What did I do to the p$&!ture fairy?!

house_trained

I've been trapped in my own personal p@$#ture hell since getting a Genesis Vapour about a month ago (culminating in an exploding inner tube on Monday night, and an 11 mile walk home in cycle shoes). It came with Conti "SpeedKing" tyres - believe me, the irony hasn't been lost on me while I've been crouched by the side of the road patching up yet another hole. They're not bad tyres, in terms of feel anyway, but they just can't keep anything away from putting a hole in the inner tubes.

Anyway, to get to the point. I've had to go back to using my singlespeed till the end of the month. Too skint to fork out on new tubes and tyres until payday. So I've been using the time to try and find the best tyres to replace the "SpeedKing"'s with. I'm kind of wary of Conti's now, but Ultra Dura Gatorskins get a reasonable reception (although opinions seem to swing between ok and "what puncture protection?"). There's always marathon +'s, but they're a bit heavy, or Specialized Armadillo All Condition.

Does anyone have personal experience (good or bad) with any of these tyres - or is there some wonder that I've missed? I like the Genesis Vapour, but it's just got to the point where even if I havn't got a p$%#ture, I'm sitting there anticipating one. It's taken all of the joy of riding away.

Cheers.

attica

My Conti Gators have punctured once since December and that was when I hit a bl**dy great rock in the road.

That's got to be a reasonable record so far. I went through the same hell with some Conti "cheap and rubbish sports" tyres that came with my bike.

dirk_van_gently

Possibly OEM kit not up to the standard of the normal product, don't know?
The Vapour is a Crosser? right?

house_trained

Yeah, the Vapour's a x bike. I got it as part of the cycle to work scheme, but to be honest I think I would've been better getting a Galaxy, I was just seduced by the ruggedness of a Cyclo x bike.

Never mind, it's been an interesting re-introduction to drop bars - I've ridden a MTB for the last 13 or so years - when I havn't had a puncture it's been great to ride, much faster than the singlespeed. I keep getting caught out by the toe overlap though.

Velociraptor

Sorry to hear your tale of woe. I recently fitted new Conti ultra gatorskins to my Road bike for the Hampshire Hilly Hundred - due to warnings about the single track lanes on the course by the organisers. Sure enough I saw plenty of faster riders by the roadside mending tires, but got through unscathed myself. To be honest though, I think it is also to do with your weight. As I'm a 61kg mountain goat if I hit a bump or stone I'm not putting as much force onto the tyre as a heavier rider will and this as well as tyre choice is probably why I don't generally seem to suffer like some other people. But the conti's seem to have done ok over all the flinty and potholed back roads of the southhern hills so I'm happy with them for now. They didn't stop my legs from hurting though!
I got mine from Wiggle as a pair including tubes which was not a bad deal.
Hope that helps. 8)

tjm

I commute on these....
My route is 95% dirt/stone tracks (lots of roots and small stones but no obvious glass or thorns) and despite running them at 50psi for comfort I have had no punctures in 6 months.
Anyway, they come with tube and have a 12 month anti puncture guarantee.

Grip is fine in the dry but does get a bit exciting in deep mud :roll:

Toby

house_trained

Thanks for the link tjm - you just reminded me that I did have a pair of Conti Sport Contacts on my singlespeed. I don't think I had a puncture with those for a good 5/6 months. I never sent the 1 year puncture free guarantee thingie back to get a free replacement - I do over 600 miles a month, so I figured I'd got a good run out of them. Still, you've restored my faith in Continental. Maybe i'll go for these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... Tube%20Set

I've got fat tyres on the singlespeed, and wanted something a little nippier for the Vapour. I just need to decide between 25 or 28. I keep dithering between the two.

dirk_van_gently

I too had a tale of woe with punctures, I use a CX bike too, my commute is mostly off road, with stones twigs thorns, broken glass on the cyclpath occassionally.

I was close to just giving up, and I bought a pair of these


http://wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360035183&N=Vittoria%20Cross%20XN%20Pro%20Tyre

I have punctured since fitting them, but it was a bit of a freak, razor sharp piece of metal.
These tyre roll fast, I have a pair of gotorskinz, which I bought for pure road use, but to be honest the Vittoria CX tyres are just as fast, well almost, well I say almost, probably a tad slower, but I'm not racing.

SPOODZILLA

Vittoria Rubinos - £16 a pair including 2 innertubes. Been using the 25mm's for my commute since before christmas - not had a puncture yet.

will3

Hi there, I'm with you in the Vapour punc££%e hell. Every time it rains/road is slightly damp I get a flat from some small bit of grit or whatever. Bike has done about 900 miles and must have 10-12 puntures. I even got simultaneous puntures in both wheels once. Basically the speed kings have sod all thickness once you've worn the knobbles off.

On word of caution though - Mine has full mudguards fitted, I had some Specialized crossmax 700x32 (may have been 35 can't quite remember - same size as the OE Speedkings) tyres handy, thought they'd do for a change. However, they wouldn't turn once pumped up.

How many times have you taken the wheel off to fix a flat, pumped it up and then remembered that you can't get it back in between the brakes after inflation? :roll:

Currently looking at Vittoria randoneur cross tyres. Or conti Sport contacts which went well on another bike I had. Not much use in mud, but then the full muds on my Vapour don't like boulder clay either.

el_presidente

To the OP - are you inflating your tyres enough? I see you are from an MTB background, road tyres should be much much harder, up to 120 psi. This should help a lot in avoiding p*nctures.


Apologies for the potential grandmother / egg sucking nature of this post

will3

el_presidente wrote:

To the OP - are you inflating your tyres enough? I see you are from an MTB background, road tyres should be much much harder, up to 120 psi. This should help a lot in avoiding p*nctures.


Apologies for the potential grandmother / egg sucking nature of this post

I've pumped mine up to 85psi (max for the tyre.) Doesn't help a bit. In fact, I've never had a puncture when cycling home having fixed one on the road and only got 40psi or so from my naff mini pump.

house_trained

thanks for the sympathy Will3 - I've changed the tyres to Specialized All Condition Armadillos. Best thing I've done for a while - they roll well, and I've not had a puncture in the month since I've put them on.

I had that problem with the brakes too - learnt to put the wheel on and then pump the tyre up. Still had to fiddle with the axle and the drop outs to make sure the tyre didn't rub on the mudguards.

Elpresidente - the pressure didn't make any difference - the max on the tyre wall was 85psi, I usually had them up to 90. Just really really poor tyres.

On a happier note, I can't praise Goodrich cables enough. I was starting to think that cantilevers were much worse than I remembered, but changed the cables around and everything was hunkydory

W5454

After having 6 p****ures in a week on my commuter bike I decided to take drastic action.I have 2 tyres per wheel!!The tube fits into a 700 x 23 which is inside a Michelin City 700 x 28(with anti p****ure strip).The tyres are inflated to 60 psi.This might seem a bit over the top but I haven't had a p****ure for 6 months.Slnce my commute is 10 miles per day the weight of 2 extra tyres isn't really an issue.