I
have been an avid road cyclist and racer since 1982. I have worked as
a professional bicycle mechanic, and fitting specialist since 1980.
I have ridden and raced on more makes and models of clincher and
tubular tires than I remember. It is remarkable how much the
performance level of clincher type bicycle tires has improved since I
first became addicted to cycling.
Prior
to using the Padrone, my favorite clincher was the Continental
GP4000s with Black Chili Compound. It still is my favorite tire for
use with inner tubes.
Install
the tires carefully using soft edge tire levers. Maxxis provides a
pair of nylon levers in the box with your new tires. I found the
provided levers a bit too weak for the job of prying the beads of
these tires over and onto my Campagnolo Eurus 2-Way rims. It might
be easier on some other rims. It could also prove to be an even more
challenging. I find that Pedros tire levers are perfect for the job.
Install the tires "dry", that is without any sealant.
Inflate them to make certain that they are correctly seated to your
rims. You might actually need an air compressor in order to seat the
tires. I was able to seat mine into some Campy Eurus Two-Way rims
using a Pedro's floor pump. Once the tires are fully seated, deflate
them, install sealant, then re-inflate. I do not recommend the use
of Stans sealant for these particular tires. There is some
ingredient of that sealant that I believe can cause some tires to
delaminate. That would be bad. I recommend using a less caustic
sealant such as Caffelatex, Hutchinson Protect Air Max, Specialized
Airlock, or Orange Seal.
Choose
one, and use the recommended dosage. In my experience, correct dosing
is important no matter what your choice of tire sealant may be.
I
used Caffelatex. I purchased it in a bottle, and used syringe type
injector to slowly push the prescribed dose of sealant into each
tire.
October
of 2013, I rode across most of Texas with this tire/sealant/wheel
combination. The eight day journey took a small group of us from
Brackettville to Crocket, TX. We traversed chipseal, smooth tarmac,
and even dirt roads along the way, gained some fitness, and renewed
affection for the beauty of the Texas hill country. I experienced no
problems whatsoever with the Padrones. No leaks, and no punctures. I
am 177.8cm, or 5'10" tall, weigh 73.4 Kg, or 162 lbs, and rode
with tire pressure at 5.8 bar or about 85psi.
These
tires apparently roll just as fast as my GP4000s do at 6.9 bar or
about 100 psi. With the Padrones, I feel no increase or decrease in
rolling resistance. Grip is phenomenal on both dry and wet roads. I
did get to test this extensively as two days of our Texas ride were
ridden in the rain. One day there was a foggy drizzle that soaked
everything but washed nothing away from the road surface, the other
brought heavy rain for the duration of that day's ride. Ride quality
is superb. These tires definitely help to take the edge off when
cruising across chip seal pave'. I'm talking about the kind of chip
seal that looks and feels as if marbles were used for pavement.
I
realize that some users have had issues with the Maxxis Padrone, but
based upon my experience working in the bicycle industry, I can
safely say here that every tire maker will spit out a dud from time
to time. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a tire maker
who has never manufactured a defective tire. According to Maxxis,
Quality Assurance experts actually x-ray each Padrone prior to
packaging in an effort to search for defects, and prevent bad tires
from reaching the store shelves. Nonetheless, a defect can still get
by once in a while, and a tire can still be damaged during
installation by a mechanic with little or no experience in the
handling of tubeless tires and rims. Which brings me to one more point of relevance. Although many folks have installed tubeless tires onto non-tubeless rims, I do not recommend doing so. Use tubeless rims for tubeless tires. If your rim beads are not designed specifically for tubeless tires, and you convert to tubeless, you ought to be prepared to accept the possibility that the tires might fail catastrophically as a result of improper installation or usage. The same applies to using within your tires any sealant that contains any form of caustic agent. I do not have a laboratory full of testing equipment at my disposal, yet I believe that these are the finest road clinchers I have used.
