MTB slicks thread...

gclark8

What, no posts since January?

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Cheers,
George.

artemidorus

I have used up to 120psi with rubber tape with no problems - in fact, I have an idea that the front wheel on my road bike has one now. I wouldn't choose to do so if I had originally fitted the tape, but there has been no incentive for change.

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"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

j.r.hawkins

Following up on my previous post:

I've since put more than 3,000 km on the Conti Sport Contact 1.3's I bought shortly after my last post. Here's my smiley-rated review <LOL>.

Verdict:
Rolling resistance: briliant
Dry Traction: excellent
Wet Traction: very good
Wear: excellent
Puncture resistance: what's a puncture?
Ease of fitting: Awful!

Haha! I suppose it's just as well I've not had any punctures... I had to buy some steel-cored tyre levers just to get the suckers on and off the rim, b'cos I busted all my plastic ones, the things are so tight to put on. And to get the bead to seat properly I gotta pump them up to about 110psi or I get a monster flat-spot in the ride. Once seated, though, they do go brilliantly.

To be fair these niggles might be because of the Alex TD17 hoops I put 'em on being slighlty oversize compared to others. Seem to recall a comment to that effect somewhere.

There are a just few VERY small nicks in the back tyre where I've run over the occasional bits of broken glass at the start of the Burnt Bridge Creek cycleway, but I've only once found a (tiny) sliver still in the tread.

This is vastly better than the WTB slickasauruses. Speaking of which, does anybody want my old set - you can have 'em just for the cost of the postage. Slimed innertubes are included. PM me if you're interested.

artemidorus

Agreed; I got the front one onto a Mavic X517 rim with only a high normal level of difficulty, but it took nearly an hour and my girlfriend's help to get the rear one onto an Araya RM-17. I've never in my life had so much difficulty mounting a tyre, otherwise. I'm dreading my first rear wheel puncture, although I agree with the question, "What's a puncture?", with regard to these tyres.
Next time I'll follow a friend's recommendation of a hot bath for the tyre beforehand, and soap on the rim edge.

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"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

j.r.hawkins

That's encouraging - I'm not a compleat idiot then <chuckle>. Mine took about the same time after accounting for taking it off and on a couple of times to fix the pinch flats from the bead pinching the tube against the rim edge. <duh!>

I'm not sure what the hot bath would do - seems to me it's the steel bead that's the issue rather than the rubber. The soap would definitely be helpful, so long as you can get the show completed before it dries.

BTW, on the slickasauruses, postage would be about $15 within Australia.

artemidorus

Steel expands with heat, a little stretch could help a lot.

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"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

nerdag

Why waste water unecessarily - just leave them lying in the sun for 30mins or so.

I run Ritchey Tom slicks on my frankenbike commuter, and it has the same tight bead problem that you guys have. Solar energy, however, makes it much less difficult (about the same as trying to get a Conti Road tyre onto a tight rim).

For those who care, they are Ritchey 1.4's, on Sun Black Eyes.

n