WW4M: Donnelly USH 700 X 40mm Tires

 

The Gravel Bus with the Donnelly USH 700 X 40mm tires.

This is another "WW4M" post. That means "What Works For Me" and it may not work for you. So, take that with the following words into consideration.....

So, we have a tire review here of a tire that, frankly, I was prepared not to like very much. See, I had tried a USH from (then Clement) Donnelly Tires back when it first came out. that tire was a 'skinny' 35mm or so wide and just wasn't very impressive. Oh yeah, this was back when all gravel tires were tubed. Those were the days, eh?

Anyway, I needed a tire for a wheel set test last year and the marketing person for Donnelly was amenable to having me look at the USH again. So I got my mitts on a 700c X 40mm pair of the USH tires. Skin wall ones, of course. These ended up on the Noble Bikes GX5 for a time and then they went on the BMC MCD and afterward they sat on those Irwin Cycles AON GX35 carbon wheels while other stuff got tested. Then came time for the Gravel Bus to be built and well, those wheels went on and that was that. In between I knew that I wanted those tires to stay on those wheels. 

Why? Well, it goes back to a ride I did with N.Y. Roll back in late 2019 where I was testing some lights and I just have that ride stuck in my mind because, for some strange reason, those tires and I bonded. I just thought they worked well on smoother gravel. Back into the Winter months the gravel around here gets pretty smooth and was perfect for the USH. 

Now when Spring came and gravel got thick and chunky, I wasn't thinking the USH would be what I would end up running on the Gravel Bus, but ya know what? I ended up liking them just fine at "a bit lower than I had been running pressures". (No, I have no idea what it is exactly. ) I just air them up until I see that tire squat about 'just so' and then I know what I am seeing will run about right. Pay no mind to that gauge! I probably should look sometime to see what it is, but frankly, I hate giving out psi info because that information is personal and for me. It isn't a 'gospel message' or a hard and fast rule for anyone, not even myself. But most folks don't see it that way. Whatever....

This is about the USH, and I like it a lot. It's fast, the casing feels damped, and it actually isn't as bad as I thought on rough, chunky gravel. It 'works for me', and I think it is a tire that maybe deserves a bit more attention than it gets. 

Note: Donnelly Tires sent out the 700c X 40mm Strada USH tires for test and Review to Riding Gravel in 2019. I was not paid, nor bribed for this post and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

WW4M: Donnelly USH 700 X 40mm Tires

 

The Gravel Bus with the Donnelly USH 700 X 40mm tires.

This is another "WW4M" post. That means "What Works For Me" and it may not work for you. So, take that with the following words into consideration.....

So, we have a tire review here of a tire that, frankly, I was prepared not to like very much. See, I had tried a USH from (then Clement) Donnelly Tires back when it first came out. that tire was a 'skinny' 35mm or so wide and just wasn't very impressive. Oh yeah, this was back when all gravel tires were tubed. Those were the days, eh?

Anyway, I needed a tire for a wheel set test last year and the marketing person for Donnelly was amenable to having me look at the USH again. So I got my mitts on a 700c X 40mm pair of the USH tires. Skin wall ones, of course. These ended up on the Noble Bikes GX5 for a time and then they went on the BMC MCD and afterward they sat on those Irwin Cycles AON GX35 carbon wheels while other stuff got tested. Then came time for the Gravel Bus to be built and well, those wheels went on and that was that. In between I knew that I wanted those tires to stay on those wheels. 

Why? Well, it goes back to a ride I did with N.Y. Roll back in late 2019 where I was testing some lights and I just have that ride stuck in my mind because, for some strange reason, those tires and I bonded. I just thought they worked well on smoother gravel. Back into the Winter months the gravel around here gets pretty smooth and was perfect for the USH. 

Now when Spring came and gravel got thick and chunky, I wasn't thinking the USH would be what I would end up running on the Gravel Bus, but ya know what? I ended up liking them just fine at "a bit lower than I had been running pressures". (No, I have no idea what it is exactly. ) I just air them up until I see that tire squat about 'just so' and then I know what I am seeing will run about right. Pay no mind to that gauge! I probably should look sometime to see what it is, but frankly, I hate giving out psi info because that information is personal and for me. It isn't a 'gospel message' or a hard and fast rule for anyone, not even myself. But most folks don't see it that way. Whatever....

This is about the USH, and I like it a lot. It's fast, the casing feels damped, and it actually isn't as bad as I thought on rough, chunky gravel. It 'works for me', and I think it is a tire that maybe deserves a bit more attention than it gets. 

Note: Donnelly Tires sent out the 700c X 40mm Strada USH tires for test and Review to Riding Gravel in 2019. I was not paid, nor bribed for this post and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

A Tale Of Two Tubeless Set Ups

Tubeless and meant to be.

Back in 2012 I had my first experiences with Clement tires and I was playing around with two models- The MSO 40mm and the USH 35mm tires. I liked the MSO straight away, but I wasn't falling in love with the narrower, harsher riding USH. So, I decided upon trying the USH out with the Velocity A-23's in a tubeless manner. That went........well, rather poorly. I struggled for weeks until I finally got the USH tires set up tubeless with some guidance from my friend MG. You can check out a brief recap of the deal by clicking here to read my August 2012 post about it.

