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donnelly strada lgg 700x28 road tyres

donnelly strada 700x28

the cycle industry is a confusing place to visit, though it's not too often that feelings of deja vu interrupt the space-time continuum. but that's precisely the feeling engendered by the arrival of a pair of donnelly strada lgg road tyres; the strada lgg suffix was one i figured i'd come across previously, despite having never previously heard of donnelly tyres. on digging a little deeper, i discovered that the owner of colorado-based donnelly sports, donn kellogg, had previously been licensing the clement name from trademark owners, pirelli, since 2010, but decided to end that arrangement in august 2017. clement had been the previous brand on which i'd seen the strada lgg name. fortunately, kellogg owned the design and tread patterns created under the clement name, now promoted as donnelly tyres.

though this was one of those machinations within the industry i could scarcely have guessed at, the intrinsic, scottish link involved is that of edinburgh's 2pure, once uk distributors of clement tyres and now continuing the story with donnelly.

donnelly strada 700x28

having received the recently reviewed campagnolo bora wto carbon wheels, 2pure were kind enough to send over a pair of the strada lgg 700x28 road tyres, subsequently fitted to the boras as the widest rubber vicenza recommends for the purpose. these particular tyres are not tubeless compatible, for which i am truly grateful; partially because of the ease of fitting and entirely because inner tubes create a darned sight less messy faff than the tubeless process.

despite being made a long way from belgium, the lgg portion of the name refers to the three letter identifier for liege airport, implying a subtle link with the spring classics. this implication is underlined by a tried and tested minimal chevron tread pattern on the black sidewall rubber. the centre portion of the tread is totally smooth, edged by those chevron patterns, ostensibly to provide extra grip when cornering. according to donnelly, the 120tpi tyre casing features a puncture-protection belt under the tread to aid reliability and no doubt contributes to the overall weight of 240g per tyre. there's no way i can verify the efficacy of this, having only ridden the tyres for a couple of weeks so far, but there will, naturally enough, be a part two to this review a few months from now, at which point i fervently hope there will nothing to report (if you see what i mean?)

tyres are quite possibly one of the most underrated components on the modern day road bike. any alterations requested at point of sale on a complete bicycle are more likely to concern stem length, bar width or even colour of bar tape. very rarely does anyone ask for a different brand or width of tyres. this either suggests that there's no such thing as a bad tyre, or perhaps that, as roadies, we're less concerned with such matters than perhaps we should be. admittedly, road tyres are less subject to the vagaries of the terrain underfoot than our offroad buddies will experience, but that hardly means that we ought to ditch the discrimination.

donnelly strada 700x28

many road tyre tread patterns are designed with the consumer in mind; the professionals are less fussy, or impressed with innovative design features. the stradas lean more heavily towards the professional stance on such matters and justifiably so. in the dry, there is, in truth, very little to choose between brands and/or treads; the heavy lifting usually makes itself known in the wet, a situation that these particular tyres accommodate remarkably well.

i won't fib: the rain to which they have been exposed by the time of this review, could not be considered torrential. 'mildly persistent' would be the most apt description. however, on roads that have been dry for months, and subject to an increased amount of loose gravel, a coating of precipitation is bound to create 'sketchier' conditions for anyone's tyres. it's perhaps worth my pointing out that on the parcours chosen for the sunday ride, one member of the peloton suffered a rear wheel puncture, while i didn't.

mated with campagnolo's bora carbon, they appear to be almost a perfect match. the tyre width seems almost to match that of the rim, offering a united front when faced with the inevitable air resistance. as mentioned a few days ago, the sunday ride appears to get faster every week, despite protestations that we're only out for a ride in the country. i'd scarcely describe myself as amongst the speediest in the peloton, but the tyre/wheel combination seems to have my best interests at heart; it was not their decision to sit up during the sprint at bruichladdich.

donnelly strada 700x28

the historically famous name of clement may no longer appear on the sidewall, but there is obviously no let up in quality or intent associated with the donnelly name. on the basis of my admittedly limited experience with the stradas so far, they deserve every bit as much consideration as their arguably better-known competition. as to their longevity and professed puncture resistance, i'll let you know in part two.

donnelly strada lgg rubber is available in 700x25 tubular format as well as in 23, 25, 28 and 32mm widths folding bead clincher format. recommended price of the 700x28 version as reviewed is £37 ($50). donnelly tyres are distributed in the uk by 2pure.

donnelly tyres | 2pure

monday 29 july 2019

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................