On Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 3:12:18 PM UTC+1, wrote:
On Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 12:14:05 AM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
On Sunday, May 3, 2020 at 11:28:51 PM UTC+1, Roger Merriman wrote:

I swapped them out since I noticed that the ride was very harsh and that
nothing seem to penetrate the tread plenty of embedded shards etc, Thus far
the Big Apples have done 4K with little sign of wear I’d expect to at least
double that.

Very likely. I took off a pair because I was giving the bike its 6000 mile service and I like doing one service a year and to do everything them. The Big Apple Liteskins (a lightweight folding, touring tyre no longer offered since its sidewall is now part of the most expensive Big Apples) had done 8500km, actually more than Joerg's desired 5000m. The rear tyre has just the ghost of the faux tread left, the front tyre appeared to have no wear at all. It was suggested by old tourers that I am a crazy wastrel, that the Big Apples would have gone the same distance again if I swapped them around. But that's exactly the point: they would have gone another 5000m, not 6000 to the next big service. Maybe I should send them to Joerg, who'll probably reject them because they have no tread even when new. For spares I ordered whatever the current top Big Apple is; they're on top of my deepest bookshelf.

Added observation: In use on rough lanes, the Ultraleicht balloon tube, Type 19A for 700 wheels, is as good as the thicker, heavier standard tube. I've used both and can detect no service differential.

Andre Jute
In praise of riding low pressure tyres fast http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3798.0

Most of these people have absolutely no idea of what it is like above the arctic circle. On a clear day you can freeze to death wearing what most of these people would think of as clothing far too heavy to move in.

Hell, yes. And if you're ignorant or careless, even if you have the right clothes, you can freeze to death inside them in your own sweat. Up there the margins of error we are used to saving us from our own stupidity become infinitesimally small. I wasn't joking when I said that after that days' "adventures" I just wanted to lie in a bunk and consider how I would account for my sins in front of the Pearly Gates.

My favourite photo of the Iditarod is of Jeff King, a four-time champion, lying down right there on the ice of a frozen river -- upwind from his dogs to give them a little shelter from a fierce wind. He's the inventor of a sled handlebar warmer that heats up to 200 degrees F, which tells you how near to frostbite one is every moment in those parts. Brrr!

Andre Jute
PS The Canada-based members may have some inkling. It gets pretty miserable up there, even for people who live much further south than I do here in Ireland.

PPS You're in the wrong thread! Then again, that special cold spreads everywhere, so why not into a strange thread?