Great setup. Those tires are so supple and fast rolling, love them. They are the poster child tire for “smooth is fast” on chip seal or rough roads. Not as durable as the heavier pro version, but perfect where you aren’t at risk of sidewall cuts. I’d run those tires all the time for road training/rides if they weren’t so pricey (they wear kind of fast on the road). I save mine for gravel racing where the gravel isn’t too big/sharp.
Exactly what I’m doing. Bought the All Season TR on sale, plan to train on those mid-week. Then on Saturday swap wheels and ride 60-90 minutes to gravel on the S-Works Pathfinder that came with the bike. Light wheels for climbing on gravel. Heavy wheels for training. Tarmac for Wed worlds and climbing rides on pavement.
Used to own a SL6, great bike, did some awesome rides on it. Super stable, perfect long distance bike. However for me personally, it always felt a little sluggish to get it going(might have been the wheels). I recently swapped to a canyon grizl and it feels like a rocket ship to me compared to the sl6, and its still on the stock 2kg dr swiss wheels.
Probably. I have an SL7, which came with the 25mm carbon hoops, and it doesn’t feel sluggish to get going. The SL6 has some really heavy parts - the Rival crank is a boat anchor, the wheels aren’t light. Upgrade those 2 and you’d be close to the Sl7 weight.
But, I do feel the length of the bike on road rides. My 'cross bike feels far more nimble (if it wasn’t a SS, I’d use it as my main road bike instead of the CP).
SL6 wheels have a weight spec of 1780g
SL7 wheels have a weight spec of 1575g
Difference of 205g, or 0.45 pounds.
My Roval Terra have a weight spec of 1296g, or about 1.1 pounds less than the stock SL6 wheels.
I’ve been curious about my road bike vs Checkpoint, haven’t ridden both bikes back-to-back so here is the next best thing… a comparison of recent Sunday morning rides on a segment with steady power:
Bikes:
- 2022 Trek Checkpoint SL6 with Roval Terra 1300g wheels
- 2021 Specialized Tarmac SL7 with Roval Rapide CLXII wheels
- 2015 Trek Domane 6.2 Disc with ENVE 5.6 Disc wheels
Strava Segment: due West for 1.3 miles, flat and unprotected from wind. I’ve selected a few segments in low wind conditions, and when I was riding endurance on that segment.
- August 13 2023: Tarmac with 28c/32c S-Works Mondo tires, Wind 3-4mph out of SW, temp 63F, and I was pulling (2 columns of riders)
- October 8, 2023: Tarmac with 32c GP5000 All Season TR tires, Wind SSW 2-4mph, temp 68F, NOT pulling
- October 15, 2023: Tarmac with 32c GP5000 All Season TR tires, Wind NNW 2-4mph, temp 59F, pulling for 2/3 of segment
- October 29, 2023: Checkpoint with 42c S-Works Pathfinder tires, Wind N 2-4mph, temp 48F, only two of us and riding side-by-side chatting
and a ‘bonus’ older ride on gen1 2015 Domane 6.2 Disc bike
- April 1, 2020: Domane with Continental 4 Seasons (butyl tubes), Wind NNW 5mph, temp 63F, solo
Without back-to-back testing its hard to say much, however at roughly 19-21mph, in a 90 degree crosswind the Checkpoint is not that much slower than my Tarmac in 45 degree crosswinds.
Surprised at how fast the 42c S-Works Pathfinder tires appear to roll given the temperature was a lot lower than the other rides in low wind conditions. Was running 58psi rear, 56psi front. About 10psi lower than S-Works Mondo and GP5K AS TR tires.
My body is a LOT more comfortable on the Checkpoint than on the Tarmac. No problems doing an imperial century or longer on the Checkpoint.
FWIW, I’ve found fast gravel tires (Pathfinder, Terra Speed, etc) to be ~1mph slower on flattish pavement at similar power output. That’s same bike, just with the wheels/tires swapped. Totally unscientific, but it really is shocking how fast the current generation of gravel tires can scoot down the road. Really just shows how critical aero is once you start moving at fast recreational speeds.
the first and third Tarmac examples were +1mph vs Checkpoint, but also +20W and +10W. However different wind, different temps, pulling group vs solo side-by-side.
waving my hands and saying “close enough, small edge to Tarmac at 20mph, will be interesting to see how Checkpoint rolls on GP5K All Season TR tires (35c)”