Terrible Ride/Training

Soni

Went out yesterday morning for a 35miler, ended up with two punctures, first in the front, second around 10 miles later in the rear.

This is after upgrading the tires from Bontrager Hard Case (due to flatting) to Vittoria PAVE EVO's which weren't cheap.

I ride lanes, and both flats were due to shards of flint......

Is there any other way of stopping these very annoying obstacles?

Also, my MTB is flatting, although this is along bridleways where they decided to cut the bushes down a few months ago which has resulted in thorns all over the bridleway, on average i'm repairing about 6 punctures per week....

Any advise on how to stop these punctures?

GregC

1 . Go tubeless on the MTB go to www.justridingalong.co.uk
2 . Use Cont 4 seasons on the road bike

Soni

GregC wrote:

1 . Go tubeless on the MTB go to www.justridingalong.co.uk
2 . Use Cont 4 seasons on the road bike

Hi Greg, not that familiar with tubeless bike tires, will they still puncture? Car tires, although tubeless, still puncture if you get something go through the tire, and i am actually getting the thorns going through the tire then into the tube, so i would have thought the tubed tires would have been better, as even though it goes through the tire, its got to go through the tube as well for the tire to deflate?

redddraggon

Soni wrote:

Any advise on how to stop these punctures?

Ride in Wales.

The Roads might be bumpy but there's no sh!t on them.

softlad

redddraggon wrote:

Soni wrote:

Any advise on how to stop these punctures?

Ride in Wales.

The Roads might be bumpy but there's no sh!t on them.

apart from cow sh!t.....

benjboy

redddraggon wrote:
Soni wrote:
Any advise on how to stop these punctures?


Ride in Wales.

The Roads might be bumpy but there's no sh!t on them.


apart from cow sh!t.....

Dont forget the sheep sh!t as well .[/quote]

Monty Dog

The sharp flints we get in the south will see off most tyres IME - you may have been unlucky with recent heavy rain and muck on the road. Vittoria Paves are more of a wet weather / robust racing tyre than a training tyre and Conti GP4 Seasons are pretty tough, but have a fairly 'dead' feel - it really depends on what compromises you're prepared to make - you can have fast and responsive with a risk of punctures or slower and 'dead' with higher puncture resistance.

rickhotrod

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

The "Plus" is important, as just the Marathon which is also made, doesn't have the extra 5mm rubber around the tread.

keef66

The MTB tubeless setup relies on slime or similar sealant inside the tyre to bung up any punctures as they occur. Seems to work well at the low pressures used in MTB tyres.

I've been riding Conti 4 seasons for just over a year; first puncture last week due to a particularly large thorn courtesy of hedge trimming. Woul've gone through anything.

I think it's mostly down to luck.

The week before I took a 1 inch woodscrew out of the car tyre then watched it go flat. The following day I was off to the airport so I wasted 2 hours of my Sunday morning at Kwik-fit waiting for them to get authorisation from the lease company to fit a new one!

At least with the bike it only takes a few minutes to stick another tube in.

Hudster

Soni wrote:

GregC wrote:

1 . Go tubeless on the MTB go to www.justridingalong.co.uk
2 . Use Cont 4 seasons on the road bike

Hi Greg, not that familiar with tubeless bike tires, will they still puncture? Car tires, although tubeless, still puncture if you get something go through the tire, and i am actually getting the thorns going through the tire then into the tube, so i would have thought the tubed tires would have been better, as even though it goes through the tire, its got to go through the tube as well for the tire to deflate?

Go to the stans website and there is a video explaining it. http://www.notubes.com/
Basically, the latex slime seals any holes in the tubes. People I know who ride in hot countries where there are massive thorns swear by this system. It also has advantages such as lower rolling resistance etc.

They are making attempts to bring it in for road bikes but it isn't widely used as yet and I it's certainly not something I want to be a guinea pig for. I would use some heavy solid touring type of tyres.

