Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700C x 35mm were the ones that made me experience what people mean when they say that bicycle tires are the best way to make a road bike comfortable and faster to a certain extent.
If you are new here, I should mention that my style of road biking is distance (or endurance) and bike touring meaning that my rides tend to be long and take me to places with different kinds of road surfaces.
The second thing you should know is that although I have travelled extensively by bicycle, my maintenance and repair skills are poor and I know that I limit myself by not even being able to change a flat tyre properly.
With that in mind, let get back to the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 35mm tire story.
I first got the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tires on my OPEN U.P.P.E.R road/gravel bike when I was in the UK and was on my world tour to raise funds for World Bicycle Relief and wanted to get a bicycle with gears because it more efficient than a circumnavigation with a fixed-gear ride.
I had heard about the company René HERSE and how instrumental they were in turning two unpopular concepts into what’s now considered common sense in the cycling industry: wide tires on road bikes (as opposed to skinny ones) and tyres with supple casings (as opposed to the standard rigid ones).
The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700 x 35 bicycle tires were recommended to me because they were wide enough to keep me comfortable on bad roads but also ride on unpaved roads that were not too sandy, muddy or rocky.
The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass were also said to be faster than thinner road bike tires because their width gave them a lower rolling resistance which did not make sense but tests from various publications, cycling brands had proven that it was factual.
The third reason the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 35mm tyres were selected for my OPEN bike was that tubeless wider tires tend to resist punctures more than skinny clinchers.
All that was theory but the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tire recommendation came from influential figures in the cycling community so I went with it.
Twelve hours after getting the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700 x 35 tires on the equally brand new OPEN U.P.P.E.R road/gravel bike, I cycled from Bristol to London in the United Kingdom, a brutal ride in rain, cold, heat and in some pitch darkness given that daylight is scarce in Autumn in that part of the world.
After a tough 200 km in the British countryside, I became a big fan of the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tires.
Everything that had said about them had turned out to be more than true.
The ride started in pitch darkness and that annoying thin rain that I only find in the UK or in British Columbia, the Canadian province. Even with our headlights and my two cycling companions and I calling out for road hazards, I rode into some potholes and the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 35mm tyres would absorb them without a fuss and so I became less worried about fixing my eyes on asphalt but looking ahead.
That annoying drizzle also has a way of making roads slippery. The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tires were glued on those country roads without any issue although in instances where tractors had left muddy tracks, they would slip a little which is expected from slick tires.
Roads in the United Kingdom are not as bad as the ones in the province of Québec where I live but they are not exactly Switzerland material. I found out that I had gotten a flat but never noticed because the sealant in the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tire tubeless setup did its job wonderfully and I kept riding on unbothered.
The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tyres were definitely faster than the traditional Continental Gatorskins or Hardshells that I was used to. I know that the said tires are not the fastest in the Continental range but I rode 28 mm and 32 mm and so the 35 mm width of the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass was not an issue.
The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700 x 35 road and light gravel tires come in light, standard and endurance casings.
The light are faster and lighter but on very bad roads they will be prone to punctures. The endurance are as puncture resistant as possible and yet they still remain supple and faster. I rode the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 35 mm tires in Standard casing which combines are fast, supple and offer quite a good puncture protection.
Thanks to the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tires, I rode across the UK and on mainland Europe in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and survived the Swiss mountain passes at speed, without a single flat or never worrying about the road surface. I would even take shortcuts into unpaved forest roads to save myself five kilometres here and there.
Who are the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tyres for?
Anyone with a road bike who is mostly on paved surfaces good or terrible and who likes to venture off-road on pathways that are hardpacked. In mud, snow and sand, they will struggle but if you have good balance and bike handling skills, you too might get away with it as I did when the GPS misled me in the UK farmlands and I was battling mud for an hour!
If you ride on excellent roads or can repair a flat the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass in light casing should be your pick. If your roads are terrible or will be venturing in the middle of nowhere get the endurance. If you want the best of the light and endurance whilst interested in saving some money, the standard casings are for you.
The Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700C x 35mm tires will be good for your back and bum for two reasons: 1) You will experience less discomfort on your road bike 2) You will spend less time in the saddle hence less discomfort because you will get to your destination faster!