Thanks to BBC Weather....

meanredspider

...and the torrential rain they failed to forecast, I learned that:

1. Rim brakes are far far worse in the wet than I remember

2. Conti GP4000S tyres aren't waterproof and puncture instantly in the wet.

Actually, the GP4Ks really are terrible when it rains in my experience. Every time I take a chance on them again, I get a puncture the very first time it rains. Today was no exception.

jimmypippa

Meteox.co.uk has rainradar for the whole of europe and forecasts. As it is originally a dutch organisation I guess its counterpart is good for the Netherlands.

rubertoe

The showery forecast with out breaks of heavy rain, meant rain all day.

daxplusplus

Yeah me too - forecast was no rain till 10am (and then just a millimetre or so). Reality was a ride of 1.5 hours in a constant downpour.

Ho hum.

Wrath Rob

I hear you on the rim brakes. Every time I go back to them in the wet I fear for my life. I also fear for my ass on the commute as I tend to get drafted in the wet (full mudguards) yet I can stop much more quickly than other roadies...

Don't agree with you on the GP4ks, mine have been great, good puncture resistance (though I've had a few slip through) and good enough grip to race in the wet.

veronese68

You're right about the brakes, never had a problem with grip from Gatorskins on the Jake. Now I have brakes that work I keep finding the limit of grip. Possibly time for some 4 Seasons? Or some fast rolling cross tyres that have good puncture resistance. That's what I need.

slowbike

I don't trust bbc or met office forecasts. They're often wrong.
I use weatherweb.net - it doesn't give hour by hour forecasts but does help you interpret the forecast.

Tyres - gp4seasons has been ok for 2500 miles - just started gettin punctures in the rear - Sunday was a flint they have mostly been used on country roads with lots of gravel patches.

meanredspider

I'd have taken the Volagi had I known it was going to rain: disc brakes, Rubino Pros, Swan-R guard.

Instead I took the Foil (because it's new) - I was drowned almost instantly as a stream had flooded 20m of the path: soaked shoes and butt.

I know people often say positive things about the puncture resistance of GP4KSs - that just hasn't been my experience. I used them for L2E this year and got 2 punctures in the 440 miles. I've not had that many on the other 3000 miles I've ridden on the Rubinos. I then stick them on the Foil and, voila, a puncture in about 100 miles. Same thing happened when I tried them before: first wet day and I got a puncture on the way in and one on the way home. It may all be coincidence but I don't think so. And, actually, I really can't detect the difference in rolling resistance between them and the Rubino Pros.

slowbike

I've got 4ks on the "fast" bike - I've lost a tyre due to a sidewall cut - but I think that's been it so far - but then it's been summer riding.
I wouldn't like to say there was any rolling difference between the 4ks and the 4seasons - they're on different wheels and different bikes - too many variables !

Sewinman

I find this norwegian site the best, they care a lot about weather in Norway.

http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/

Sunday ride was scary in the rain, my brakes became completely useless..almost like I sped up! I remember saying once on here that my road bike brakes were much worse than my hybrid brakes and being shot down in flames by DonDaddyD! He blamed Sora quality.

EKE_38BPM

Sewinman wrote:

...I remember saying once on here that my road bike brakes were much worse than my hybrid brakes and being shot down in flames by DonDaddyD! He blamed Sora quality.

Don't worry about that. Unless you agree with what DDD thinks, you are wrong.

Discuss.

monkimark

Rain alarm app on my Android phone has saved me a couple of soakings - it doesn't give a weather forecast as such but it tracks where it's currently raining and lets you know if it's heading your way.

meanredspider

monkimark wrote:

Rain alarm app on my Android phone has saved me a couple of soakings - it doesn't give a weather forecast as such but it tracks where it's currently raining and lets you know if it's heading your way.

Sounds interesting. You could use the network of Wunderground weather stations to do that too.

