>>1729965Thanks for the comment. I think you're taking 'midwit' as more of an insult than it is; we agree that GKs are perfectly respectable 105 IQ, 4/5 tires.
>the supplepillI'm not aware of empirical evidence that suppleness has substantial benefits not captured by existing well-defined measures like rolling resistance / PSI / width / suspension loss and isn't mostly marketing for thin tires. when I google for evidence it I mostly just find the websites of people who sell and market thin tires.
The physics of pneumatic tires offer reasons to be skeptical of 'suppleness is everything' claims, simply because PSI overwhelmingly determines the rigidity of the sidewalls in pneumatic tires. want suppler tires? drop PSI by 2, voila. I think we agree that using the finest thinnest supplest rubber in the universe will make some difference on the margin, but in general tires have >95% of their suspension losses and comfort determined by the air inside them.
Where we disagree, I think, is that marginal benefits from thin or supple rubber are worth the decreased puncture protection. Cutting your puncture protection by 40% for a modest-if-it-does exist bump in perceived comfort isn't worth it, unless you have a support car.
Sidewall flats are much rarer in general than tread punctures; a robust tread and thinner sidewalls, a la the GP5000s, represents an ideal balance in my view.
