Spring is officially here. Dia Compe's Gran Compe SS all white road tires let you dress up your bike with vintage touch that borders on minimal cool. These folding clincher 700x23c, 100 PSI road tires are only available in all white. Dia Compe calls them "Open Tubulars" on the box. They are what we call "clinchers". So they will fit a conventional clincher rim. If you need a bit of contract on your hoops, Schwalbe offers up the Stelvio, a 700x23 folding 120 PSI clincher in classy black and white for your springtime riding enjoyment. (The Stelvio road tires also are offered in with other color accents.)
Beauty isn't cheap. A set of the Gran Compe light-weight tires with Kevlar beads cost around $120 in the Wheelgirl on line store. (See the top-right corner of this page.) Head mechanic, Daniel, ordered in some a few weeks ago. Schwalbe Stelvio road race tires are $80 a set in our on line store. We've put the Stelvio tires in different colors on many bikes. They roll really nicely. But if you need completely white tires, the Gran Compe tires are the answer. (Vittoria makes an all white Zaffiro Pro. So, if you are riding that model please put up a post, and let us know what you think of them.)
The Gran Compe road tires run at 100 PSI, not 120 PSI, like most high-performance road racing tires. And they do not sport a triple casing or some such method of letting wicked and daring cats on fixed wheels repeatedly skid down the steep roads of San Francisco and Berkeley. So put them on a single speed, a well-loved road bike you are giving a makeover, or get a handle on the number of skid spots on your fixie's rear wheel. (Check out the skid spot calculator to figure this out.) If you do opt to put a set on your fixie, make sure that you rotate your rear wheel skid spot(s), so you don't make your own self cry for your mama by unnecessarily shredding it.
(Photos by Wheelgirl. First two are of the Dia Compe Gran Compe SS all white tires. Third photo is close up of a black and white Schwalbe Stelvio. And the last photo is of a Vitus 979 that we gave a make over.)
