Puncture protection only on the rear tyre??

dazzawazza

Since the on-set of Winter I've had 8 punctures on the rear Specialized Mondo tyre of my Allez; and nothing on the front tyre. I use this bike for weekend rides and some of my commuting.
The other commuting days I use my MTB with 1.5" slicks (mostly during wet weather and pannier days).
I've realised that these Mondo tyres over absolutely no puncture protection at all and I don't risk riding the road bike if there's any risk of wet weather, which is a shame because I enjoy riding the bike a lot.
Now, my London mortgage is immense so I can't afford two new tyres at the moment. So I was considering replacing only the rear tyre.
My wife's road bike, which she doesn't use any where near as often, has Specialized All Condition Pro tyres on both the wheels and I was considering swapping her front tyre with the rear tyre of my bike.
Is this a viable option, or should both tyres be the same (excluding the risk of my wife noticing)?

Anonymous

Shouldnt matter too much. Punctures tend to come a few at a time anyway. I havent had one since the summer (touch wood). Im on schwalbe blizzard sports at the moment and theyre pretty good.

Cajun

Sounds to me like there is a minute piece of glass (or something) in the rear tire that is the problem. When I have frequent, successive flats on any tire, I replace the tire... I know it's expensive, but after several thorough inspections resulting in not finding what is causing the flats, I find that it's better to go ahead and replace the tire or accept the fact that I'll be changing flats (& new tubes) frequently....
Stock up on tubes, CO2 cartridges and make sure you have a lever in the seat bag...

gematkinson

specialised armadillo's are apperntly pretty tough, think if you shop about you can find one for about £20ish?

geoff_ss

Punctures are certainly more common in the rear wheel. There are two reasons I think. First the rear wheel carries more weight and second it receives the debris thrown up by the front. Of course Sod's Law also applies as it's the most difficult and messy wheel to remove/replace

There's another consideration though. Front wheel punctures may be less frequent but they are potentially more dangerous if they are sudden and at speed.

I tried to get my wife/stoker to agree that we mend our own punctures on the tandem. I'd take care of 'my' front wheel and she'd look after 'her' back one. I failed.

Geoff

Mettan

For a cheapish 120 TPI tyre you could go for a Rubino Pro folding:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... ing%20Tyre

I've found these to be a good base level tyre - you can of course get higher TPI tyres but if you are on a budget they might suffice.

And for a budget 220 tpi tyre you could go for the new Vittoria Diamante Pro Folding Tyre:

http://www.shinybikes.com/bikes/vittori ... -tyre.html

Lagavulin

Which Mondo's have you got on the Allez at the minute?

The originals which came with my Allez Sport were only 60tpi and, while they were ok for the tail end of the summer that year, once the grit and grime started to build up on the roads from October onwards they were pretty useless.

Initially I moved to Spesh Mondo Pros, 120tpi with an Armadillo belt to keep out nasty things. Puncture protection-wise they were okay but, since trying the GP4000 range and Vredestein Fortezza Tricomps, they seemed poor comparatively grip wise.

I'd recommend a Michelin Krylion Carbon though. In the 3 or 4 months I was on those I didn't have a single puncture and the treads were, at last inspection, nick free. Not something I could say of the GP4000s or Mondos.

Gussio

Hmmm....my last three punctures have been on the front. How quirky :?