Are there steel cords in Continental Ultra 2000 tires? I thought I had picked up some glass but there was not a visible puncture from the rod side of the tire. I felt around on the inside of the tire and ran across what appeared to be a steel belt or wire coming from the center of the casing that was causing the flats. I broke out the trusty Leatherman and whittled away at the wire/? thing that was causing the flats until it was gone. But the curiosity of having a steel wire coming through is surprising. I also wondered, if the cord was broken, am I more at risk for some catastrophic failure when I hit a corner at speed? The tires don't have 750 mil;es on them....
Are there steel cords in Continental Ultra 2000 tires? I thought I had picked up some glass but there was not a visible puncture from the rod side of the tire. I felt around on the inside of the tire and ran across what appeared to be a steel belt or wire coming from the center of the casing that was causing the flats. I broke out the trusty Leatherman and whittled away at the wire/? thing that was causing the flats until it was gone. But the curiosity of having a steel wire coming through is surprising. I also wondered, if the cord was broken, am I more at risk for some catastrophic failure when I hit a corner at speed? The tires don't have 750 mil;es on them....
That wire came from outside your tire. Just pull it out (and patch!) next time it happens. Your cords cannot be cut by a wire. BTW, what do you mean by "whittled away at the wire"? If you were excavating around it, you could've ruined your tire.
I just scraped away at the wire until I could no longer feel it, probably, 10 scrapes (not cuts) with the blade across the gum wall looking stuff on the center of the tire on the inside... I swear I didn't see a puncture... Usually there is a visible mark where the perforator (for lack of a better word) came through, but no such mark...
Are there steel cords in Continental Ultra 2000 tires? I thought I had picked up some glass but there was not a visible puncture from the rod side of the tire. I felt around on the inside of the tire and ran across what appeared to be a steel belt or wire coming from the center of the casing that was causing the flats. I broke out the trusty Leatherman and whittled away at the wire? thing that was causing the flats until it was gone. But the curiosity of having a steel wire coming through is surprising. I also wondered, if the cord was broken, am I more at risk for some catastrophic failure when I hit a corner at speed? The tires don't have 750 miles on them...
Congratulations, you have just picked up a "Michelin wire", Michelin being the inventor of the steel belted radial tire that today is made by many tire makers. You should have pulled the wire out. It is not a normal part of your tire although the wires are common on roads. We don't see them often because they lie flat on the road. My experience is that they enter only rear tires because they must first be tilted up by the front tire... or a closely preceding rider, although I've never seen that happen.
That gets us back to why rear tires statistically have more flats than front tires. It is not from the heavier load on the rear wheel as myth and lore would have us believe, but rather that debris lying on the road must be tilted up to enter a tire, something the front wheel does well. It is also the culprit in ripping off derailleurs with a "derailleur stick" that lies flat on the road or trail and gets tossed onto the chain directly ahead of the derailleur. Bingo!
That gets us back to why rear tires statistically have more flats than front tires. It is not from the heavier load on the rear wheel as myth and lore would have us believe, but rather that debris lying on the road must be tilted up to enter a tire, something the front wheel does well. It is also the culprit in ripping off derailleurs with a "derailleur stick" that lies flat on the road or trail and gets tossed onto the chain directly ahead of the derailleur. Bingo!
Sounds good. You can feel and see it happen when it's a stick, but there's no reason it doesn't happen with the smaller things too. How about the much faster wear on the rear? That *is* the bigger load issue, isn't it?
And what about trikes, where no wheel directly trails another? Do they (almost) never get flats? I suppose though with three tires instead of two, and two of them being rears, it doesn't say much either way about the load vs. debris-flip controversy.
That gets us back to why rear tires statistically have more flats than front tires. It is not from the heavier load on the rear wheel as myth and lore would have us believe, but rather that debris lying on the road must be tilted up to enter a tire, something the front wheel does well.
That explains two annoying flats. Three weeks ago my rear tire was punctured by a three inch nail. The nail pushed through the tread, then in and out of the tube, and then out the tire's sidewall - I assume the tire is ruined, although the puncture diameters are rather small. It was an almost new tire, and an expensive one, to boot.
A year and a half ago, my rear Specialed "Fatboy" slick rolled over a piece of glass shaped and sized like an arrowhead! The hole in the tire was significant - after I pulled out the piece of glass, I put in a new tube, put a patch on the inside of the tire, and then rode half a dozen miles home with my fingers figuratively crossed.
That gets us back to why rear tires statistically have more flats than front tires. It is not from the heavier load on the rear wheel as myth and lore would have us believe, but rather that debris lying on the road must be tilted up to enter a tire, something the front wheel does well.
