First Crash in Ten Years!

[Stephen Harding]

About 200 yards to go to reach the office door after a bit over 15 miles this morning.

Down a little "handicap ramp" from sidewalk to access road. Up the "handicap ramp" from road to
sidewalk on the other side.

[NOTE: I'm on campus here. I'm not *really* riding sidewalks.]

A slight, sharp turn to center on the sidewalk and my front wheel washes out from under me and I go
down on my elbow to the pavement!

What the ...??!!!

Front tire is soft from a slow flat in the making! Nice red scrape on my elbow but all is mostly
well. The bike still sits in my office with front wheel off awaiting lunch (now) to fix.

Second flat this year, both on this bike; my "joy riding" bike, the Trek 2000.

This is my first crash (excluding some "sudden dismounts" on my MTB doing more technical terrain
than my competence allows) in about ten years, and the worst one in probably...20??

Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
23-25mm size. Haven't had luck with Contis in that range, forgot the type. Maybe Michelin? The
Bontragers I ditched after a mere month of use. Too fragile. They flatted all the time.

So if there's a decent, not too expensive favorite tire for a
700cx23/25 tire that you've found to be durable and flat resistant, I'm all ears!

Ouch, ouwww, ooh...

SMH

 

[D.Putnam]

Vittoria Rubino Pros..I average about 1 flat per season.

 

[Rick Warner]

"D.Putnam" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Vittoria Rubino Pros..I average about 1 flat per season.

I second that. Changed to Rubino Pros 7000+ miles ago, and not a flat since.

- rick warner

 

[Mark Hickey]

Stephen Harding <[email protected]> wrote:

I had a near disaster due to an unnoticed flat some months ago. I was making a right at speed with
traffic all around (trying not to slow it down too much), and suddenly my rear end was passing me on
the left. I managed to (somehow) stay upright by countersteering violently into the slide and "dirt
tracked" to a stop. The bus driver who was coming the other way looked startled that I didn't hit
the road, but he couldn't have been more surprised than I was about it.

>Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
>23-25mm size. Haven't had luck with Contis in that range, forgot the type. Maybe Michelin? The
>Bontragers I ditched after a mere month of use. Too fragile. They flatted all the time.
>
>So if there's a decent, not too expensive favorite tire for a
>700cx23/25 tire that you've found to be durable and flat resistant, I'm all ears!

I've had great luck with Conti Gatorskins. The thorns here in the Phoenix area are downright
predatory - I went from probably 3-5 flats a week to one every 3-4 months.

I've heard good things from folks I've set up with Panaracer "T Serv for Messenger" tires (even if
it IS about the goofiest tire name going). They're fairly cheap, too...

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Garmonboezia]

Stephen Harding <[email protected]> wrote in news:3ED63379.73C51923 @cs.umass.edu:

> About 200 yards to go to reach the office door after a bit over 15 miles this morning.
>
> Down a little "handicap ramp" from sidewalk to access road. Up the "handicap ramp" from road to
> sidewalk on the other side.
>
> [NOTE: I'm on campus here. I'm not *really* riding sidewalks.]
>
> A slight, sharp turn to center on the sidewalk and my front wheel washes out from under me and I
> go down on my elbow to the pavement!
>
> What the ...??!!!
>
> Front tire is soft from a slow flat in the making! Nice red scrape on my elbow but all is mostly
> well. The bike still sits in my office with front wheel off awaiting lunch (now) to fix.
>
> Second flat this year, both on this bike; my "joy riding" bike, the Trek 2000.
>
> This is my first crash (excluding some "sudden dismounts" on my MTB doing more technical terrain
> than my competence allows) in about ten years, and the worst one in probably...20??
>
> Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
> 23-25mm size. Haven't had luck with Contis in that range, forgot the type. Maybe Michelin? The
> Bontragers I ditched after a mere month of use. Too fragile. They flatted all the time.
>
> So if there's a decent, not too expensive favorite tire for a
> 700cx23/25 tire that you've found to be durable and flat resistant, I'm all ears!
>
>
> Ouch, ouwww, ooh...
>
> SMH

I've been running Michelin Axial Carbons with Tuffies for a year now. It seems like I flat out once
every four months on average. I ride in some fairly glass-strewn places so once every four months is
an improvement from no liners at all. The Vittoria Rubino Pros worked as well as the others say, but
$35 is pricey to me.

 

[Harris]

"Stephen Harding" wrote:

> Second flat this year, both on this bike...
>
> Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
> 23-25mm size.

What's wrong with the IRCs? Any tire can get a flat. I've had good luck with the IRC Road Winners
(nominally 700 x 28, but actual measure is 25 mm).

