Inflation, punctures and spoke damage question.
My current wheelset is a set of handbuilt ( by Dave Kane of Belfast ) Shimano 105`s with Open Pro Mavic rims and my prefrred choice of tyre is continental ultragatorskin 25`s. It says the max pressure for these tyres is 120 psi, and that is what I had been inflating them to.
Whereas my previous Shimano RS20 wheelset had broken spoke after spoke when I inflated my conti`s to 120 psi , the handbuilts have not broken a single one. Dave Kane told me that a good wheel doesnt wreck spokes, if you go over a pothole like a ton of bricks, you get a puncture, not spoke damage.
Lo and behold, last week I rode over a very badly surfaced road at around 20+ mph and then hit a large bump at the rear wheel , all I heard was pssssssssssssssssssssssst and the tyre was as flat as a pancake. There werent any sharp objects or glass involved. I did the same run with the conti`s inflated to 100 psi and it was just fine, bike felt great , handled great and the crummy roads with their humps, bumps and potholes did not produce puncture, spoke damage or anything like it. To tell the truth, Im very very happy indeed with my 32 spoke on each wheel handbuilts .
At 120 psi on poor roads , would punctures and/or spoke damage be common occurrences ?
Jimmy
Whereas my previous Shimano RS20 wheelset had broken spoke after spoke when I inflated my conti`s to 120 psi , the handbuilts have not broken a single one. Dave Kane told me that a good wheel doesnt wreck spokes, if you go over a pothole like a ton of bricks, you get a puncture, not spoke damage.
Lo and behold, last week I rode over a very badly surfaced road at around 20+ mph and then hit a large bump at the rear wheel , all I heard was pssssssssssssssssssssssst and the tyre was as flat as a pancake. There werent any sharp objects or glass involved. I did the same run with the conti`s inflated to 100 psi and it was just fine, bike felt great , handled great and the crummy roads with their humps, bumps and potholes did not produce puncture, spoke damage or anything like it. To tell the truth, Im very very happy indeed with my 32 spoke on each wheel handbuilts .
At 120 psi on poor roads , would punctures and/or spoke damage be common occurrences ?
Jimmy
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Comments
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I thought that higher pressures saved you from punctures not the other way around - a lower inflated tyre should be more prone to pinch punctures - where the tyre deflect so much it compresses the rough edge of the pothole agains the rim itself and "pinches" the inner tube - also known as snakebite punctures.
you might just have been unlucky.0 -
I'm a cycle courier in London, and I find this low pressure argument quite interesting.
There's tons of broken glass on London's roads, especially near popular drinking areas.
I always worry that the glass would puncture my tyres more easily if I run under about 110 psi on the back tyre; below which the tyre is visibly flattened at the bottom with my 85kg weight, plus what I'm carrying (mail sacks, catalogues, boxes etc. can be VERY heavy, believe). I might try lowering the pressure - I'm sure the ride would be less harsh, but I'm not optimistic about puncture resistance, even with Armadillo's fitted.0
