Advice on Slime Tyres for Carrero TDF

I cannot recommend Slime tubes, the slime goo will not seal a leak once the air pressure exceeds 65psi, and when it leaks out it makes a mess of the inside of your rim and tire. In addition to all of that, their presta valves suck big time.

Instead you should go with your first line of defense against flats...your tires. If you want the best flat resistant tire on the market then have a set of Specialized All Condition tires put on. Those tires will stop most flat causing objects dead in it's tracks, and they wear a long long time. They cost about $45 each. Once you have those tires put in you won't have a need for thorn tubes either because no throne can penetrate it, thus you can get away with a lighter tube. Also their tough flat protecting belt extends all the way into the sidewall making it flat resistant and difficult to damage too.

The Armadillo is heavy at 405 grams for a 700c X 23 tire but if you buy a Conti Gator Hardshell (their toughest tire) it will weigh 330 grams but only have a Duraskin sidewall that is no where near as tough as the Armadillo sidewall, and the Conti tread is not quite as tough as the Armidillo. But the question is, are you willing to sacrifice some flat resistance for a lighter tire?

With the Armadillo I found you can run lower air pressure then what you would normally run by about 15psi front and rear and makes the harsh ride feel better without worrying about pinch flats.

WIll have a look at them, thanks. Would you suggest a good on line shop to get these at - I live in Ireland so would need them to be able to deliver here.
Thanks,

Tara

Slime is a gimmick and does not work in high pressure tires and only slows small leaks in lower pressure ones. Slime patches do work ok.

A puncture proof tire is a myth, if one really existed you would not want to ride it anyway it would be way to heavy and slow. In a desparate moment, I put a Specalized all condition pro on my rear wheel a month ago. Since then I have had 3 flats (a very small needle shaped piece of wire was embedded in the tread) and the tire is wore all the way to the threads after only about 500 miles.

I do ride with thorn resistant tubes and run of the mill 700x23 tires in lesser road bike. I cant recall ever having a flat with those tubes in, but they do make the bike feel slower.

My reccomendation is to be prepared. Leave a few minutes earlier. Get decent tires and learn to practice fixing a flat. The proper tools are inexpensive and a tire should be able to be repaired in a matter of minutes. After a ride or riding an especially debris filled section, inspect the tire and remove any embedded fragments. Be aware of the path ahead of you and avoid debis when you can. I used to get a flat every week or so, with experience it seems that I may get one or two - on the road - flats a season.

In the end, you would be more delayed by foul wind / weather than you should be by a flat tire.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by maydog [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Since then I have had 3 flats (a very small needle shaped piece of wire was embedded in the tread) and the tire is wore all the way to the threads after only about 500 miles.

I do ride with thorn resistant tubes and run of the mill 700x23 tires in lesser road bike. I cant recall ever having a flat with those tubes in, but they do make the bike feel slower.

How in the world did you wear out a tire like the Armadillo All Condition in 500 miles? That's impossible unless your skidding on it all the time. You ask, or read any forum anywhere on the internet and the least amount of mileage I've read has been 4,000 miles...no where near 500, so I'm calling this BS.

And thorn resistant tubes do very little in preventing flats. You don't know what the freak your talking about.

I must have forgot that everything posted on the Internet is authoritative, gospel truth and statistically significant sample of all the users of said product. None of them are poor college kids paid to do product reviews that's for sure.

I never said that I wore out an armadillo. I wore out an all condition Pro, which is the predecessor to this, I believe:

http://specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=42725

Give the same properties, thicker materials will always be less prone to puncture - since the puncture must penetrate deeper to breach the membrane. They also resist bulging out of a torn sidewall much better. My experience is that I have not had flats with the thicker tubes. The benefits are limited and there are the downsides of increased weight and higher rolling resistance. I run thinner tubes most of the time now.

My point was, get good equipment, but also know how to deal with a flat when it happens. I have been on rides with folks on gatorskins who have flatted - it happens to everyone.

Ok, I checked my logs and the tire actually has 1041 miles on it. It was ridden on some dirt roads and chip seal, but nothing extreme - but I am a clydesdale.

Since images are "proof" on the net. Here they are:

[IMG]cyclingforums.com500Open ↗[/IMG][IMG]cyclingforums.com500Open ↗[/IMG]
[IMG]cyclingforums.com500Open ↗[/IMG]
[IMG]cyclingforums.com500Open ↗[/IMG]

Great, you showed a tire that wore out, that's not proof they only have 500 miles on them, it's also not proof that they weren't abused by perhaps skidding a lot on them for fun. I've had those exact tires and got over 4,000 miles on them and riding them on winding twisting mountain roads which wear out tires faster then a straighter level roads would.

Even the fastest wearing tire made and I ever used called the Continental Supersonic lasted 1,200 miles of racing!

So I still call your post BS.