Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
> jim beam wrote:
>
>>Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
>>
>>>Chronos wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>>The tires you have often come with new bikes, they are an
>>>>>inexpensive tire. Not all Continentals are alike. Some have very
>>>>>thin side walls, others like the Ultra Gatorskins are quite flat
>>>>>resistant.
>>>>
>>>>I was coming to the conclusion that I want to go with the
>>>>Gatorskins. The sport 1000 seem to go flat on rather little bumps.
>>>>Thanks.
>>>
>>>
>>>The Gatorskins are a nice-riding tire, far better than the
>>>Hutchinson Excels I had before. As for its flat protection, your
>>>eyes are a much better flat protector than the tire might be. If
>>>the road is wet and you have a lot of glass, forget even trying your
>>>luck.
>>
>>this winter, i tried a number of different tires. by far, the sport
>>1000 was the worst. on one memorable occasion, i punctured multiple
>>times on the same ride. terrible tire. i kept with them for about 4
>>weeks, but it was ridiculous. next was tufo. i retired them after
>>about two weeks and multiple punctures. then kenda. again, multiple
>>punctures. then panaracer. same. then i reverted to my hutchinson
>>excels, the ugly things that i didn't think rode so well - not a
>>single flat for the remaining 2 months of the season, with some
>>atrocious weather.
>>so, are hutchinson excel's the best riding tire out there? no. do
>>they get you to work reliably when all the other garbage punctures
>>every other day? absolutely. they grip well in the wet too. as far as
>>i'm
>>concerned, there's no other wet weather tire worth bothering with.
>
>
> *sigh* I hate agreeing with you on that point. They *are* remarkably
> flat-resistant. I don't believe I ever had a flat on those tires in ~1k
> miles. I think part of the reason was that the tread is exceptionally
> thick.
>
> The ride, however, was so rotten, and the cornering performance was worse
> than riding glass tires on a glass surface.
they do make the bike ride like a truck, but personally, i feel a lot
more secure on the hutchinsons in the wet than any other tire i've
tried, including contis or even michelins. and that includes
negotiating the slippery steel of san fancisco's cable car tracks.
sorry you had such bad luck.
> This was due to that colored
> tread on the sides. I had so many crashes, skinned knees and elbows, and
> little pinholes in my shins from my big BMX-style pedals that I just had to
> switch them. The pinholes take months to heal, as they're probably 3mm deep
> and tend to weep serum. Yuck.
>
> I'll say this, though. I noticed an immediate and great difference when I
> switched from the 23mm Excels to the 23mm Gatorskins on my lightweight (alu)
> race bike, but when I switched the same Excels to 25mm Gatorskins on my
> heavy steel commuter, I noticed a much smaller difference. I'm wondering if
> resonant frequencies had anything to do with it.
>
quite possibly. i just read an article [michelin?] on this exact
subject and the effect rubber resonance & resiliance has on wet grip.