Quoted message said:
And what about trikes, where no wheel directly trails another? Do they (almost) never get flats? I suppose though with three tires instead of two, and two of them being rears, it doesn't say much either way about the load vs. debris-flip controversy.
Jasper
Interesting point. I ride a trike (as well as various bikes) and find that I probably get more flats on the trike, although they are still not common. I figured it's because there are three tracks rather than one.
That gets us back to why rear tires statistically have more flats than front tires. It is not from the heavier load on the rear wheel as myth and lore would have us believe, but rather that debris lying on the road must be tilted up to enter a tire, something the front wheel does well.
Quoted message said:
That explains two annoying flats. Three weeks ago my rear tire was punctured by a three inch nail. The nail pushed through the tread, then in and out of the tube, and then out the tire's sidewall - I assume the tire is ruined, although the puncture diameters are rather small. It was an almost new tire, and an expensive one, to boot.
Quoted message said:
A year and a half ago, my rear Specialed "Fatboy" slick rolled over a piece of glass shaped and sized like an arrowhead! The hole in the tire was significant - after I pulled out the piece of glass, I put in a new tube, put a patch on the inside of the tire, and then rode half a dozen miles home with my fingers figuratively crossed.
My pursuit of these questions started at an early age. This one arose when my father told me that rear car tires get more flats than front tires because the driving torque sucked them in. I was in the first grade at that time and my father was an economist, not an engineer. However, it started me on questioning any such claim that wasn't substantiated by some reasonable explanation, be that about cars, airplanes or bicycles.
"NS>" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:j7ICa.810749$OV.747442@rwcrnsc54...
Quoted message said:
Are there steel cords in Continental Ultra 2000 tires? I thought I had picked up some glass but there was not a visible puncture from the rod side of the tire. I felt around on the inside of the tire and ran across what appeared to be a steel belt or wire coming from the center of the casing that was causing the flats. I broke out the trusty Leatherman and whittled away at the wire/? thing that was causing the flats until it was gone. But the curiosity of having a steel wire coming through is surprising. I also wondered, if the cord was broken, am I more at risk for some catastrophic failure when I hit a corner at speed? The tires don't have 750 mil;es on them....
TIA, NS>
It was a stray piece of wire picked up on the road. I'm seeing more of those lately. The wire in the bead at the edge of your tire is much thicker gauge and there's no way it could end up in the center of the casing. Hell if you see that wire at all your tire is shot.
Interesting point. I ride a trike (as well as various bikes) and find that I probably get more flats on the trike, although they are still not common. I figured it's because there are three tracks rather than one.
I assume this trike is a bent. If so, the reason for the more common flats would be that you can't get out of the saddle and absorb impacts like you can on an upright, so you probably get a lot more pinch flats and damaged tire cord.
--
David L. Johnson
__o | I don't believe you, you've got the whole damn thing all wrong. _`\(,_ | He's not the kind you have to wind-up on Sundays. --Ian (_)/ (_) | Anderson
Interesting point. I ride a trike (as well as various bikes) and find that I probably get more flats on the trike, although they are still not common. I figured it's because there are three tracks rather than one.
I assume this trike is a bent. If so, the reason for the more common flats would be that you can't get out of the saddle and absorb impacts like you can on an upright, so you probably get a lot more pinch flats and damaged tire cord.
Your assumptions are partly right, and partly wrong. It is a 'bent, but I have never got any pinch flats, only punctures. The tires are fairly wide compared to most road bike tires: Tioga Comp Pools are 1.75" wide, and I inflate all three 80 to 90 psi.
My pursuit of these questions started at an early age. This one arose when my father told me that rear car tires get more flats than front tires because the driving torque sucked them in. I was in the first grade at that time and my father was an economist, not an engineer. However, it started me on questioning any such claim that wasn't substantiated by some reasonable explanation, be that about cars, airplanes or bicycles. (Jobst)
I took the tire off of the tube...I figured that if I just got the edge of the wire with the knife then the rest is just festering in the tire ready to make days bad later on. Upon reinspection, I noticed the wire that was in the tire still, was about 3/8 of an inch long and smaller in circumference than a needle. So if that sounds like one of those Michelin wires then they really , really need to get a better construct plan for their tires! Thanks for the info.... I would've had another bad day, instead of a nice ride...
It was a stray piece of wire picked up on the road. I'm seeing more of those lately. The wire in the bead at the edge of your tire is much thicker gauge and there's no way it could end up in the center of the casing. Hell if you see that wire at all your tire is shot.
Hmmm. This reminds me of the Wolber "Invulverable" sewups that I used in the early '80s. They had a steel mesh under the tread to supposedly minimize flats. But eventually, the mesh would break apart (especially in the rear) and puncture the tube. I had at least two blowouts as a result.
