Help - Cornering!

mididoctors

GarryM wrote:

GP4000S ordered. I'm very interested to see how they will feel compared to my existing tyres. In hindsight, I'm so annoyed with myself that I didn't really take any notice of the tyres and how hard they felt to the touch - I am very fussy about the tyres on my mtb - had I done so I would have been more wary on the corners. I'm also surprised that such low quality tyres are OE on an expensive road bike. If you spend £1500+ on a mtb, you invariably get pretty good tyres. (I know my off was not just down to the tyres but I'm now confident they played a large part.)

yeah BUT dont discount some of the advice on technique thou


those tyres are rubbish but its also down to the rider..


one common tip in learning to corner is too look to where you are going rather than the road immediately in front of the bike

GarryM

Absolutely - I do understand that. Whilst I am a total novice at road cycling, I do ride a mtb a couple of times a week and I generally ride everything as fast as I can. That's the whole point for me. Looking ahead is probably the most important piece of advice for anyone. Sadly, I've done myself more damage on my second trip on a road bike than I have ever done to myself in 10 years of mtb'ing!

GarryM

Sorry to resurrect this thread but saw this on today's Bikeradar review of the Fuji Altamira 3.0:
"there's one aspect of the Fuji that didn’t perform as well as we’d have liked – the tyres, which are basic model Vittoria Zaffiros. The slick version is acceptable but not exceptional, but this entry-level model has a slightly treaded pattern and feels squirmy under hard cornering. More importantly, grip is dramatically absent when the roads are wet and greasy."
My tyres and describes what happened to me exactly. I'm sure an experienced rider would have got around that corner by recognizing the deficiency and riding accordingly whereas I was blissfully unaware! Why do manufacturers put these tyres on expensive, race bikes? If anyone has them on theirs, I'd recommend replacing them.

markos1963

GarryM wrote:

Sorry to resurrect this thread but saw this on today's Bikeradar review of the Fuji Altamira 3.0:
"there's one aspect of the Fuji that didn’t perform as well as we’d have liked – the tyres, which are basic model Vittoria Zaffiros. The slick version is acceptable but not exceptional, but this entry-level model has a slightly treaded pattern and feels squirmy under hard cornering. More importantly, grip is dramatically absent when the roads are wet and greasy."
My tyres and describes what happened to me exactly. I'm sure an experienced rider would have got around that corner by recognizing the deficiency and riding accordingly whereas I was blissfully unaware! Why do manufacturers put these tyres on expensive, race bikes? If anyone has them on theirs, I'd recommend replacing them.

Not only poor tyres but you see cheap wheels on £2k bikes as well. Hence a lot of experienced riders will build up a frame themselves to get things just right. This can cost more but gives you a better result overall.

nferrar

Basically avoid any tyre that claims to be hard-wearing with the exception of some Conti tyres with black chilli compound. As otherwise hard-wearing means harder/less grippy rubber. Personally I'd rather just get 1000 miles out of tyres I can trust than 10000 miles out of tyres that could have me off if they're pushed.

Mad Roadie

CambsNewbie wrote:

Diesel??

sounds like it - the most probable explanation

GarryM

I wondered that at the time but it wasn't - I carefully inspected the road surface. Piecing together all the feedback on here it was a combination of: going in too fast (my lack of experience), water on edges of tyres, poor quality tyres and poor quality road surface. A recipe for disaster!

springtide9

http://www.cycling-secrets.com/cornering/

GarryM

Thanks for the link Simon. Inspired me to look on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXqQqAc ... re=related

Cancellara - what an awesome descent! Cornering perfection.