tyres for long commute & frequent flats?

[MacB]

Sorry Mac, just a little light hearted reference to the "Fairy" so commonly referred to on her. Not meant to be taken seriously.

seriously? I thought the sacrificial chickens gave away my intent

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

seriously? I thought the sacrificial chickens gave away my intent

Ah, I see, missed the intent. Sorry again. I was a bit taken aback, I must confess.

I do actually do all those things you mention in the second paragraph: 'ceptin walking under ladders, but that's only 'cos I don't like paint pots dropped on my head.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Ah, I see, missed the intent. Sorry again. I was a bit taken aback, I must confess.

I do actually do all those things you mention in the second paragraph: 'ceptin walking under ladders, but that's only 'cos I don't like paint pots dropped on my head.

AND I've just noticed that I spelt "here" as "her" in that earlier post. That's it, I'm going home. And taking my ball with me. [/flounce]

 

[4F]

I think it's one of those things I get about once a month with my Marathon Pluses pumped up to 100psi with a track pump.

Ok, try 105 psi then

 

[MacB]

Ok, try 105 psi then

keep going 4F, take him up in small increments until he explodes a tyre

 

[4F]

Oh, you are SO setting yourself up for a visit !!

Just very confident in the current rubber I use on the commuter

However for my speed machine I use Michelin krylion carbon. Very nice and quick and in tart mode you can get colour co-ordination as well. Mine are yellow like these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Michelin-Kryl...23-Yellow_W0QQitemZ390086844343QQcmdZViewItem

 

[4F]

keep going 4F, take him up in small increments until he explodes a tyre

Sssssh or should I say psssst

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Just very confident in the current rubber I use on the commuter

However for my speed machine I use Michelin krylion carbon. Very nice and quick and in tart mode you can get colour co-ordination as well. Mine are yellow like these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Michelin-Kryl...23-Yellow_W0QQitemZ390086844343QQcmdZViewItem

I've just put the knobblies back on after a summer on slicks, due to it getting damper on the off-road bits of my commute. And the high likelihood of my commute soon becoming both shorter and about 90% off-road .. and I'm much less confident in them!! Still, two days in and I can already feel the muscles building in my legs. Or feel the muscles aching at least.

I won't be going for tarts colours: pretty soon, it'll all be one attractive shade of mud ..

 

[Tynan]

anyone care to hazard a guess at the speed sacrifice from the heavier tyres?

jimbo?

 

[MacB]

anyone care to hazard a guess at the speed sacrifice from the heavier tyres?

jimbo?

Hard to be precise because of the variables but the M+'s I use are 35mm and weigh nearly 3 times as much as a 23mm tyre, approx 970g according to the Schwalbe website. I tried a rough comparison earlier this week:-

Commute on bike with M+ tyres, guards and rack, total deadweight for bike 36lbs, working hard I get about 15.2mph over 20 miles.

20 miles on lighter bike, no guards or rack, 24lbs total, 23mm Luguno tyres, same effort will get me about 17.5-18mph.

Both bikes have similar set up and the same bars/ride position. So that could be as much as a 20% increase on effort return. But that gain is across all the factors.

I suppose the only way to categorise is to setup a bike in different configurations, ride it enough to establish a reasonable average, and note the differences for each factor. In reality I'd just guess at any one factor not attributing more than 5%.

 

[ASC1951]

Any ideas on tyre pressure, wheel truing or whatever? Our LBS just keeps happily patching or replacing the tyres/ inners and we just keep forking out again and again.

Sorry if you are already aware of this, but the Late Great Sheldon is the first reference point for most of us -
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/flats.html

My guess at the most likely causes would be:-
1 riding in the gutter
2 underinflation
3 a problem with the rims. Unlikely, IME, because you both seem to get them all the time, but the way to spot these is to fit the tyres and tubes in exactly the same position every time and note where they puncture. Properly fitted rim tape sorts most of these.

Don't accept punctures as an inevitable part of cycling. If you get more than a clutch a year, something is wrong. Ok, I don't commute, but I'm down to one or two a year.

 

[earth]

If you keep going to the bike shop to get inner tubes replaced then maybe you get a puncture repair kit and learn to fix them yourself. Get a track pump with a gauge to keep your tyres at the correct pressure (says on the side wall) yourself.

After that there are a few tyres that have good puncture protection and then there are things like slim inner tubes.

 

[GrasB]

Maybe you've got tyres which have very bad puncture resistance? I tried some Continental UltraSport Kevlars & averaged a puncture every 60 to 70 miles. I could always find the source of the puncture & removed it if still located in the tyre. Moved back to Continental Ultras Gator Skins & not one puncture in 1500 miles. Lesson learnt; trying to save £6 on tyres isn't worth the hassle.