I Just ordered the Tannus 'Elite' WHeelset - anyone using these?

Triathlon Forum
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I Just ordered the Tannus ‘Elite’ WHeelset - anyone using these?

I know there’s a hit to speed with these, but these are going on my road bike (not my racing TT bike) which I used for commuting and noontime workouts. Today was one of those days where I just had bad luck - flatted, and then promptly re-flatted after I reinflated the tube (I always check carefully for thorns/etc before I inflate, but I must have missed one this time.) Had to roll the 4 miles back to work at walking/jogging pace on the flatted tire.

I’m looking forward to having zero flats on this bike, as when it’s a commuting situation, or time-crunched 1 hr lunch workouts, there’s no time to waste on flats!

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I rode with a friend that was way faster than me. The day he used them, he could barely keep up in the flats. Downhill we had to wait for him at the bottom. He never used them again.

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Ha! It’s indeed possible, if these things end up being too tanklike for me, they’ll see limited use. However, I’m literally riding alone with a Favero powermeter for the commutes and lunch rides so I don’t need the speed to catch anyone.

Weekend rides on my Tactical TT bike with aero helmet and carbon wheels are where I get my kicks from passing the tons of riders we see in Norcal during summer. No Tannus tires for those rides!

4

I’ve had their “115psi”/“hard” 700C slick tires on for over a year now and really like them. As long as you’re not trying to corner or brake hard, they are perfect for commuter bikes.

I’d guess they only slow me down to about 18mph for the effort of going 20mph on flats, but the peace of mind knowing that I don’t need a flat kit, or ever have to inflate it to run an errand is great.

By the way, the Specialized Alibi used to come with airless tires stock, and even their own salespeople didn’t know this! One of them tried to say airless tires are no good, and was completely surprised when we told them the Alibi we were in front of them purchasing (for family) indeed, had airless tires installed. I feel like a lot of people reflexively hate airless tires without having tried these latest versions.

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synthetic uses these
.

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Hi,

I purchased the wheelset about a month ago based on reading about it in this forum.

I’ve been exceptionally happy with them. I have the 115 psi ‘cushy’ ride wheels. They are a bit stiff but I do most of my riding now on hard packed trails on my Softride, so the tradeoff of flats vs speed was an easy decision.

The price for the set was $180. They gave a $20 discount (maybe a first time customer) and shipped them quickly. Excellent customer service as well. They like talking on the phone.

There’s a big CdA and rolling resistance tradeoff, and I won’t race on them, but excellent for hardpack trails and roads if speed isn’t your top priority.

Thank you!

Mark

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I Just ordered the Tannus ‘Elite’ WHeelset - anyone using these?

I know there’s a hit to speed with these, but these are going on my road bike (not my racing TT bike) which I used for commuting and noontime workouts. Today was one of those days where I just had bad luck - flatted, and then promptly re-flatted after I reinflated the tube (I always check carefully for thorns/etc before I inflate, but I must have missed one this time.) Had to roll the 4 miles back to work at walking/jogging pace on the flatted tire.

I’m looking forward to having zero flats on this bike, as when it’s a commuting situation, or time-crunched 1 hr lunch workouts, there’s no time to waste on flats!

hope you can share the power data with us. the only problem these have not become massively adopted as a practical tire, is due to lack of testing and reviews since people fear they will lose speed for their peloton rides.

the only downfall IMO using these for races… you are forced to use the 115 psi version because they are the only ones that fit narrow width rims which what most race wheels are. I feel the 105 psi 700x25 is faster.

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hope you can share the power data with us. the only problem these have not become massively adopted as a practical tire, is due to lack of testing and reviews since people fear they will lose speed for their peloton rides.

They could have improved over the last few years, but back when I tested these (the hard 23mm version), it was about a 70w difference to maintain 20mph vs 23mm GP4Ks inflated to 95psi.

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hope you can share the power data with us. the only problem these have not become massively adopted as a practical tire, is due to lack of testing and reviews since people fear they will lose speed for their peloton rides.

They could have improved over the last few years, but back when I tested these (the hard 23mm version), it was about a 70w difference to maintain 20mph vs 23mm GP4Ks inflated to 95psi.

Air temp matters. In Florida when riding they felt like they were melting. Here in San Diego not so much

10

OK - did my first bike commute with my Tannus tires.

First off, I ordered the upgraded “Elite Pro” but I’m looking at the rims now and looks like they only sent the “Elite”, which is cheaper - I didn’t notice until now that I looked at them rims, so I’ll have to ask them to refund the difference. So I’m reviewing the “Elite” version (not Elite Pro).

Ride feel:
Feels the same stiffness/harshness as my race bike with 50 mm carbon wheels. Nothing worse, nothing crazy, but you will definitely feel the road and manhole covers as you go over them. Honestly, if you’ve ridden a stiff race bike with CF wheels and GP5000 tires, it feels very similar, maybe a hair harsher, but certainly nothing I’d say is problematic whatsoever.

