(Steve Baker) wrote in message . com...

I had a good experience last week. When I left for the GITAP ride here
in Illinois, I forgot to put on a beefier rear tire on the
Windcheetah, as I had planned to do. I made the run on a Hutchinson
Top Slick (on sale at Nashbar) and it really performed well. No flats,
not even any signs of stress after 500 miles of pretty rough roads and
trails. It's light and rolls really well. (Besides, it's pretty with a
yellow trim that matches the WC.) I'm glad I stocked up.

FWIW.

Steve Baker

Unfortunately, my experience with the Hutchison Top Slick (on the rear
of my Stratus)last summer wasn't as good.

I was 800 miles into my tour, when without any warning, I got a
blowout. Fortunatly, I was able to come to a stop without falling.

There was nothing in the area that I could see to cause this, and
checking the tire, I found a jagged tear in the sidewall in an outward
pattern.

I checked my tire pressure every day, and kept it at 90 PSI.

Who knows, maybe I damaged the sidewall earlier, weakening it so that
is was ripe for a failure.

By great fortune, I was reasonably near (2 miles or so) a LBS in
Morrisburg Ont. that had a 26" Avocet Cross that he had ordered for a
client who then changed his mind. He sold it to me for the low price
of $19.00 as he wanted to get rid of it. It was then used by me for
another 1200 miles until last month when, checking the tire after a
flat, I noticed the rubber inside the z pattern of the tread was
cracking.
I replaced it with the original Primo Racer which still had a lot of
rubber left on it (I had replaced it before the trip with the
Hutchison due to concerns about wearing it out before the end of the
trip)

Point is, my experience with the Hutchison has left me leery of the
brand.

Regards,

Denis Rivest