Continental GP 4000 folding tyres

g'day, Continental GP 4000 folding tyres. I bought two on ebay, fitted them last night, inflated to 120lbs and this morning after about 1k the rear tyre blew off the rim!! My new Vittoria lightweight tube went off like a gun!! I put a new tube on and got to work OK but with a pressure of only 90lbs. I think I'll need to get one that's steel wire beeded. I'm using them on Shimano R550 wheels and I weigh about 96 kilos including clothes and backpack. I had Conti Gator Skins on previously and they were OK at 120lbs.

Anyone else had similar problem or know of a solution??

Many thanks for any advice.

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Bike: Giant 2006 CXR1 Flat Bar with 12-27 Ultegra. Brilliant fast bike!!!
Interests: Granchildren, Golf, Cycling, Powerlifting, Home Brew Beer, sampling as many different beers as I can before I die!!

Doesn't sound right.

I just had my LBS put on a pair of these and they rode without any problem. In the installation process I did notice the mechanic manually worked those folds out by hand before putting it on the rim. And when he installed the inner tube, he preinflated it with two puffs to get it into shape before inserting into the tyre. I assume it evens out the stretch on the tube.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Thanks for the reply buddy! I've been in contact with the Conti service rep and he says that because I bought the tyres on eBay (not a shop) he won't help, and that the colour (orange) isn't an Aussie tyre anyway. I've asked the eBay seller if he thinks the tyre is faulty so I'm waiting for a reply.

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Bike: Giant 2006 CXR1 Flat Bar with 12-27 Ultegra. Brilliant fast bike!!!
Interests: Granchildren, Golf, Cycling, Powerlifting, Home Brew Beer, sampling as many different beers as I can before I die!!

Find it difficult to imagine there's manufacturing issues. Are you sure there wasn't a technical reason in the installation process? Did you install them yourself? Are you experienced in that department?

As for Conti, they should assist. But why did you have to tell them where you got it from? As far as I know, we have every colour of GP4000 they produce here in Australia. What you called orange could very well have been what they called Gold or Conti Yellow.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

I had a tire blow off on me once, 0.5 miles from my house. I had ridden it hundreds of miles before with no problem, after I put a new tube in I rode it hundreds of miles afterwards with no problems. I assume I didn't get the tire seated well when I installed it and it worked its way off.

That's disappointing that Conti wouldn't help. Unless they're having a problem with counterfeit tires they shouldn't be too stuck on the sales channel, in my opinion.

I did install the tyres myself. Slightly inflated the new tubes so they went into the rim before pressing the tyre on. I'll go through the process again tonight very carefully inspecting before fully inflating, and I'll change the front tyre to the rear in case the rear has streched after the EXPLOSION! I'll try about 100lbs for a while, the new tyres did feel really good (fast) after the Conti Gator Skins.

cheers
Tony

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Bike: Giant 2006 CXR1 Flat Bar with 12-27 Ultegra. Brilliant fast bike!!!
Interests: Granchildren, Golf, Cycling, Powerlifting, Home Brew Beer, sampling as many different beers as I can before I die!!

Do what car tyre installer do, give it a few punches with a fist to make sure it's seated in the proper grooves. Hehe, what do I know?

I upgraded from Conti UltraSport 25mm and found this GP4000 23mm to be more supple (pressured 100, 110psi respectively). I can't understand it why a narrower tyre would be more supple and make the ride more comfortable. In any case, no regrets.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Almost certainly, you had a bit of the tube between bead and rim hook. I've had this happen a few times when I've been lazy. You need to go all the way around the bead on each side after you've placed both beads in the rim, rolling the tyre away from the rim hook on the side you're checking, to see if you can see any tube. If the tube is properly inserted, you should not be able to see it when you roll back the tyre to expose the rim tape, at any spot on either side. Inflate the tyre properly only after this check.

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Conti 4000 is a good tyre, almost half my bike club use them.

All brands and models of tyres have the occassional bad one, I had a mitcheln once that bubbled in the sidewall, it was replaced by the LBS, who sent it back to the manufacturer.

Have used many tyres with kevlar beading and never had any problem with the beading.

The couple of puffs into the tube is to make it round, so its less likely to be pinched when the tyre goes on.

If you want to be really sure you haven't pinched the tube, then with just the few puffs in, push in the sidwall with your thumbs, move around the tyre until its all done and then do the same on the other side. If it is pinched at any point then it should pop out of the pinch.

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Training Log

Hi all, thanks for the advice. I re-installed and carefully checked that the tube wasn't pinched and inflated to 100, all went OK on a 14k ride yesterday. I've put them up to 110 and will see how they go tomorrow.

cheers
Tony

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Bike: Giant 2006 CXR1 Flat Bar with 12-27 Ultegra. Brilliant fast bike!!!
Interests: Granchildren, Golf, Cycling, Powerlifting, Home Brew Beer, sampling as many different beers as I can before I die!!

Yea, I ride the 4000 as well. Absolutely love them and I've ridden in all types of conditions this past season.

My teammates had his tire sidewall blow too... I think it just happens....

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I think it is just bad luck. Any brand and any model could have punctured in such a short time. Then again, any brand and any model could last a lot longer with no problem at all.

It is simply unfortunate, don't let it put you off a great tyre!

in case there is any tube pinched on the rim I usually inflate about 1/3 and then use my hands and flex the tire side to side and look at the rim edge to make sure no tube is stuck under the rim and the flexing may help massage any kink in the tube