Wear indicator on tyre?

just us said:

In May we are doing a 25 day remote ride into the Gulf/Cape York area,
and will be very loaded. Steve on his mtb and me on the Hybrid. All
dirt station roads, any suggestions as what to buy for this trip in the
tyre department?

Do they have those "cat-head" thorns growing on the side of the roads up
there?

If so, I'd go for a kevlar-wound tyre, they're relatively heavy, but it's
definately worth it for the pleasure of not having to repair tubes. Tyre
slime works pretty well too. I don't like tyre liners though.

Right now I'm touring (well, not touring this second) on Continental
"Randonneur", which are pretty thin (28mm?). But before that I rode for
years on IRC "Metro Cross Duro" - this might be way too slick if it gets
muddy though, I haven't really toured in lots of mud.

cheers,
-kt

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

Quoted message said:

just us said:

In May we are doing a 25 day remote ride into the Gulf/Cape York area,
and will be very loaded. Steve on his mtb and me on the Hybrid. All
dirt station roads, any suggestions as what to buy for this trip in the
tyre department?

Do they have those "cat-head" thorns growing on the side of the roads up
there?

If so, I'd go for a kevlar-wound tyre, they're relatively heavy, but it's
definately worth it for the pleasure of not having to repair tubes. Tyre
slime works pretty well too. I don't like tyre liners though.

I once had a pair of Wolber "steel belt" tyres (either 25mm or 28 mm, can't
remember). They had a stainless steel mesh which was meant to avoid punctures.
One tour I got two punctures and no-one else got any. :-(.

Nasty pointy Australian thorns (not catheads, bit worse - Gloucester to
Newcastle). Wondered whether the SS mesh assisted the thorns to work their
way in.

T.

Quoted message said:

Right now I'm touring (well, not touring this second) on Continental
"Randonneur", which are pretty thin (28mm?). But before that I rode for
years on IRC "Metro Cross Duro" - this might be way too slick if it gets
muddy though, I haven't really toured in lots of mud.

cheers,
-kt

just us said:

In May we are doing a 25 day remote ride into the Gulf/Cape York area, and
will be very loaded. Steve on his mtb and me on the Hybrid. All dirt
station roads, any suggestions as what to buy for this trip in the tyre
department?

It depends on what you are going to do.
If you are absolutely going to stick to tracks, then you should have no
problems.

If you are going to be cutting cross country (to dodge the 4WD traffic),
then take a spare set of tyres and double set of tubes with you and the
moment you ping one, place a call for another set to be posted/delivered
onto the next "town".

In 88, I just rode yumchas and the only trouble I had was when I rode
cross country and was speared by the burnt off end of bushes. No way was
any tube repairable. Perhaps a boot would help with the tyre if it isn't
too badly gashed or speared.

Actually, the real surprise was two brand new Brooks saddles going crack
in the springs. Dodgy batch?

What are you actually doing to claim remoteness?

Quoted message said:

Thanks
Kathy.

Hi Terry,
This trip wont see us going cross country as we did last year but we will be
on station tracks west and south of Laura away from the main drag which
doesnt see much traffic anyway. Food will be in 9 day slots and we will get
down to the river as much as possible to fish. Should be a lot of fun. We
plan to all take a spare tyre as well as spare tubes. I will carry 3 as I
have french valves and want to stick with them as I like them.
We will also do some bushwalking, so have to carry that sort of stuff too.
Should be a challenging trip and one that will be cheaper than any Jenny
Craig diet! LOL.
Cant wait
Kathy

just us said:

My back tyre has only travelled 3500kms and this red color is
starting to show in the centre of the tread. At first I
thought I must have ridden over some red paint but it is now
showing more. Is this some kind of wear indicator?

What brand and model tyres is it? Some kevlar belts are
strongly coloured yellow or orange. Kevlar is a very strong
fabric famous as the material which bullet-proof vests are made
from. Some kevlar-belted bicycle tyres use genuine "kevlar"
and some use imitations like aramid, which is just as good.

Kevlar belts are designed for puncture protection. They do a
reasonable job, especially against blunter objects. But they
still have some vulnerability from needle-sharp objects.

Just to confuse the issue even more, modern folding tyres use
kevlar beads. The bead is the "wire" running around each edge
of the tyre which gives the edge the strength to stay on the
rim. Rigid tyres use steel beads.

Some folding tyres have kevlar belts (for puncture protection)
as well as kevlar beads (for flexibility).

Whatever the material is, when a tyre is worn down to the fabric
belts, it's definitely time to replace it.

Quoted message said:

Front tyre has been good for 8000 kms but I can see some very
obvious wear now and am going to get a new one - back one is a
different brand. What sort of wear should I get out of a tyre?
Most riding is on bitumen, but also do some dirt. Have done
over 3000kms with panniers front and back and fully loaded.
In May we are doing a 25 day remote ride into the Gulf/Cape
York area, and will be very loaded. Steve on his mtb and me
on the Hybrid.
All dirt station roads, any suggestions as what to buy for
this trip in the tyre department?

As a general rule, the more puncture-resistant a tyre is, the
more rolling resistance it has. For your use, I think you'd be
hard pressed to find much better than Schwalbe Marathon XR
tyres: http://tinyurl.com/3866nn

John

just us said:

In May we are doing a 25 day remote ride into the Gulf/Cape York area, and
will be very loaded. Steve on his mtb and me on the Hybrid. All dirt
station roads, any suggestions as what to buy for this trip in the tyre
department?

For bindii (thorn) protection and general long wear, I've got to recommend
Vittoria Randonneur (in 700C) or Randonneur Cross for 26". They just last,
for at least 8000 kms in my case with no punctures! Wheeled my bike off the
train at Avenel (Vic) across a patch of bindiis, and pulled 11 of the
buggers out of the tyre - no punctures!

These tyres have a layer built into the tread that is like a Mr Tuffy tyre
liner. They are not a knobby tyre, but the 26" comes in 1.75" and were
reliable enough for me to descend the Nine Mile Pinch in the Snowy Mountains
in 2005, fully loaded:
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1402867659074746151FLlCuS

Can't think of a better tyre.

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

John Henderson said:

Some kevlar-belted bicycle tyres use genuine "kevlar"
and some use imitations like aramid, which is just as good.

Kevlar is an aramid fibre.

Duncan said:

On Mar 10, 6:40 am, John Henderson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Some kevlar-belted bicycle tyres use genuine "kevlar"
and some use imitations like aramid, which is just as good.

Kevlar is an aramid fibre.

Thanks. Somewhere along the line, I'd picked up DuPont's spin
on the story, and hadn't checked.

Aside from yellow and orange, I see that aramid is sometimes
coloured red as per Kathy's tyre (and other colours).

John

John Henderson said:

Duncan said:

On Mar 10, 6:40 am, John Henderson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Some kevlar-belted bicycle tyres use genuine "kevlar"
and some use imitations like aramid, which is just as good.

Quoted message said:

Kevlar is an aramid fibre.

Thanks. Somewhere along the line, I'd picked up DuPont's spin
on the story, and hadn't checked.

Aside from yellow and orange, I see that aramid is sometimes
coloured red as per Kathy's tyre (and other colours).

Actually, aramid fibres are more of a family, of which Kevlar is one
of the members.

I don't think there are many native colours (white, brown, ?),...
probably just marketing.