My problem was that I had to choose a bike at 8am for the commute. I don't care about getting wet it's just silly to have the "weather equipped" bike in the garage when it's pi55ing down on the way home. And I know showers are difficult to forecast but this was about 2 hours of pouring rain.

BTW - thanks to the two riders that cycled past as I was fixing my puncture and didn't ask if I was ok... :roll:

Big old hole in the tyre too. With my Airstick I couldn't get enough air into the tube to find the hole - it went flat too quickly. Relied on a finger-scan of the tyre which found nothing. Horrible conditions to use CO2 too - warm, wet and humid air - fingers, gloves and everything were sticking to the cold cartridge!

jonnyboy77

Kind of related but not commuting as such.

I'm doing the London Duathlon on Sunday and there's a chance of rain. I haven't ridden my road bike in the wet as yet, and it's kitted out with schwalbe ultremo zx tyres, anyone know if that's a recipe for disaster should it rain?

I'm doing some googling on this subject and getting a lot of info about durability, which I'm less concerned about, but not much on wet weather performance.

On my commuter I run Conti Gatorskins (700x28) and they seem ok in the wet, not fool proof, but I've never had any major moments. I had wondered about a set of 700x23 gatorskins for the road bike.

As for weather forecasting, isn't that akin to fortune telling?

- Jon

meanredspider

Never tried Ultremo tyres. What are you concerned about: grip or puncture protection? Most tyres are ok in the wet provided you don't push too hard in the corners and you're on reasonable surfaces (not cobbles for instance). All tyres seem to pick up more punctures in the wet - the best theory (to me at least) is the wet lubricates sharp objects (others include stuff "sticking" to your tyres and debris being washed into the road).

Yes - I'd agree that forecasting out any distance is a game of chance. 2 hours of heavy rain in the next 8 hours ought to be reasonably predictable.

jonnyboy77

meanredspider wrote:

Never tried Ultremo tyres. What are you concerned about: grip or puncture protection? Most tyres are ok in the wet provided you don't push too hard in the corners and you're on reasonable surfaces (not cobbles for instance). All tyres seem to pick up more punctures in the wet - the best theory (to me at least) is the wet lubricates sharp objects (others include stuff "sticking" to your tyres and debris being washed into the road).

Yes - I'd agree that forecasting out any distance is a game of chance. 2 hours of heavy rain in the next 8 hours ought to be reasonably predictable.

Concerned with grip more than punctures, obviously if it's wet I'll be more cautious just hoping it's not too bad with these tyres. Further google research suggests no widespread wet weather issues with the tyres based on the absence of 'THESE TYRES ARE LETHAL IN THE WET' type forums entries, you know the usual forum hysteria

- Jon

PS, Now there will be a google entry for 'schwalbe ultremo zx tyres lethal in the wet' .... oops!

hegyestomi

I use Accuweather from my mobile: I was surprised how accurate it is, it has the hourly weather forecast including chance of rain, etc. I would say it had about 90%+ accuracy (in London that is) and when it went wrong and predicted minor rain I got away without getting wet. Use your mobile to access it, it's pretty useless from a computer.

t4tomo

meanredspider wrote:

...and the torrential rain they failed to forecast, I learned that:

1. Rim brakes are far far worse in the wet than I remember

2. Conti GP4000S tyres aren't waterproof and puncture instantly in the wet.

Actually, the GP4Ks really are terrible when it rains in my experience. Every time I take a chance on them again, I get a puncture the very first time it rains. Today was no exception.

You need conti seasons, particularly up there where you get 4 seasons in a day typically.

meanredspider

t4tomo wrote:

You need conti seasons, particularly up there where you get 4 seasons in a day typically.

Nah - you won't persuade me that my beloved Rubino Pros aren't perfectly up to the job. Apart from being a bit sketchy on sheet ice :shock:

dilemna

BBC weather forecasts are a joke. Never listen to or look at them even if they come on the radio I change channel or on t'internet I avoid.

Best site is http://www.xcweather.co.uk/GB/forecast