# First ride with new tyres



## lulubel (14 Nov 2012)

My new tyres are Conti Mountain King ProTection, and they're lovely. They went on easily (not quite as easily as the Racing Ralphs, but still without levers), and the box included 2 tubes with presta valves, so I used the full set and pumped them up with the track pump.

(The story of why our track pump doesn't have a working schraeder side is long and not very interesting!)

The track pump said they were at 30psi when I stopped, and I don't believe that for a moment because they felt pretty hard. But I decided to try them like that, and headed into the woods above town (carrying 2 spare tubes just in case) to test them out. The back wheel was slipping a bit on the climb (although not as badly as the RRs had when they were pumped up hard) so I let some air out at the top of the climb, until they felt "a bit squishy" to the thumb test.

The result? Bouncy bike!

It felt great. I could feel the back tyre absorbing the bumps. The difference in feel between the MKs and the RRs is that I now feel like I've got some squashy rubber between the bike and the ground. There's a lot of feedback coming through the bike to tell me what's going on, which I didn't get at all with the RRs - they either rattled around or punctured. The feel is similar to the good parts of what I had with the tyres on my old bike - only better.

I decided to see how well they performed, and pointed the bike at the bumpiest, sharpest, jaggedest (may have made up a word or two there) bits of rocky trail I could find. Then I went down a bit of rocky singletrack that I've avoided with the Cube until now because I knew the RRs would make it unpleasant. I've never enjoyed it so much. I turned round at the bottom and went back up. I did have to get off a couple of times when I was about a bike's length away from making it up over a really steep bit, but that's nothing compared to the 10-20% pushing I've had to do in the past. With a bit more practice, I think I'll be able to ride all the way up.

I rode around a bit more, singing 60s songs - no, I don't know why - found a track that went nowhere, but had great fun going nowhere and back! Was looking off to one side when I glanced back and noticed a very big patch of deep, sticky mud ahead of me, and knew the chances of losing control in it and going over sideways were quite high. I grabbed a handful of front brake - unfortunately, I seem to have learned that it's the one on the left pretty quickly - and let it go again when the back wheel became airborne! My first thought was, "Cool. My first ever stoppie." In my efforts to avoid landing on my side in mud, I nearly landed on my face in it! (At least it would have been a relatively soft landing.)

No visits from the fairy this ride, despite my best efforts, but I'm not going to become complacent. It's early days yet.

One probably bad thing about my new bike and tyre combination .....

The old bike was forcing me to develop some skills and learn some technique because the consequences of not learning it would have been painful. My new bike is already teaching me to be a hooligan.

(I know some of you will want to warn me about being careful and not getting over confident, etc, etc after reading this post, and I know exactly where you're coming from. But I should add that any silliness on my part takes place at low speeds on fairly flat and non-technical sections of trail. As soon as it gets a bit faster or trickier, my fear - or should that be awareness of my own mortality? - keeps me sensible!)


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## Motozulu (14 Nov 2012)

Sounds good Lulubell - and confidence is the key I think, the more nervy I am the more likely to fall off, sounds like your tyres will help. I've invested in a good pressure guage which I carry with me - I know now at what pressures my bike performs best at given the surface I'm on so set it just before I hit the Dog - 28 front, 34 back.


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## GrumpyGregry (14 Nov 2012)

lulubel, please buy a digital gauge and give your thumbs a break.


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## lulubel (14 Nov 2012)

GregCollins said:


> lulubel, please buy a digital gauge and give your thumbs a break.


 
I was actually thinking I do need to buy one of those. After what I got from the track pump, I want to know if I really am running extremely low pressures.

Are they universal - fit both types of valve - or do you have to get separate ones for presta and schraeder?


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## Davidc (14 Nov 2012)

lulubel said:


> I was actually thinking I do need to buy one of those. After what I got from the track pump, I want to know if I really am running extremely low pressures.
> 
> Are they universal - fit both types of valve - or do you have to get separate ones for presta and schraeder?


Greg's right. Mine came with Schraeder plus an adaptor.

Tyre levers are for getting tyres off, not on. That includes marathon plusses. So good for you in not using them.


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## VamP (14 Nov 2012)

This one. Extremely accurate and works on both types of valve.

I have recently checked pressures on my HT, which I assumed (from experience of course) to be around 25 psi, based on the thumb check method. Very surprised to see the front at 16 psi and the rear just above 20. Had great grip  No idea how I didn't get any snakebites though.

Schwalbe NN and RR, either of which have yet to puncture, six months into their life.


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## lulubel (14 Nov 2012)

Davidc said:


> Greg's right. Mine came with Schraeder plus an adaptor.
> 
> Tyre levers are for getting tyres off, not on. That includes marathon plusses. So good for you in not using them.


 
Thanks for that. I'll have a look for one.

