A while ago I bought a set of Maxxis Detonator tyres for the roady purely on
the basis that they were cheap as chips ($20 each). I have done about
1500km or so on them and I guess that they are OK as I have only had a
couple of punctures. One of these was a couple of weeks ago when I had a
slow leak on the front tyre as I was coming down a steep windy hill
(Kinglake) and the tyre rolled half off the wheel on a tight corner and I
had the rim hit the ground (luckily managed to stay upright).
Tonight after the Kew crits (raced C grade, went off the back and hit the
wall) I was riding home and going down a nice hill with a nice tailwind (in
front of the Hospital at Heidelberg). I was probably doing 45km/h or so and
I was pushing it to get to the lights and turn right (downhill onto Burgandy
St) before they went red. I knew they were going to change and managed to
get through on the orange but halfway around the corner, my back tyre rolled
half off the rim and it lost traction. I was leaning over pretty hard as I
was still going quick to get through the orange and I had a bit of a "heart
in my mouth" moment where I thought I was going to eat pavement as the rear
of the bike went left as I was leaning right. Someone must have been
smiling at me because the rear eventually hooked up again and I managed to
stay upright and make it around the corner. I then pulled up as I assumed
that the back tyre must have gone down but it actually still felt like it
was pumped up pretty well. I got out the pump as I thought it might be down
to 70 psi or something but the gauge had it at 100psi still (Topeak Road
Morph pump that actually has a pretty good gauge on it). I pumped it back
up to 115psi or so and then finished riding home without any further
problems.
Now that I think about it a bit more, I seem to remember pulling over a few
times in the last month or so to check my tyre pressure as the tyres "felt
wobbly". I think I might have even mentioned it to DaveB on one of the
BRs?? I am wondering now if it has something to do with the sidewalls
getting weaker as they get older or even as the weather gets hotter??? I
haven't looked up any reviews for the tyres but I would be interested to
hear if anyone else has had similar problems???
Then again, it could just be that at 100kg (including Xmas cheer) I am too
heavy for the tyres. Can't wait to get the GP4000s!!!!
Gags