Ride noise:
I actually suspect I have a loose spoke or something, and will have to contact Tannus - my rear tire is making a lot of chatter, sounds like a metal screw is loose (or spoke?). Gets pretty bad on rough road. I don’t think it’s supposed to sound like this, as I haven’t heard anyone else complain of such noise, so I’m going to wait on reviewing this area, but right now it sounds like my bike is falling apart as I ride it (seriously!) an is near-unacceptable as is. Hopefully I have a loose spoke or something I can fix easily.

Ride speed:
The speed hit was smaller than the fearmongers have made out. I’ve ridden my morning commute per Strava 16 times, with an average speed of 17.8 mph with my normal road commute bike setup of Conti GP5000 tires, on inexpensive Alex alloy rims, power from 190-205w, with relative Strava effort of 8 - 15.

With Tannus today, it was 17.4mph on 195w avg, relative effort of 10. It’s psosible temp matters as well as the tires softens, this AM was a lovely 53F, but I’ll report back if my home commute at 75F is a lot slower as the tires warm.

**So from this n=1 trial, 0.4mph difference for same power/effort as my 16 other non-Tannus rides. **

The speed hit was subtle, but I could notice, as I’m attuned to these things from riding my aero TT bike and noticing clothing, helmet, etc as I added them. It would be hard for someone who’s not done careful power-based aero/speed comparisons in the past to notice.

Ride handling:
Zero problems for me on turns, etc. No slippage problems, no weird handling issues at all.

SUMMARY:

**- For me at my commute speed of around 17.8mph with GP5000s, Tannus wheelset took me down to 17.4mph for the same effort. It’s a speed hit, but not a giant one. **Perfectly 100% ok for commuting and training where you’re not desperately trying to catch a strong pack/rider. I intend to use these extensively for worktime lunch solo training rides of an hour where I absolutely cannot afford to flat.

  • I bought the entire wheelset, so I can’t comment on installation.

  • I’m currently having a serious noise issue from my rear wheel that I don’t think is normal, will report back if/when I fix it.

  • Zero problems handling. Ride quality is harsh but essentially equal or only a hair harsher than riding carbon fiber 50mm wheels with GP5000s on my stiff TT racing bike.

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have a spoke truing tool? i remember my first bike i purchased online, many of the spokes were loose!

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have a spoke truing tool? i remember my first bike i purchased online, many of the spokes were loose!

How ‘chattery’ / ‘noisy’ are your Tannus? Do they sound like a loose screw with you’re riding on rough road? Just trying to determine if I need to really investigate this noise I’m having.

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have a spoke truing tool? i remember my first bike i purchased online, many of the spokes were loose!

How ‘chattery’ / ‘noisy’ are your Tannus? Do they sound like a loose screw with you’re riding on rough road? Just trying to determine if I need to really investigate this noise I’m having.

All spoke nipples there?
Maybe you have an extra one floating in the rim?
Or a bad hub?

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have a spoke truing tool? i remember my first bike i purchased online, many of the spokes were loose!

How ‘chattery’ / ‘noisy’ are your Tannus? Do they sound like a loose screw with you’re riding on rough road? Just trying to determine if I need to really investigate this noise I’m having.

All spoke nipples there?
Maybe you have an extra one floating in the rim?
Or a bad hub?

I just realize the sound may be the spoke reflectors I transferred to the wheel, just removed them and will check back later. These reflectors made no sound on my normal tires, but it’s possible that the extra vibration from the Tannus wheel is making them chatter. I hope that solves it!

Spoke nipples are all there. No foreign body sounds floating in the rim - if I shake the tire off the ground, no noise.

Hub sounds fine too. It’s not the hub sound.

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have a spoke truing tool? i remember my first bike i purchased online, many of the spokes were loose!

How ‘chattery’ / ‘noisy’ are your Tannus? Do they sound like a loose screw with you’re riding on rough road? Just trying to determine if I need to really investigate this noise I’m having.

No noises like that.

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Ok, I’m a dum$$ and the worst mechanic in the world (for sure!)

I rode home, and when I got all the way back, I figured out that the jingly/rattly sound was due to my 10spd cassette mounted on a 11spd hub without the proper spacer, so the gears were sliding back and forth. Fortunately, I hadn’t thrown out my extra spacer (somehow) and once I got the cassette back on WITH the spacer, everything sounds fine. No weird jingly noises and I’m REALLY happy with that!!

As well, literally on my first round trip commute home, an entire screw ended up in my tire (apologies for the crappy photo)

The screw came out easily but only with a screwdriver - I had to ride 5 mile home with that thing clonking on the road because I could not get it out even using a metal key to try and lever it out. Freaking screws! - at least I didn’t have to change a flat!