Vittoria Randonneur Cross Pro Folding Tyre?

luv2ride

Looked at a pair of these for my Kinesis Pro6 disc crosser, as a road/light off road tyre. I've heard they come up a little small, and might feel a little "wooden". Any users out there? Are they any good? cheers

ugo.santalucia

Veronese68 has them... he rates them. I have the road version... great tyres... super hard wearing and very decent feel and performance. They come at 29-30 mm depending on the rim

luv2ride

Thanks Ugo
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVTRANPII ... lding-tyre
Are these the road versions you use?

ugo.santalucia

Yes, I am on my second set. The first set did over 6,000 miles and zero flats

woolwich

I have the cross version. They saw use all through the worst of the flooding last winter and performed great without puncturing.
They have no real great amount of tread on the shoulder, so I am not convinced they are any particular improvement over the straight road tyre on byways. There are better cross/road tyres available. Having said that I rode the length of the Ridgeway on them last winter and they did ok if a little slippy.
The feedback of a tyre is one of those highly subjective things. Compared with a race tyre they are a bit solid or wooden if you like. However I have been converted to them, loads more supple and confidence inspiring than the conti's or a marathon cross's I ran previously.

luv2ride

They would be running on a Kinesis CX disc wheelset with 24mm wide rims. Would there be a particular downside to going to the 37mm tyre over the 32mm version? Think I have clearance for the larger volume tyre, but presume they would be that much heavier?

woolwich

I find with 37mm you get better grip off road and some better comfort from higher volume. They are perfect for expedition touring type stuff.
I tend to run about 60psi which I find a nice compromise for the rough and smooth but 37mm tyres seem to have high rolling resistance and make life seem hard going at these pressures for long road stints.
With regards to clearance, be careful to allow a bit of extra gap if you indeed exploring byways. What can seem like a lot of clearance can quickly get filled with clay/mud/balls of wet leaves etc.
I find the 32mm is about the optimum size.

veronese68

As Ugo says I have the Cross version in 32mm and I like them. I haven't tried them compared to race tyres, but they are much better than Gatorskins. They feel like they roll well to me, I'm not particularly quick myself but when freewheeling down some long hills in a small group I actually found I was having to dab the brakes as I was gaining on others that were not braking. Mine are on Open Pro rims, also on a Pro6, and there is plenty of clearance to get 37mm on there.
They are not great on wet grass or mud, but no compromise tyre will be. They are fine on hard packed gravel as found on many trails. I put them on for the winter, but see no point in changing for the summer. Although I do put something knobblier on if I'm doing a bit more off road that will involve mud.

luv2ride

Thanks for the advice guys. Plumped for Randonneur Pro 2 folding in 32mm flavour in the end. Sounds like the ideal compromise between comfort, rolling resistance and puncture protection. Mind you, PX are doing these so cheap I might get a pair of the cross version as well.

Semantik

Luv2ride wrote:

Thanks Ugo
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVTRANPII ... lding-tyre
Are these the road versions you use?

One review says they come up fairly narrow for 32mm tyres(more like 28mm)

Any thoughts on whether they would fit ok on a narrow(15-18mm) 700c road rim?

ugo.santalucia

Semantik wrote:

Luv2ride wrote:

Thanks Ugo
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVTRANPII ... lding-tyre
Are these the road versions you use?

One review says they come up fairly narrow for 32mm tyres(more like 28mm)

Any thoughts on whether they would fit ok on a narrow(15-18mm) 700c road rim?

I had them on Open PRO and they were fine. Open PRO is 14.5 mm internal

Semantik

That's great, thanks.

woolwich

Likewise I had them on a narrow DT Swiss rim for a while, 465 possibly. Tight fit, hard work on the fingers. I started carrying a single tyre lever with me just in case I had to do it with frozen fingers.
No problem once fitted, they rode fine.