I Need Tire Help

I ride mine too everyday to work this time of year and ride weekends too. I switched to thorn-resistant tubes and that proved more resilient for me. It 's been on for the 2nd season now. I get mine from performancebike.com. Hope this helps.

Jkuscin said:

I'm going through tires like you wouldn't believe. I ride a Bianchi Veloce and am 185 pounds. I ride roads with lots of debris. I've just ruined a pair of Hutchinson Fusion Long Distance with only 625 miles. They have numerous spots of wear down to the threads. I follow the guidelines on air pressure, and fill the tires to the maximum recommended pressure everyday I ride. I commute to work on the bike, so I ride about 125 miles a week this time of year.

Once the tires get between 500 and 100 miles on them, I start to get flats on a way too regular basis, so I know theres a problem. I've had this problem with my last few sets of tires, including Continental 1000 sports. ( I've tried cheap tires and better tires) I check the tire thoroughly when changing a flat, so I know there's no debris inside the tire, and I recently checked the rim liners and they seem OK.

Jkuscin said:

I'm going through tires like you wouldn't believe. I ride a Bianchi Veloce and am 185 pounds. I ride roads with lots of debris. I've just ruined a pair of Hutchinson Fusion Long Distance with only 625 miles. They have numerous spots of wear down to the threads. I follow the guidelines on air pressure, and fill the tires to the maximum recommended pressure everyday I ride. I commute to work on the bike, so I ride about 125 miles a week this time of year.

Once the tires get between 500 and 100 miles on them, I start to get flats on a way too regular basis, so I know theres a problem. I've had this problem with my last few sets of tires, including Continental 1000 sports. ( I've tried cheap tires and better tires) I check the tire thoroughly when changing a flat, so I know there's no debris inside the tire, and I recently checked the rim liners and they seem OK.

What width tire are you using or able to use?
If you can use 30 mm wide tires check out Schwalbe Marathon Slicks:
http://www.schwalbetires.com/on_tour.php?Nickname=MARATHON%20SLICK&Image=TireImages/marathon_slick.jpg
or if you like tread and more protection and can use 28 or more try URL:
http://www.schwalbetires.com/on_tour_touring.php?Nickname=MARATHON%20PLUS&Image=TireImages/marathon_plus.gif
for the Marathon Plus.
If you still have flats with the Marathon Plus, you need to get a "Street-Sweeper" to groom your route. These tires are tough, but they are slower. You always need to ask yourself how fast are you going to average when you are fixing a flat.
I have ridden both tires over 5,000 miles each. With the Marathon Plus, I toured to Idaho from Illinois & back without any flats or other tire related issues.
Of course, when I was lighter/younger, I did the same route without a flat on Avocet FasGrip 20 32 mm tires.

Jkuscin said:

I'm going through tires like you wouldn't believe. I ride a Bianchi Veloce and am 185 pounds. I ride roads with lots of debris. I've just ruined a pair of Hutchinson Fusion Long Distance with only 625 miles. They have numerous spots of wear down to the threads. I follow the guidelines on air pressure, and fill the tires to the maximum recommended pressure everyday I ride. I commute to work on the bike, so I ride about 125 miles a week this time of year.

Once the tires get between 500 and 100 miles on them, I start to get flats on a way too regular basis, so I know theres a problem. I've had this problem with my last few sets of tires, including Continental 1000 sports. ( I've tried cheap tires and better tires) I check the tire thoroughly when changing a flat, so I know there's no debris inside the tire, and I recently checked the rim liners and they seem OK.

I'd like to know how you can get threads to show after 625 miles.
Years ago I had a string of flats on my rear and since I had a dedicated set of wheels for racing, I stuck a pretty wide tire on there with a good puncture resistant side wall, and also a thorn guard for good measure..almost forgot I also used a special tube that was supposedly more puncture resistant. That wheel didn't flat for @ 10 years. Had to throw it away due to dry rot.

Jkuscin said:

I'm going through tires like you wouldn't believe. I ride a Bianchi Veloce and am 185 pounds. I ride roads with lots of debris. I've just ruined a pair of Hutchinson Fusion Long Distance with only 625 miles. They have numerous spots of wear down to the threads. I follow the guidelines on air pressure, and fill the tires to the maximum recommended pressure everyday I ride. I commute to work on the bike, so I ride about 125 miles a week this time of year.

Once the tires get between 500 and 100 miles on them, I start to get flats on a way too regular basis, so I know theres a problem. I've had this problem with my last few sets of tires, including Continental 1000 sports. ( I've tried cheap tires and better tires) I check the tire thoroughly when changing a flat, so I know there's no debris inside the tire, and I recently checked the rim liners and they seem OK.

If you're getting flat spots, that's got be from heavy braking with the rear wheel only. Learn to use the front brake, since that's the only one that can stop you quickly in an emergency. You can practice panic stops by squeezing both brakes hard together, and then feathering the rear when you feel or hear lockup.

Also advise staying away from max pressure ratings; that makes the tire more prone to cut thru since cord is under stress, and there's less compliance over sharp stuff. At 185 lbs, around 100 psi front, 105-110 rear should be good for grip, ride, rolling resistance and tire life.

You might try the expensive Conti's...the GP 3000, Ultragatorskin, or Four Seasons. I've had great luck (zero flats) on GP 3000s now for the last 7500 miles.

[b]"If you're getting flat spots, that's got be from heavy braking with the rear wheel only. Learn to use the front brake, since that's the only one that can stop you quickly in an emergency. You can practice panic stops by squeezing both brakes hard together, and then feathering the rear when you feel or hear lockup."[/b]

Yeah, sounds like you're using the rear brakes way too much. This is basic physics, the faster you decelerate, the more and more weight is transfered to the front wheel. So the braking motion you want to go through is initially to grab both brakes, then to build up more and more deceleration, you add more and more front brake and slowly release the rear as it lighter and lighter.

Under maximum braking, like at the theoretical limit of adhesion, you'll be using the front-brakes and the rears will be off the ground slightly, so practice this kind of maximum-braking. Push your arms straight forward, stick your butt out over the rear tyre with your stomach on the seat; this might save your life someday. Look at the brakes on hi-perf motorcycles and cars and you'll see that the front brakes are much larger than the rears.

[quote="DannoXYZ"][b][i]

Under maximum braking, like at the theoretical limit of adhesion, you'll be using the front-brakes and the rears will be off the ground slightly, so practice this kind of maximum-braking. Push your arms straight forward, stick your butt out over the rear tyre with your stomach on the seat; this might save your life someday. Look at the brakes on hi-perf motorcycles and cars and you'll see that the front brakes are much larger than the rears.[/QUOTE]

I gotta try this "stomach on the seat" technique !!! I'm not contortionist... but I'll give it a go !!

Also, try lining your tires with some kind of tire-liner........ so that when it does come time for possible threads being shown, you'll have another added barrior between your tire/ and tube. Flats suck. Stay safe ...... good tires could be the difference between life + death.