innertubes - best value for money? & gatorskins no good?

le_boss

does anyone know of any places where you can get a decent innertube pretty cheap?
i bought a box of 25 continental race at start of 09 and now they are all kaputt. went online to pick some up and couldnt believe the prices of them now - box of 25 i bought from ribble in 09 was £30 same box now is £49!

on another note, are krylions more puncture resistant than gatorskins? been running gatorskins for the last 3 months and p*******s seem to be frequent. was running them at 100-110psi and even tried dropping to 90psi, yet no joy. either the gatorskins arent as good as they are made out to be, or im being very unfortunate. anyway, was thinking of ditching them for either gp4000s or krylions. what do you think? :?

meanredspider

I've done a couple of thousand miles on Gatorskins this year on the rough roads up here and not a single penetration puncture. I tend to run with 120psi which seems to keep the pinch flats at bay. What sort of punctures are you getting?

PS somebody is doing Specialized inners half price at the mo - don't remember who (Evans?)

le_boss

really? so maybe im running them too low?

the punctures seem to be bloody thorns 99% of the time. i always check the tyre carefully when i suffer one, yet seems to be a recurring theme. to give you an example, since start of dec ive had 11 punctures in just 19 rides :x yet the mate i go training with has only had 1 in that entire time! (hes running krylions btw, hence why i was asking about them)

meanredspider

90 seems low to me but then it also depends upon what you weigh. I'm 93kg and if I ran my Gatorskins at anything less than 100psi I'd be forever getting pinchflats.

Here's a chart that indicates minimum pressure versus weight on wheel vs tyre size

le_boss

wel ive only dropped it to 90 in the past week as a desperate attempt to solve the problem, but its had no effect. guess it might be worth upping to 120 to try that as you suggest...although i dont have much faith in the gators now tbh.

meanredspider

It maybe that if they are too soft, you're exposing the sidewall to the tarmac and I'm sure there's nothing like the protection there. The the cost of a pair of tyres, it's worth giving 120psi a shot. If that doesn't work, bin 'em!

lancejambo

evans cycles half price innertubes Quote: NYDTUBE at checkout


be quick

le_boss

excellent! thanks for that jumbo. have ordered some.

any more opinions on the tyres?

lancejambo

excellent! thanks for that jumbo. have ordered some.

any more opinions on the tyres?

Jambo lol

i ride on pro race 3 tyres on my summer wheels and Cont gp4 season on the winter wheels and have the pressure on my tubes at 120psi. Never really get punctures as well. i did order as well this morning went for the Specialized Turbo tubes faster rolling resistance ????

le_boss

:oops:

le_boss

whats the difference between gp seasons and gp4000s? was looking at the latter instead of the gators, altho heard really good thinigs about the krylions. anything to stop bloody punctures!

Monty Dog

Re puncture resitance - it depends where you live. No one rides Gatorskins around here because they simply get shredded by the razor-like flints on the roads - Krylions are better IME but if puncture-resistance is a priority, GP4s are better.

lancejambo

im really not sure what the difference is ??? maybe from just reading up now the seasons are more towards wetter weather with the different rubber used ?? could be wrong. get the 4000 in loads of different colours good for the custom touches

le_boss

Monty Dog wrote:

Re puncture resitance - it depends where you live. No one rides Gatorskins around here because they simply get shredded by the razor-like flints on the roads - Krylions are better IME but if puncture-resistance is a priority, GP4s are better.

live in middle of nowhere, with lots of hedges
will try 120psi and see if that makes a difference. if not think i might go for the gp4000s. i know they are more expensive, but if they prevent punctures...

lancejambo

live in middle of nowhere, with lots of hedges Sad
will try 120psi and see if that makes a difference. if not think i might go for the gp4000s. i know they are more expensive, but if they prevent punctures...

good choice a puncture just destroys my ride and new CO2 costs alot but you need to pay the price for not carrying round a pump

itboffin

Whilst the weather is as it is I run conti hard shells @110psi which are basically gatorskins with more puncture protection, on sportives I use 4000S @ 120psi