Art Harris

 

[Stephen Harding]

Harris wrote:
>
> "Stephen Harding" wrote:
>
> > Second flat this year, both on this bike...
> >
> > Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
> > 23-25mm size.
>
> What's wrong with the IRCs? Any tire can get a flat. I've had good luck with the IRC Road Winners
> (nominally 700 x 28, but actual measure is 25 mm).

Certainly any tire can flat. But this year, in two consequtive rides I've flatted the front tire.
Two out of only four rides on this particular bike and tires so far this year.

Last year wasn't much better. I bought some Conti SuperSport???2000 earlier and had flat problems
with them, although I've had superb luck with Conti Top Touring tires on my touring/commuter bike. I
hear sometimes Conti produces "bad batches" and I do remember a large number of "bumps" in the
inside casing that acted almost like sand grains over time. Ditched the Contis in favor of some
Bontrager 28's (perhaps the tire you mention above?? They were nominally 28s but 25s in practice)
which didn't do much better, and eventually tore the second day of last year's RAGBRAI. So the IRCs
came back on.

The IRCs are Redstorm Classics in 25mm. I've replaced them today with some more Bontrager 25mm Race
Flites after my LBS assured me they were a very good tire (actually made by Continental) and would
stand behind them (except for obvious road damage) if they misbehaved. So we'll see.

Next on the trials test, if need, be will be the Michelin Axial Carbons or maybe the Conti
Gaterskins. The Vittoria's were more money than I wanted to spend right now.

SMH

 

[Grl]

Slime?

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist, Visual Basic programmer)
"Stephen Harding" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> About 200 yards to go to reach the office door after a bit over 15 miles this morning.
>
> Down a little "handicap ramp" from sidewalk to access road. Up the "handicap ramp" from road to
> sidewalk on the other side.
>
> [NOTE: I'm on campus here. I'm not *really* riding sidewalks.]
>
> A slight, sharp turn to center on the sidewalk and my front wheel washes out from under me and I
> go down on my elbow to the pavement!
>
> What the ...??!!!
>
> Front tire is soft from a slow flat in the making! Nice red scrape on my elbow but all is mostly
> well. The bike still sits in my office with front wheel off awaiting lunch (now) to fix.
>
> Second flat this year, both on this bike; my "joy riding" bike, the Trek 2000.
>
> This is my first crash (excluding some "sudden dismounts" on my MTB doing more technical terrain
> than my competence allows) in about ten years, and the worst one in probably...20??
>
> Well I'll survive, but those damned IRC tires on the 2000 have got to go! Something durable in
> 23-25mm size. Haven't had luck with Contis in that range, forgot the type. Maybe Michelin? The
> Bontragers I ditched after a mere month of use. Too fragile. They flatted all the time.
>
> So if there's a decent, not too expensive favorite tire for a
> 700cx23/25 tire that you've found to be durable and flat resistant, I'm all ears!
>
>
> Ouch, ouwww, ooh...
>
> SMH

 

[Stephen Harding]

GRL wrote:

> Slime?

Certainly an option.

I've got tire liners inside my MTB wheels and they seem to work great (of course they've got 2.1"
knobs too). The Top Touring tires on my tourer/commuter seem bullet proof. I want to keep the "joy
rider" as basic as possible.

Never tried slime though, only the tire liners.

SMH

 

[Mark Freedman]

Stephen Harding <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> >

> Last year wasn't much better. I bought some Conti SuperSport???2000 earlier

I had a lot of glass flats with Conti Super Sportsn (700*28) Read the "Mr Tuffy" threads if you
decide to try liners. I found that they abraded the tubes and then the tire casing. That was
despite my tapering the ends where they overlap.

Hutchinson Globetrotters rode well and seemed quite flat resistant for the first 5,000 km. The
less tread, the more punctures.

Ditto for Vredstein "Perfect" tires with the puncture RESISTANT belt. The ones not made in
Holland feel horrible (subjective, I'm sure the MiH one felt much better, perhaps the sidewall
was more flexible).

I plan to try Panaracer TourGuard.

But those are all 700*28 or wider. Don't know how effective the Kevlar belts are.

My "almost" disaster occurred as I started down my favourite long / gradual / wide sloping road,
where I ocaasionally touch 50kph coasting (before I brake). I rely on my hearing a LOT, and
something didn't sound right. Actually, something sounded like a tire going soft. And of course
it was the front tire going soft.

I think I pinch-flatted on a tree root bashing along through the woods en route to that
hill. NHD.

tfn