[email protected] wrote:
>
> In article <
[email protected]>, David L. Johnson
> <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I showed up, ~4 years ago, at a local shop riding tubulars. The guy at the counter, without
>>prompt, said I had to have these things "tire savers". I bought a pair, and used them until the
>>wire (basically a spoke) that actually did the scraping was worn through. Did it help? Marginally.
>>But it also spread gunk all over the bike, and me. i don't bother with them (nor with tubulars)
>>any longer.
>
> _ You can accomplish the same thing with a glove. I have no idea whether this really "saved" any
> flats or not, but at least in the 70's every tubular rider learned to slightly rub the tire with a
> gloved hand after riding through something suspicious. It definitely got a lot of loose grit off
> the tire. Since I road tubulars for years and don't remember more than a few flats, it must have
> been doing something. Most of this riding was in NH and CO where thorns aren't that much of a
> problem.
In a recent issue of Rivendell Reader, Grant Peterson (of Rivendell Bicycles) showed how to tie
sections of leather shoelace so they skimmed the tire loosely, to perform the same function. (I'm
surprised he didn't stick them on with beeswax.) IIRC, he did say not to try this if you're a person
prone to suing others for your own mistakes!
OTOH, another Stanford guy named Jobst Brandt has said that these techniques do no good. I think, by
the rules of r.b.*, that means we're not allowed to try them! ;-)
--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]