I can not rate the hardshells enough, in 2009 I had more than 50 punctures (mixture of tyres inc. gatoskins) in 2010 I had 1 (hardshell) and that was because I let the pressure drop to about 65-70.

le_boss

itboffin wrote:

Whilst the weather is as it is I run conti hard shells @110psi which are basically gatorskins with more puncture protection, on sportives I use 4000S @ 120psi

I can not rate the hardshells enough, in 2009 I had more than 50 punctures (mixture of tyres inc. gatoskins) in 2010 I had 1 (hardshell) and that was because I let the pressure drop to about 65-70.

just lost faith in gatorskins tbh. although admittedly i have never tried hardshells.

meanredspider

I tried the Bontrager hardshells - they have very thick sidewalls to prevent pinchflats - hated them though (much harder work) and got a penetration flat...

There's obviously a case of what works for you...

itboffin

The conti hardshells are almost identical in look and feel to gatorskins and score very well for PF resistance.

rolf_f

How on earth can you use up 25 inner tubes in less than 2 years?! I've done 10000 miles this year and I've lost one inner tube due to explosion and one or two more to failures around the valves. Otherwise just the odd repairable puncture.

northpole

Thanks lancejambo
Bought some tubes - hopefully they will spend the next several years on a shelf gathering dust
Peter

upperoilcan

Sorry to sound like an idiot,exactly what size tube would i need for a road bike with 23mm tyres..?

meanredspider

upperoilcan wrote:

Sorry to sound like an idiot,exactly what size tube would i need for a road bike with 23mm tyres..?

You'll see that all 700c inner tubes come with a diameter rating - 18-25 or something like that. You just need to choose one that has a range that covers 23. The rest just comes down to brand and stem length (some wheels with deep rims require a longer valve stem). There are some subtleties over weight, material etc but I don't think you want to worry about that.

upperoilcan

meanredspider wrote:

You'll see that all 700c inner tubes come with a diameter rating - 18-25 or something like that. You just need to choose one that has a range that covers 23. The rest just comes down to brand and stem length (some wheels with deep rims require a longer valve stem). There are some subtleties over weight, material etc but I don't think you want to worry about that.

Thanks very much,it's just that ive not bought any yet. !!!!!!!!

upperoilcan

Bonus.......i just got some spesh tubes from Evans,just got 3 for just over 8 quid..

Longer valved versions,but i can live with that.....

meanredspider

upperoilcan wrote:

Thanks very much,it's just that ive not bought any yet. !!!!!!!!

Lucky you!

Good idea to carry one with you in case of punctures. Much quicker & easier to swap the inner than fix the puncture beside the road.

infopete

I have had a long love/hate relationship with gatorskins, some tyres appear to never get visits from the P********* fairy and others do.

So I switched to Krylions and I think the ride is better but she whose name cannot be mentioned still visits.

I've just bought some cheap Continental Grand Prix so I'll let you know how I get on with those.

It's a pity we can't make farmers clear up after they butcher their hedges though.

meanredspider

infopete wrote:

It's a pity we can't make farmers clear up after they butcher their hedges though.

I guess I'm lucky that there aren't so many hedges around here - I ride past more forest. The roads also tend to have good ditches between them and any hedges too.

Spudboy

I have Gatorskins and find the puncture resistance to be ok (ish) but the grip in the wet is quite simply appalling.

I'm looking to give the Michelins a go.

jthef

When you ride where do you go (road position)?
What I mean is if you are out with your mate do you ride side by side? and are you on the outside?
Reason I say is when the farmers cut the hedges I always follow the car track as the bigger vehicle clear all the shit etc off that area.so much less chance of puncture.
I do run on gatorskins at 115 psi.
I've had 4 punctures since June but a couple were due to the tyre being nearly worn out as they get more puncture prone when worn.

on-yer-bike

Sounds like you are not ridding the tyre or wheel of the offending article. 4000s are race tyres so they aren't built for maximum puncture resistance. I cant see how they would be more puncture proof than Gatorskins. 4 Seasons are winter/wet race tyres and probably have the best durablity to weight to rolling resistance ratio in the Conti line-up. Expensive though.