It's only MTB tyres that I can get on without levers. My hands aren't strong enough to get the last bit of a road tyre over the rim, so I have to flip it on with a lever.


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## lulubel (14 Nov 2012)

VamP said:


> This one. Extremely accurate and works on both types of valve.
> 
> I have recently checked pressures on my HT, which I assumed (from experience of course) to be around 25 psi, based on the thumb check method. Very surprised to see the front at 16 psi and the rear just above 20. Had great grip  No idea how I didn't get any snakebites though.
> 
> Schwalbe NN and RR, either of which have yet to puncture, six months into their life.


 
Brilliant, thanks. (Although I think I must be keeping CRC in business at the moment, the amount of money I'm spending with them!)

If my track pump is accurate, my "thumb test" pressure is below 20psi. If it turns out to be correct, and I'm not getting any snakebites, I'll stick with it. Might as well run them as soft as I can get away with.


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## GrumpyGregry (14 Nov 2012)

lulubel said:


> Brilliant, thanks. (Although I think I must be keeping CRC in business at the moment, the amount of money I'm spending with them!)
> 
> If my track pump is accurate, my "thumb test" pressure is below 20psi. If it turns out to be correct, and I'm not getting any snakebites, I'll stick with it. Might as well run them as soft as I can get away with.


don't worry, CRC's staff Xtmas bonus is funded by me this year.

The SKS guage is excellent and my bet is your thumbs, day-by-day, like everyone else's can't tell the difference between 12psi or 20 psi let alone do so in increments of 2psi


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## VamP (14 Nov 2012)

Forgot to add, to my 'experienced' thumb check, the correctly measured 25psi feels the same as the 16psi did previously.


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## lulubel (14 Nov 2012)

GregCollins said:


> The SKS guage is excellent and my bet is your thumbs, day-by-day, like everyone else's can't tell the difference between 12psi or 20 psi let alone do so in increments of 2psi


 


VamP said:


> Forgot to add, to my 'experienced' thumb check, the correctly measured 25psi feels the same as the 16psi did previously.


 
So, my unscientific thumb-test pressures of "squishy" and "hard" must be about right 

I'll stick with squishy until the gauge comes.


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## Motozulu (15 Nov 2012)

Everyone seems to think track pump guages are rubbish - mine is. Okay it's a near bottom of the range bontrager but at true 30psi it reads 44. Possibly with very good tryes it's not as crucial but with the pile of poo that came on my Merida - it's life or death with me.


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## lulubel (15 Nov 2012)

Motozulu said:


> Everyone seems to think track pump guages are rubbish - mine is. Okay it's a near bottom of the range bontrager but at true 30psi it reads 44. Possibly with very good tryes it's not as crucial but with the pile of poo that came on my Merida - it's life or death with me.


 
Ours is a Joe Blow, so it's a decent pump. That's part of the reason why I'm curious to know whether it's very inaccurate or whether I've really been riding with very low pressures all this time.


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## Motozulu (15 Nov 2012)

It's probably much better than the Bontrager - but I'd bet there is'nt a track pump about that can touch the accuracy of a digital. Most seem to deal in 2 psi increments on the trails - my mates certainly do.


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## VamP (15 Nov 2012)

The thing about track pump gauges is that they are measuring the pressure inside the track pump. The relationship between the pressure inside the track pump and the pressure inside the tyre is convoluted at best.

So regardless of the quality of the actual gauge, the result is too vague to be helpful


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## GrumpyGregry (15 Nov 2012)

I use a digital gauge because I'm forever pumping up my tyres with a variety of pumps, mine, his, that blokes, the one in the cafe, etc., etc..


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## Cubist (15 Nov 2012)

Bit of a pumper eh?

I got one of those Schwalbe/BBB digital gauges the other day and discovered that my track pump over reads by about 5psi at 25 psi plus, so can run my tubeless setup even lower now.


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## 02GF74 (15 Nov 2012)

VamP said:


> The thing about track pump gauges is that they are measuring the pressure inside the track pump. The relationship between the pressure inside the track pump and the pressure inside the tyre is convoluted at best.
> 
> So regardless of the quality of the actual gauge, the result is too vague to be helpful


 
why do you say that? pressure is equal in all places inside any enclosed object. certainly for a shraeder valve that is open when connected to a pump what you say cannot happen, for presta the pump may read lower if the pressure insdie the tyre is higher and forcess the valve shut.


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## VamP (15 Nov 2012)

02GF74 said:


> why do you say that? pressure is equal in all places *inside any enclosed object*. certainly for a shraeder valve that is open when connected to a pump what you say cannot happen, for presta the pump may read lower if the pressure insdie the tyre is higher and forcess the valve shut.


 
It's not exactly an enclosed object, though, is it? It's a system with valves and leaks.

I challenge you to set your tyres at, say 20 psi and 23 psi respectively, and repeatably, with any track pump. Not possible.


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