The USH was vastly better tubeless, but the tire leaked down a lot, and I wasn't 100% confident in the fit on the rim, being very afraid to raise the pressures above 45psi for fear of blowing them off. That pressure, as it turns out, wasn't high enough to handle me on gravel roads. So, I abandoned the whole deal, and since the USH was a wholly different tire in a worse way with tubes, I never rode them again.

The silver A-23's make the BMC look more classy than ever.

Fast forward to November of this year. I received the newest tire from Clement for review on RidingGravel.com. It is a 36mm wide tire in the MSO model. Very similar width to the USH, but with a design that considered tubeless set ups from the onset.

Using the same A-23 rims- as in the exact same ones as I had in 2012- I was able to set up both tires tubeless from the beginning to the end of the process in a half an hour. Compare that to the hours and hours of work and trial and error to get those USH tires to go tubeless and it becomes evident that a specific design for tubeless makes a world of difference here.

Plus, I can run higher pressures since the tire fits better and has an actual tubeless bead that can handle the stresses of being set up tubeless. The sole barrier against you having a great ride or having the tire blow off the rim catastrophically and causing you to biff yourself spectacularly is the bead of the tire and how it fits the rim. And things could go really bad if it were only a folding bead tire like the USH I tried. A real tubeless design? That's peace of mind right there, that's what that is! Now I can have a decent pressure for me and my style of riding. That's important.

One more thing to add, and that is that these are, (hopefully they rectified this), compatible with sealant. The old, folding bead Clements were not getting along with sealants at all. Delaminated casings were the main cause for concern here, but blistering was also noted by some riders. So, say what you will about converting tires that are folding bead, non-tubeless design to tubeless. I ain't listening to that clap-trap. Not when you don't have to do that dance anymore. Now that several tubeless tires from 32mm-42mm tires exist, there is no need to convert something that was never meant to be converted.

A Tale Of Two Tubeless Set Ups

Tubeless and meant to be.

Back in 2012 I had my first experiences with Clement tires and I was playing around with two models- The MSO 40mm and the USH 35mm tires. I liked the MSO straight away, but I wasn't falling in love with the narrower, harsher riding USH. So, I decided upon trying the USH out with the Velocity A-23's in a tubeless manner. That went........well, rather poorly. I struggled for weeks until I finally got the USH tires set up tubeless with some guidance from my friend MG. You can check out a brief recap of the deal by clicking here to read my August 2012 post about it.

The USH was vastly better tubeless, but the tire leaked down a lot, and I wasn't 100% confident in the fit on the rim, being very afraid to raise the pressures above 45psi for fear of blowing them off. That pressure, as it turns out, wasn't high enough to handle me on gravel roads. So, I abandoned the whole deal, and since the USH was a wholly different tire in a worse way with tubes, I never rode them again.

The silver A-23's make the BMC look more classy than ever.

Fast forward to November of this year. I received the newest tire from Clement for review on RidingGravel.com. It is a 36mm wide tire in the MSO model. Very similar width to the USH, but with a design that considered tubeless set ups from the onset.

Using the same A-23 rims- as in the exact same ones as I had in 2012- I was able to set up both tires tubeless from the beginning to the end of the process in a half an hour. Compare that to the hours and hours of work and trial and error to get those USH tires to go tubeless and it becomes evident that a specific design for tubeless makes a world of difference here.

Plus, I can run higher pressures since the tire fits better and has an actual tubeless bead that can handle the stresses of being set up tubeless. The sole barrier against you having a great ride or having the tire blow off the rim catastrophically and causing you to biff yourself spectacularly is the bead of the tire and how it fits the rim. And things could go really bad if it were only a folding bead tire like the USH I tried. A real tubeless design? That's peace of mind right there, that's what that is! Now I can have a decent pressure for me and my style of riding. That's important.

One more thing to add, and that is that these are, (hopefully they rectified this), compatible with sealant. The old, folding bead Clements were not getting along with sealants at all. Delaminated casings were the main cause for concern here, but blistering was also noted by some riders. So, say what you will about converting tires that are folding bead, non-tubeless design to tubeless. I ain't listening to that clap-trap. Not when you don't have to do that dance anymore. Now that several tubeless tires from 32mm-42mm tires exist, there is no need to convert something that was never meant to be converted.

Box-o-Goodness Part V

This post is a follow-up to the last Box-o-Goodness post I did back in May, which concerns the Clement MSO and USH tires. (You can click here to see that.) I also did a formal review on Gravel Grinder News, (posted here), which is on the USH specifically.

Tubeless success!

This post will deal specifically on the tubeless set up on the X'Polr USH tires. As some may recall here, I had been battling getting these to stay airtight for several weeks. I was about to give up, but I didn't.

To recap-The issue was with how the bead was seating into the A-23's, and how my sealant, (MG Homebrew), was allowing thousands of small leaks around the bead seat.

