Installation: (15,980 miles) Installation is straight forward and took about 1 hour. The wheels and tires were purchased from Tire Rack (www.tirerack.com) and were shipped mounted and balanced. SSR provides very nice aluminum valve stems and caps. The wheels come with a centering ring and necessary bolts. The tires are directional. The wheels are +32 mm offset and weigh 21.2 lbs each. I don’t have any photographs of the installation itself (not that anyone really cares to see someone change a tire), but I do have several photographs of the drive I took the following day preparing for the Cheat Mountain Challenge (a 107 mile bicycle tour).

Test Drive and Initial Impressions: Beautiful, late summer weather provided the perfect opportunity to get the TT on the road and stretch its legs and test its new socks and shoes. The wheels/tires are surprisingly quiet and do not transmit excessive vibration. The tires performed admirable on the mostly dry pavement. I only managed to get the rear-end to slip once, in a rough turn as I was accelerating. The ECS caught and corrected the slip in a small fraction of a second. I am very pleased with the performance of my new setup.

Leaving Charleston, WV, at 6:00 AM, I proceeded to travel East on US Route 60 (Midland Trail) to Gauley Bridge. Following WV Route 39 (North) through Summersville and then Richwood you meet WV Route 150 (Highland Scenic Highway) near the Cranberry Visitors Center in the Monongahela National Forest. The photographs below were taken at overlooks along the Scenic Highway. The Scenic Highway is about 20 miles of just about the most-beautiful two-lane highways in West Virginia and offers spectacular vistas. Turn North on US Route 219, follow WV Route 66E toward Snowshoe Mountain, turn left on Snowshoe Drive and proceed to the top of the mountain. You’ll arrive at the resort about 3 hours after departing Charleston, which could make for a nice lunch stop. From there, continue out Snowshoe Drive toward WV Route 66. Turn left onto WV Route 66 and go down the mountain, right on County Road 1 (Back Mountain Road), bear left at Y in road (remain on CR 1), bear right at Y in road (remain on CR 1), pass through Clover Lick, turn left on CR 1/4 (Laurel Run Road), right on WV Route 28 (South), left on WV Route 39 (East), pass through Huntersville, turn right on CR 21 (Beaver Creek Road), turn right at Watoga State Forest South Entrance, turn left going up to Anne Bailey trailhead, continue straight at the bottom of Trailhead Drive, pass by Watoga Lake, turn right towards Seebert and US Route 219, turn right on US Route 219 (North) toward Marlinton, pass through Millpoint, and turn left on WV Route 39 (West). From here, you return to the Cranberry Visitors Center and can follow WV Route 39 and US Route 60 back to Charleston. Total drive distance was about 325 miles in about 6.5 hours (average speed 50 mph). There are plenty of opportunities for stops along (or near) the drive, including at Snowshoe, Meck’s Bakery, Watoga State Park, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Monongahela National Forest, the Greenbrier River, etc.