New tyres, new lessons learned

[mclarenF1racer]

Well I got my first pair of road tyres yesterday, continental ultra gators 700 x 28c, I got my bike into the house to fit them this morning and do a few other things to it, move seat back, fit new light, alter existing rear light as the new bag that I have hanging from the seat obscured it, reset speedometer due to new tyre size.

Anyway fitted the front one more or less with no problems, blew it up put it on and adjusted brake.
The rear came off easy but the new one going on was harder, I got it on and then noticed that there was a rotation mark on it and the way I had it on wasnt the way it was meant to be, so off with the tyre, eventually got it, blew it up and it went back down, DOH! took tyre off, removed tube, fitted new tube being carefull not to pinch it, blew it up, put it on, adjusted brake, magic.

decided to give it a spin, it was a flying machine compared to the hybrid tyres i had, got a couple of miles from home on a cycle track and bumped down a kerb and up on another, instant flat rear tyre!!
Having never cycled with road tyres I wasnt aware that you couldnt do the kerb thing and ended up with a pinch flat.

Walked home, took rear wheel off again, tube out, went to bike store for some scab patches and also got a new tube.
Back home decided to fit the new tube, blew it up, put it on and done some other things, few mins later the tyre is flat, wheel off, tube out, patch on the bit that I had obviously pinched whilst putting the tyre back on.
blew up back on bike.

The end.

well, the lesson that I have learned is, be very carefull when putting the tyre on so as to avoid pinch. Dont bump up kerbs with road wheels on!!

tyres are great though, very fast and grippy, but I have been informed that this all changes in the wet weather.

thanks for reading my saga.

Andy

 

[mclarenF1racer]

I normally slow down for the kerb, but not way slow, pull up on the front up off the saddle for the rear weight to the front. I knew when I hit it that it wasn't good.
I had the pressure at 90psi - 95 psi so that should have been ok.

Will treat them with a little more kid gloves from now.

 

[Tynan]

good luck with them, I found them rather shitty in the wet and cut up far too much, people do rate them though

28 is rather fat ...

 

[cheadle hulme]

Yeah, be careful in the wet until you know the limits. They're not known for wet grip.

 

[jasper]

I had the pressure at 90psi - 95 psi so that should have been ok.

Try pumping to about 120psi

 

[mclarenF1racer]

Tynan - I had hybrid tyres on the bike and wanted to try slicks to see if there was much of a difference, so I checked the rims to see what the size was, went to the manufacturers web page ( rigida ) and they say the lowest can go with 19 din, is 28c, hence the "fat" tyre.
I was looking to put on Krylions but they still out of production and not due in till Nov/Dec then was going to get 4 season tyres but saw these at £4.50 each in halfords ( a steal I would say ). If I dont like the road tyres then all I have lost is £9, if I do, which I think I will, then I can get better ones but would probably have to buy new rims to go lower than the 28c.
Will take it easy in the wet thanks for the advice, kinda making me sh*t it now to take it out in the wet.
120psi, thats a hard hard tyre, I will give it a go and see how it rides, still going to slow way down for kerbs now though.

special mention to John the monkey for pm's thanks for your advice.

Thanks All

Andy

 

[Tynan]

I was only joking, 28 ain't fat at all