rooman said:Tires/Tyres can be a pain to find what suits you, your weight and the
pressures you can get into them, BUT the most important thing Ive found
is not the tyres, not the tubes, not the rims BUT the RIM TAPE....
I was getting heaps of pinch flats on my 700x23s , one after the other,
always had correct pressures ( at least 110psi) and never a piercing in
site .. I was using a variety of tyres, Rubino Pro, Cefira Speeds,
Conti's, Mich...etc...pumped on a track pump and always, always at rec.
pressure....
but no matter the RIM TAPE was my problem, it was too narrow and moved
under the tube inside the rim, exposing the tube to spoke flanges and ,
with heaps of revolutions it was a statistical certainty that a bump
would hit a spot where the flange could "pinch"the tube..and voila it
happened heaps....
rim, flange ... hehhehehe
Quoted message said:So I checked the rim tapes on all my wheels and found that those I'd
had fitted in various bike shops were all too narrow and those I had
done myself were actually fine, well seated and never going to move to
cause a pinch....well I pondered this and asked a friend in an LBS "why
is it so?"....
I've had no pinch flats that I can recall in the last 2 years (some
35,000km or so, at least) using Zefal rim tape and a combination of the
following tyres :
As a general rule, I turf a tyre when it's had 2 punctures or it's worn
square (rear) and the handling of the bike is noticably compromised.
Bontrager race-x-lite - these were great, I chewed the rear out to the
canvas in 3,300km, the front has done 6000 and is still ok - *no*
punctures with these at all (until the rear wore through .. but that's
a given!)
Conti gatorskins - mixed experience with these - the rears chew out
pretty quickly and they're slippery. Ok for commuting I guess. I got
a lot of punctures with these despite the claim of super puncture
resistance. I won't use these again, but would fit them on a commuter
if I wasn't interested in racing or riding in the wet.
Maxxis Detonator - cheap and *nasty* these tyres belong on a bike that
never gets ridden, or a bin.
Michelin Eriulum (these replaced the megamium? basically the same tyre
I think) - not all that impressed, slippery. Not on my bike again,
ever.
Michelin Carbon - they wear ok, but I found them distressingly slippery
in the wet. Ok in the dry though. Not on my bike again, ever.
Vittoria Rubino Pro - I have one on my wet weather (trek 1400) bike on
the front, it's done ~8,000km, no puntures, grippy and fast rolling. I
like these tyres a lot. I used them for the Warny in 2004. Lovely
tyres. These rock.
I've used the older Michelin Pro-races but I only got around
1,500-2000km out of them before they were worn to the belts, the
rubino's in my experience are just as fast and grippy, and last 2-3
times longer. Maybe the PR2 is better? I haven't used them, can't
comment.
My current tyres on my bikes are :
Bontrager race-lites on the Madone "[censored] one". Haven't used these
before, they've got about 1,000km on them so far. A little wet riding
and they felt ok, but they have tread, so I'm not sure they're that
good a cornering tyre. I have a pair of race-x-lite SC's ready for
road season sitting in the box of spares. I've done two crits on these
and they're not bad for fast cornering, but they're not as nice as the
race-x-lites were.
Rubino Pro (F)/Michelin "el cheapo" (can't remember the name of it, gum
sidewall, red strip, black rubber) (R) on the Trek 1400. As above, the
Rubino has been on the front for about 8,000km and hasn't punctured at
all, and is fast and grippy. It's getting a bit worn now, but I reckon
it'll go another 1000 or so. the Miche on the back is on a shimano
R550 wheel (place your bets!) while I retension my new 105/open pro
rear wheel. It's not raced, but it's grippy enough, slow tyre ... but
thus far (500km?) no problems.
