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Before I forget, you say the speed kings are good... I'm looking at the 700c version. How do you rate them for road, gravel and mud?
LeBlaireau-
I've got the 26x 2.2 which is a going to be quite a different beast to the 700x35c.
In 26 inch flavour there isn't really anything else out there that's in the same league - really light, wide, pretty much a slick in the middle, but with a small tread that does offer some grip when its loose. Then some really low profile nobbles on the side to give some confidence in the corners.
Not sure how this translates into the 35c offering and there is a lot more choice for light, supple slickish gravel/cross tyres. They are probably still pretty good though.
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I have them in 29x2 on my cross-check and loving them so far. Not been in mud but have handled commutes and thrashing in the woods just fine. Supple, nice tyres.
Haven't done that many miles yet though.
Scrabble
yoshy
Last year I built up this thing. Got the frame as part of a complete bike and then put some parts bin stuff on to get it working. It was a hoot, but also a pile of shit. The fork was their most basic headshok from early 2000's with a rubber damper and big spring. No lockout and crazy rebound. The BB was also fused into the frame and I thought the whole thing was gonna snap as I tried to get it out using a massive breaker bar, so it stayed put. There was also a pretty big dent in the down tube which was always in the back of my mind when it got rooty. The wheel bearings were pretty gritty, the back slightly wobbled and the whole thing was an inch too long for me.
So, when the fork finally died a wonky death on a Tuesday hills ride last year, I plotted a winter of gathering bits to make a better one and.....Ta-da!
Picked the frame up for peanuts (it has a slightly scary repair to the NDS chainstay, but I think i'd miss not having any fear of catastrophic failure during a ride) and it was the colour way I really wanted. The fork was sourced separately and was little used, but I finally got the damper out to top up with thicker oil last night (thanks @Howard ) and this morning it was an utter dream. Rock solid lockout and then perfectly squishy at the flick of a switch. I've also been after a bike with Conti's Speed King tyres for a while now and can confirm they are superb.
Its been a pig of a build with everything taking about 5x longer than I thought, and seemingly nothing from a selection of donor bikes and the parts bin actually fitting, but its here now and I love it. @hma might be interested as I've followed your "cheap slate" build with interest. Is that finally finished?