The fix was to mix up the sealant thicker, add in more, and tap the wheel on the ground in a manner that would cause the sealant inside to splash up into the area of the bead seat. This worked and essentially solved the problem. I still had some leakdown, however, but now a ride of an hour's length or more ended up getting everything sealed up perfectly. Now the tires are trouble free, and I have confidence in the set up.

A list of things to note;

• I had slowly gravitated to mixing up my solution for sealant to being less thick. I will rectify that and I should see better results in the future.
• The Velocity tape is slightly different than Stan's yellow tape. My gut instinct is that Stan's tape probably would have worked better in this instance since it is ever so slightly thicker, and slightly less "plastic-like" than the Velocity tape. I have had really good success with Velocity's blue tape, but in this instance, I think the Stan's would have been superior. 
• The X'Plor USH is so much better tubeless that I can not even think about running tubes in them ever, with the exception of an emergency repair in the field. I was blown away by how much improved they were tubeless. 
• These USH tires are, without a doubt, the skinniest tires I would ever consider running on gravel roads.

Now I have to wonder how the MSO would do tubeless. That will be found out next. I have the USH's now to fall back on, so I can take my time with the MSO tires to get things correct the first time. I do have a specific plan, and I am confident I shall see success the first go round without waiting for weeks to see success.

Disclaimer: The Clement tires I am using are not tubeless rated tires and you should not set Clement clincher foldable tires up tubeless unless you are willing to assume all risks and void all warranties. I make no claims as to your results if you choose to mount Clement clinchers up tubeless. You are on your own and are responsible for your own decisions. 

 This is the first time I have attempted to set up a tire under 1.8" in width tubeless, and I have to say that I had my worries about how they would work out for me. So far, I can see nothing but positives for myself. The ride is better damped, smoother, and obviously I have all but eliminated pinch flatting from happening to me. The sealant will help with anything going into the tire, and my past experiences have shown the sealant works great in those instances. 

But I'll still be packing a tube along for rides! ;>)

I did lower the pressures to near 40psi with the rear tire at slightly above that. I think I could edge that down slightly, but a little air pressure change in a tire with little volume is going to make a bigger difference than a big, voluminous tire reduced in air pressure a tiny bit.

So, there you have it so far. I will be back with further updates on the MSO and USH in a month or so. Stay tuned....

Box-o-Goodness Part V

This post is a follow-up to the last Box-o-Goodness post I did back in May, which concerns the Clement MSO and USH tires. (You can click here to see that.) I also did a formal review on Gravel Grinder News, (posted here), which is on the USH specifically.

Tubeless success!

This post will deal specifically on the tubeless set up on the X'Polr USH tires. As some may recall here, I had been battling getting these to stay airtight for several weeks. I was about to give up, but I didn't.

To recap-The issue was with how the bead was seating into the A-23's, and how my sealant, (MG Homebrew), was allowing thousands of small leaks around the bead seat.

The fix was to mix up the sealant thicker, add in more, and tap the wheel on the ground in a manner that would cause the sealant inside to splash up into the area of the bead seat. This worked and essentially solved the problem. I still had some leakdown, however, but now a ride of an hour's length or more ended up getting everything sealed up perfectly. Now the tires are trouble free, and I have confidence in the set up.

A list of things to note;

• I had slowly gravitated to mixing up my solution for sealant to being less thick. I will rectify that and I should see better results in the future.
• The Velocity tape is slightly different than Stan's yellow tape. My gut instinct is that Stan's tape probably would have worked better in this instance since it is ever so slightly thicker, and slightly less "plastic-like" than the Velocity tape. I have had really good success with Velocity's blue tape, but in this instance, I think the Stan's would have been superior. 
• The X'Plor USH is so much better tubeless that I can not even think about running tubes in them ever, with the exception of an emergency repair in the field. I was blown away by how much improved they were tubeless. 
• These USH tires are, without a doubt, the skinniest tires I would ever consider running on gravel roads.

Now I have to wonder how the MSO would do tubeless. That will be found out next. I have the USH's now to fall back on, so I can take my time with the MSO tires to get things correct the first time. I do have a specific plan, and I am confident I shall see success the first go round without waiting for weeks to see success.

Disclaimer: The Clement tires I am using are not tubeless rated tires and you should not set Clement clincher foldable tires up tubeless unless you are willing to assume all risks and void all warranties. I make no claims as to your results if you choose to mount Clement clinchers up tubeless. You are on your own and are responsible for your own decisions. 

 This is the first time I have attempted to set up a tire under 1.8" in width tubeless, and I have to say that I had my worries about how they would work out for me. So far, I can see nothing but positives for myself. The ride is better damped, smoother, and obviously I have all but eliminated pinch flatting from happening to me. The sealant will help with anything going into the tire, and my past experiences have shown the sealant works great in those instances. 

But I'll still be packing a tube along for rides! ;>)

I did lower the pressures to near 40psi with the rear tire at slightly above that. I think I could edge that down slightly, but a little air pressure change in a tire with little volume is going to make a bigger difference than a big, voluminous tire reduced in air pressure a tiny bit.

So, there you have it so far. I will be back with further updates on the MSO and USH in a month or so. Stay tuned....