TommyEss

Yeah, flints are right sods - they used them for hunting with back in the day, remember?

The fact is, you're not going to prevent a flint if it really wants to get in, it's going to.

andy_wrx

I binned my Conti GP4Seasons due to their dreadful grip and the number of p*nct*res I was getting in them.

I even got one on the rollers !

(presumably from a thorn I'd picked-up the previous time outside and hadn't noticed, which then worked it's way through on the rollers)


Worst tyres I've ever had
- dreadful grip, particularly in the wet or greasy (ironic, as they're called 4 Seasons...)
- very slow and hard work, poor rolling resistance
- the punctures
- how hard they were to get on and off the rims (not what you want with the punctures)
- sidewalls easily damaged, hoped it was just cosmetic, but...

Soni

Monty Dog wrote:

The sharp flints we get in the south will see off most tyres IME - you may have been unlucky with recent heavy rain and muck on the road. Vittoria Paves are more of a wet weather / robust racing tyre than a training tyre and Conti GP4 Seasons are pretty tough, but have a fairly 'dead' feel - it really depends on what compromises you're prepared to make - you can have fast and responsive with a risk of punctures or slower and 'dead' with higher puncture resistance.

Hi mate, yeah the Vittorias are certainly a nice tire, quick and nippy and super smooth, its just a shame they are punturing....

Soni

andy_wrx wrote:

I even got one on the rollers !

That made me laugh!

softlad

andy_wrx wrote:

I binned my Conti GP4Seasons due to their dreadful grip and the number of p*nct*res I was getting in them.

I even got one on the rollers !

(presumably from a thorn I'd picked-up the previous time outside and hadn't noticed, which then worked it's way through on the rollers)


Worst tyres I've ever had
- dreadful grip, particularly in the wet or greasy (ironic, as they're called 4 Seasons...)
- very slow and hard work, poor rolling resistance
- the punctures
- how hard they were to get on and off the rims (not what you want with the punctures)
- sidewalls easily damaged, hoped it was just cosmetic, but...

funny how everyone's experience is different - I rode through an entire west Wales winter last year on a pair of GP4 seasons, without a single puncture. I have to say, I thought they rolled pretty well - until I fitted a pair of Rubino pros last week - and their performance is in another class entirely. Will see how they hold up this winter.....I still have the GP4s, just in case...

bobpzero

how about the boringly longer lasting michelin krylion carbon tyres? hopefully ill get to 3000miles before i decide to change the bike

dombo6

Panaracer Flataway inside the tyre. It's a soft kevlar strip, feels like felt, but pretty tough.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=34687

Fitted mine in 2006 to the mtb and the only flat was a thorn in the side that missed the liner.

Soni

Dombo6 wrote:

Panaracer Flataway inside the tyre. It's a soft kevlar strip, feels like felt, but pretty tough.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=34687

Fitted mine in 2006 to the mtb and the only flat was a thorn in the side that missed the liner.

I have the Panaracer Fire XC Pro's fitted to my MTB, wouldn't they have this allready built in?

If not then i will be buying some online this evening as that site you referred me to had some good reviews listed.

dombo6

I have the same tyres. No they are not already fitted, and at a tenner a pop I can see Panaracer's point of view.

Soni

Which ones would i need?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=34687

They have several difference options, obviously i wouldn't need the 29", as my wheel size is 26", but they have 30mm and 40mm.....

????

P.S. This is for my MTB.......

redddraggon

softlad wrote:

funny how everyone's experience is different - I rode through an entire west Wales winter last year on a pair of GP4 seasons, without a single puncture.

I can run Race tyres all winter in North Wales without a puncture, so one would hope tyres like the GP4 seasons would manage too.

Soni

Just ordered some of those Panaracer Flataways from Chain Reaction for my MTB, hoping they will reduce the number of flats, together with some rather nice Lizard Skin Handlebar Tape in Green for my road bike!!