purchase. They now sit in a box in my stock closet, seeing limited limited edition usage.
@Skip
Do you mean the GP 4000 rather than the 4 Seasons? I've only seen the 4 Seasons available in black, indicated by your link. Perhaps they used to make gumwall, but no longer?
Bugger! I just went and got the all black Veloflex Carbons for the tubolare I'm building over winter. It's impossible to keep up with you guys.
@Ron Are the Veloflex Paves now the Roubaix (gumwall)/Arenberg (blackwall)?
Ah, the gumwall. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that while it's a long way from being a Rule, the gumwall is the true choice of the Velominatus.
My problem with Vittorias or any of those beautiful, supple tires is that I do most of my riding in the city, and they just get cut up so quickly...that and I wear through the tread too quickly because I'm such a monster. But I've found that if you let them age a year in your cellar, they're OK. I did that to my Gommitalia Calypos's and they are holding up just fine. Just drink a bottle of the wine you're storing and put a set of tires in its place for a year. No one needs to know.
The aged tires are a little slippery in the wet, though.
The Dugats on the CX-C are also natural sidewalls - talk about amazing tires, WOW. I'll be rebuilding the wheels on the TSX into tubbies this winter and put some naturals on there as well - probably either FMB or Dugast.
Also, I'm bringing these wheels - the Richters (which will no longer be called Richter but Café Roubaix) on Keepers Tour. I'll be mounting some more FMB's on them and bringing a Shimano cassette body - the idea will be we'll let anyone who wants to try them ride the wheels and see what they think. I'm super impressed by them so far, incredibly light and sturdy despite their featheriness.
Dan_R is building me a set for the Haleakala ride in January which will actually come in under a 1000g. Amazing. Compared to the 1700 grams I dragged up there last time, I expect to cut my time in half. What could go wrong?
@frank does he have a full site yet? will he be doing MTB wheels?