The great equalizer: Armadillo tires

The regular Armadillo tires, not the Elite model, are the only tires I've used that can reliably defeat goathead thorns. The goatheads stick into the tread, get spun around a few times, and either snap off or are thrown off the tire. One time, I dug about a dozen snapped off goathead thorns out of a pair of Armadillos. The tips had been embedded in the tread for awhile but still didn't puncture the armored casing.



Here, I've ridden the tire to the point that the tread is paperthin and separating from the casing. I forgot exactly how many miles I'd get out of an Armadillo tire. I think it was in the area of 6-8,000 for a rear tire.



For those of you who don't already know, Armadillo tires have incredible rolling resistance. Among clinchers, they are the only tires with more rolling resistance than Tufos. At 20 mph, their incredibly stiff tread and sidewalls require about an extra 35W to deform compared to my current training tires, Michelin Krylion Carbons. Armadillos have such a dead ride that the first time you ride them, you think you have a flat tire. In fact, you can deflate an Armadillo and the stiff sidewalls will hold the bike up as if the tire was still inflated.

What are the RR slaying implications? Well, once again, RRs forced me to make a terrible choice. I had to choose between risking punctures or being handicapped by slow tires. Of course, the RRs train on tires nicer than I race on and with their perpetually fresh legs, I needed to even the odds a bit so I switched to Michelin Carbons. I've had more flats but it hasn't been an epidemic.

The funny thing is that during the 2 years or so that I trained on Armadillos, I was still faster than the RRs. There they were, putting forth heroic efforts to race me and reveling in their success (success being defined as hanging on for a few minutes longer) , not knowing that with normal tires I would have stomped them even harder. Sorry RRs, that's one less "cheat" you'll be able to exploit.