My first road bike

Mark said:

Hi guys, I put some money down on one of the few remaining 2005 Giant OCR
Zeros and have a couple of questions.

1) I am worried about punctures so I am getting slightly wider (with more
grip) tyres put on before I take delivery. Is this really necessary? Can I
get thinner tyres that are puncture resistant?

"grip", you mean a tread pattern right?
don't be fooled about "more tread pattern" == "more grip", it doesn't 😉
tread is about removing water and debris from the path of the contact
patch of the tire. "more rubber on the road" == "more grip"

i would suggest that if you are primarily commuting or doing lots of
KMs, then go the 700cx23 or 700cx25. if you want low rolling resistance
you'll probably want to go the high pressuse option and that means
narrower. the wider you go, the lower the Max. pressure is.

this does sacrifice some low speed grip in the wet a bit, but you have
to be careful then anyway 😉 also the 700cx19 option is fer racing! =D
depends on what your primary use of the bike will be.

you can get narrow tyres that are more puncture resistant, for example
Continental do tyres with Kevlar in them, see the "Conti Grand Prix Road
Tyre"; http://www.cyclelink.com.au/category215_1.htm

as always, seek guidance from Sheldon Browns website;

- see the section; Width Considerations
http://sheldonbrown.com/tire_sizing.html

- and to give you an idea of available range;
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/622.html

- ok, this page will probably answer everything in your question,
but then you still have to choose 😉
http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html

Quoted message said:

2) In my excitement, I forgot to try out the 2005 TCR 2 that was sitting
next to the nice Red Zero. Is it worth trying this one?

cheers,

Kim

Hi,

I have a TRC2 and I use Continental attack/force tyres. These are slicks.
The front is 22mm and the rear is 23mm, I am not convinced the different
sizes make much difference to the speed, however they are the fastest tyres
I have used for my bike.

They have 1 puncture belt in the front tyre and 2 in the rear, I guess the
figure this keeps the weight down. (190g for the front Attack, 210g for the
rear Force) an excellent tyre.

Cost is about $90/$100 each tyre, however if you shop on Ebay you can pick
em up for $109 the pair, which is a great deal for a tyre of this quality.

Check it out
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Continental-GP-Attack-Force-Twin-Pack-NIB-RRP-220_W0QQitemZ7184322213QQcategoryZ42334QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

PS: Just for the record I am not the dealer trying to get a sale either.

Hope this helps

"Mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi guys, I put some money down on one of the few remaining 2005 Giant OCR
Zeros and have a couple of questions.

1) I am worried about punctures so I am getting slightly wider (with more
grip) tyres put on before I take delivery. Is this really necessary? Can I
get thinner tyres that are puncture resistant?

2) In my excitement, I forgot to try out the 2005 TCR 2 that was sitting
next to the nice Red Zero. Is it worth trying this one?

Thanks.

"Mike" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cost is about $90/$100 each tyre, however if you shop on Ebay you can pick
em up for $109 the pair, which is a great deal for a tyre of this quality.

Check out Probikekit.com first. $79.87 for a pair of Attack/Force plus
$18.99 postage.
Delivery is generally real fast.

Based on the pricing of the ebay sellers, they buy from Probikekit and
resell on ebay. May as well go direct.

Mark said:

Hi guys, I put some money down on one of the few remaining 2005 Giant OCR
Zeros and have a couple of questions.

1) I am worried about punctures so I am getting slightly wider (with more
grip) tyres put on before I take delivery. Is this really necessary? Can I
get thinner tyres that are puncture resistant?

2) In my excitement, I forgot to try out the 2005 TCR 2 that was sitting
next to the nice Red Zero. Is it worth trying this one?

It's worth trying everything you can lay your hands on.

Re tyres, unless you're racing, Conti ultra gatorskins (around $45 a
tyre)
are the most long lasting and pucture resistant tyres I've used.
700x23
is fine.