Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Miss Violet Goes Blond. Has More Fun As A Result.





As many loop frame bicycles before her, Miss Violet has gone blond! And is loving her new looks.

I decided to swap the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires that she came with out for some Delta Cruisers after reading Velouria's report on how much of a difference they made to the ride quality of her Pashley.

I had Delta Cruisers before, on my Herclues and was quite happy with them.




But I didn't have anything to compare them to and hadn't ridden the Hercules on any other tire.

I do have to agree, the Delta Cruisers are much more shock absorbative than the Marathon Plus. Since I find that I don't need to brake for every little bump in the road now the Pashley seems to be much zippier. It's giving me a better opportunity to really ride and just enjoy riding instead of judging the road surface constantly. Also I've noticed that I can definitely feel a difference in turns. Especially low speed turns. The tire seems to glide across the pavement. These tires also work well off road.




We went out tonight testing The Husbands new headlights. While trying to find dark places to test them in we went along this little wooded area that follows a creek. We take this detuor occasionally, and previously the ride beside the creek was terribly rough. The Delta Cruisers helped smooth this route a lot! So I am definitely pleased with the tires. Not so much with the packaging though:




I ordered this set through Amazon. Seriously Amazon, TWO boxes? Two HUGE boxes?!?




Two huge boxes with an single tire each! *sigh*








Changing tires on the Pashley is quite easy. The owners manual has easy to follow instructions for removing both wheels. I was able to easily remove the wheels, the chaincase being the only tricky, but not difficult part.




As for dirt. The Cream Delta Cruisers only seem to get road dirt in a narrow area just in the center of the tread.




The sidewalls are still free from grime. Even after riding in freshly mown grass they still look nice! I was expecting to have green tires after that.




So, all in all I am very happy with these tires. I can see why Velouria keeps using them on so many of her bikes, and why so many others have made the switch on theirs.


5 comments:

  1. I have these tires on my Betty Foy and I love them! They definitely look amazing on the Pashley. Maybe my Pashley should go blonde...

    And those boxes are ridiculous.

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  2. I tried out a Pashley with Delta Cruisers - you're right, there is a positive difference in ride quality. And they look so sharp!

    I got Marathon Pluses with my Betty - by default since they were the only tires in stock in the size I needed. I don't mind them but I certainly don't need that level of puncture protection, and it would be nice to have a cushier, zippier ride. I think I might have to switch them over!

    So glad you're enjoying your Pashley!

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  3. Gorgeous! The Pashley looks very cool with those fat tires. I really want to make Betty blond (but with normal-width tires) but cannot justify the price solely to change the color of the tires when the current Schwalbe set is going strong.

    Now I'm inspired to take my balloon tire Velorbis out for the day. :)

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  4. The Delta Cruisers look great on Violet!

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  5. Thanks for the compliments!

    Kara - I think your Pashley should go blond. At least for the summer. :)

    Melissa - You're right, the Marathon Pluses are just over kill for puncture protection. I never had any problems with my other set of Delta Cruisers. And do your Betty a favor and get her some! She'll ride so much better and look smashing too.

    Dottie - The Delta Cruisers I put on are actually the same size as her previous tires (26 1 3/8). I guess that because they are cream colored that they look fatter? They say black is slimming. :) They ride cushier because they have less puncture protection and the rubber seems to have more give. But you're right, they do look a bit fatter.

    Sue - Thanks! Get you some one your Pashley too! :)

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