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Went camping, need new tires

anglachel

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I got a new hammock stand, fits neatly in my top box.

Took it out for a trip to northern WI to give it a test run for a few nights.

Got to the campsite, and learned that the external battery I brought wouldn't charge my phone, can't charge it while riding cause the port on my phone is finicky...

So I shut off the phone, around that time I start to hear some ominous thunder, was supposed to be clear and dry according to the forecast, it was not. Got the tarp on the hammock just before the rain started falling... Make some dinner under the tarp, and go to sleep, as the rain trails off...

Get up early have some tea (thermos bottle keeps it warm all night, so I make a bottle after dinner so I have something warm to drink early), and notice the rear tire looks a little odd on the NC.

It's flat. And my phone is low on battery and signal...

So I hook the pump up, fill the tire.

Pack everything up. And call it a trip and head home after one night... Have to stop every 50 miles on the way home to pump the tire back up (dropping about 5-10psi in that time).

The tire has 12k miles on it, and the tread is getting low, so it needed to be replaced anyhow... Now to figure out what to put on there (thinking the road 5's).
 

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I have Road 5 tires on 2 bikes. Great tire for the road. No do great on gravel, etc. if most of your riding is on road it’s a nice ride and grips well in wet roads.
 
that is amazing that you rode that many miles on a rear, great job! I've seen about 9k out of my last two rear 705's and have been considering a different rear now that i have a pillion riding with me and i'll see way less gravel in my travel. The Road 5's are on my long list to consider. :{)
 
can't charge it while riding cause the port on my phone is finicky...

Have you tried cleaning out the port? Mine (iphone) was giving me fits on my bike and then I picked in there with a toothpick and got some fuzz out. Also alcohol wipe from a med kit wrapped around a shard of a broken toothpick. Connection works great now!
 
Have you tried cleaning out the port? Mine (iphone) was giving me fits on my bike and then I picked in there with a toothpick and got some fuzz out. Also alcohol wipe from a med kit wrapped around a shard of a broken toothpick. Connection works great now!

I've cleaned it out a dozen times, it works better after, but it's still not able to hold the cable in while riding. The plastic around the port is cracked a bit too so I think it's just not quiet right.
 
I have Road 5 tires on 2 bikes. Great tire for the road. No do great on gravel, etc. if most of your riding is on road it’s a nice ride and grips well in wet roads.

Gravel is my biggest concern with the road 5... but i figure I'm off of pavement less than 1% of the miles I ride (mostly to and from camp sites) so probably not a big deal (right?!?!), even those roads are usually decently well groomed/packed, and I tend to take those roads slow anyhow (possibly because my worn tires are also no good on gravel.)

I couldn't find many reviews for the Road 5's on gravel... the ones I did find said they were ok, for a street tire... which I think is the best I could hope for.
The real sticking point (pardon the pun) was several reviews saying that the road 5's didn't even notice the tar snakes, just glued to the road... and there are a lot of tar snakes around here.
 
Let me define my personal gravel experience with the Road 5 a bit differently.

We live in a rural area, there are plenty of municipal gravel roads around my property that are reasonably described as groomed gravel roads. The gravel is compacted and generally maintained properly. The Road 5 easily is comfortable managing those roads. We have "chip & seal" roads around us, it is a step up from gravel, again the Road 5 easily handles those.

On the other hand, I have a couple driveways on my property and one of those is a fairly loose gravel drive. It is used a few times a week, not raked annually, has some larger gravel rocks on it some compacted fines, etc. That type of loose gravel is not well handled by any 100% road tire. Something with knobby or a deep/open tread would make that loose gravel feel a lot more stable.

I've had my bike on dry grass, no issues. I've had my bike on a very old lightly used gravel road that was sinking into the grass, but the gravel was stable, and again the Road 5 easily managed that. Packed black earth/dirt paths or dirt parking lots are no issue for the Road 5, at least when they are dry (never been on that when it turns to mud so I can't say)

If the off-road "gravel" riding you are doing is to enter a campsite then I would say that you would have no issue with a Road 5.
 
I want to know about your hammock stand, where did you get it, how small does it pack down etc.

It's a Tensa 4.
https://www.tensaoutdoor.com/product/tensa4-hammock-stand/

It's about 20 inches by 5-6" around when packed, fits in the givi trekker 52l right across the widest part (towards the front of the bike.)

They say it only needs one stake (ground screw) to work, particularly if you hang something heavy off of the other side (like my water bag, in the first picture)... I put two stakes down, but in the morning I found the strap to the second stake (which I left slack per the instructions) had fallen off of the stake with no ill effect... (note: I did stake out the tarp too, so two of those little stakes might have carried some of the load.)

Another interesting bit (that I've not tried) that they say in the instructions you can replace the ground screw with something that weighs a just over half your weight... so in theory, you could just tie down to the back tire of the bike, and use it even where you can't put a stake down (pavement)... I've seen photos of people setting it up in hotel rooms just tying off to a length of tube closed behind the closet door.

They have a Solo stand that is smaller, but requires 4 large stakes, and this seemed more versatile to me.
 
Picture of the stand packed down, in my top box (snug on both sides)

along with my camp kitchen, which I realized looking at the photo now I should be pushing for product placement money from these places... nearly everything has the label facing the camera.
 

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I have Road 5s and my ride is roughly 98% pavement and 2% gravel. Love them. Yesterday i went through a tight highway exit with an unexpected decreasing radius in the curve. I had to lean more and more and even applied brakes at a very pronounced angle; those Michelins are incredible!
 
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