Flats

I have All Condition Pro 25s (Specialized) on the front, Armadillo 25 on the rear.This combo may address the perceived traction/ flat problem as the rear is not the one which "gives way" & the front is not the one which usually flats. As for weight, I weighed both on kitchen scales & the Pro was 235 gm Armidillo 470 gm.

IMO the armadillo @ 115 lb pressure gave a more comfortable ride than when I had an ACP on the rear...........maybe the thick, firm side wall of the Armo has better "shock absorbing" qualities....... this is contrary to what I have read, but to agree to disagree on the forum is not unusual ......... bring it on!!

Al R 1955 said:

As for weight, I weighed both on kitchen scales & the Pro was 235 gm Armidillo 470 gm.

If you have issues with the Armadillo's weight, you should check out the "Elite" version that specialized has put out. It's a bit more expensive, but only about 30-40gm heavier than the Pros, and foldable thanks to a kevlar bead (as opposed to the regular version's steel). I've been very happy on them.

no superiority intended, since I am a Yankee (who has never been to Alabama), just some confusion.

and the only advantage of SI is the numbers are bigger so you can think you are going faster 🙂

dhk said:

No need to assume, since I said 12K miles. But, even if I hadn't, here in Huntsville AL USA, miles would be a correct assumption. Appears you were eager to make the point that the rest of the world uses km, not miles....can't blame you for feeling superior that your country has adopted SI, while we stay in the 18th century 🙂

Al R 1955 said:

I have All Condition Pro 25s (Specialized) on the front, Armadillo 25 on the rear.This combo may address the perceived traction/ flat problem as the rear is not the one which "gives way" & the front is not the one which usually flats. As for weight, I weighed both on kitchen scales & the Pro was 235 gm Armidillo 470 gm.

IMO the armadillo @ 115 lb pressure gave a more comfortable ride than when I had an ACP on the rear...........maybe the thick, firm side wall of the Armo has better "shock absorbing" qualities....... this is contrary to what I have read, but to agree to disagree on the forum is not unusual ......... bring it on!!

You know, I'm going to have to agree with you and retract my statement that the armadillo has less traction. To tell you the truth, I haven't noticed any problems whatsoever, and as far as ride quality, I haven't noticed anything wrong here, either. I think that the armadillo gets a bad rap by shop guys because they just want to sell more tubes, and they know that the armadillo is nearly flatproof... hence, they give it a bad rap, and call it a heavy, slippery, rough riding tire. Now, I'm looking at my armadillo tire right now, and last week I hit some glass that DID flatten this beast of a tire, and left a nice sized tear in the rubber, as well. Any ideas on how to keep this tire in good shape? Maybe a nice patch on the inner wall to keep the tube from coming out, or some other macgyver-like trickery?

They are heavy,around 3/4lb per set more then a Conti or Mich.

li rider said:

no superiority intended, since I am a Yankee (who has never been to Alabama), just some confusion.

and the only advantage of SI is the numbers are bigger so you can think you are going faster 🙂

Im from OZ with "metric" & sure makes a Century easier for me to do! I have seen many times confusion with threads caused by geography. I'll change my details to reflect my location

Yes, around here we call 100 kms the "metric century". It's a standard option on a lot of the club century (100 mile) events....about half the riders pick the 62 mile metric rather than the full 100 mile route.

A buddy of mine hands me his HAC4 at least once a season for resetting when he gets it stuck in kms. He's an old aussie, so it's understandable 🙂

Actually, SI has lots of advantages when it comes to calculating and converting units like length and mass since most everything is powers of 10. We need to remember stuff like "a pint's a pound the world around", and there are 12 inches in a foot, 5280 feet in a mile, furlongs per fortnight, etc.

You should also pick all the bits of glass and what ever else out of the tyres before they puncture it (ie there are usually small pieces in the cracks working their way in to your tyres). I used to get a lot of flats and when I started picking the bits of glass out before they puncture it reduced the number.

Having said that I never really get punctures now and I dont pick my tyres either. Dont know why that is the case. Maybe I have picked up every single piece of [censored] on my ride over the years and there's none left! 😉

MichaelB said:

You should also pick all the bits of glass and what ever else out of the tyres before they puncture it (ie there are usually small pieces in the cracks working their way in to your tyres). I used to get a lot of flats and when I started picking the bits of glass out before they puncture it reduced the number.

Having said that I never really get punctures now and I dont pick my tyres either. Dont know why that is the case. Maybe I have picked up every single piece of [censored] on my ride over the years and there's none left! 😉

You can say that again. I should have picked out bits of glass sooner... I just had 2 flats on the same tire (in different areas of the tire!) from glass, and on the same ride, no less! All this happened on the mighty Armadillo tire, too. I'm so good at changing flats, I'm going to start a business on the side.

dhk said:

your country has adopted SI, while we stay in the 18th century

Hey you guys escaped the Brits in 1776? We never escaped them, but we did escape there measuring systems in the early 70's. However old traditions die hard, in OZ most of us have stuck to psi and newborn baby weights are usually quoted in both.

Anyway back to the topic. In Sydney the most common commuting tyre I see Vittoria Rubino Intrepid. They won't provide the performance of the tyres that the others have recommended, but they have a solid reputation for advoiding flats. On my last training ride, I was looking at the tyres being used. Most use contentials and about 20% used Vittoria with about 10% of that being the Rubino Intrepid.

Conti GP 4000's are the way to go, lightweight (205gms), supple, lower rolling resistance, vectran protection strip, wear really well, tread wear indicators, performance tyre guarrantee (within 3 months of purchase) so if you cut them, just send them back (in Australia - need store receipt for proof of purchase) and pay 29.90 and get a totally new one and cheap on Ebay.

With latex tubes, these have to be nearly the best ride, especially if you can get a new one each time, when you cut the casing on glass.

Here are the reviews

roadcyclinguk.comarticle.aspOpen ↗

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