Too high psi or bad tires?

Conti Ultra Gator Skins with Kevlar for glass problems, GP4000 for race days. My friend with Michie Pro Race had 5 glass punctures in 2 days, none with the Conti gators skins in two weeks.

Yeah...leave those expensive tyres and racing tubes for race days (everything is lighter, thinner and more fragile. How many times have I pinched a racing tube 60ks out when fixing a puncture...arrrgh!). The Gator skins are good for glass problems at 130PSI. I have found the best life I have had is from Maxxis Fuse. Cheap tyre, heavy (who cares for training?) and the last set got me 4000ks easy. Who wants to shell out $150 for tyres when they can be cut right through to the casing in one unfortunate puncture. Michelin Megamiums last OK too for a training/racing tyre but are a bit more pricey.

southwind said:

I purchased a new set of Vredestein Fortezza TriComp tires this spring and first ride I took the back tire ended up with a large gash. I replaced the tire and within 2 months I have gone through 3 tires, all having cuts in them. Last year I rode on the same roads with the less expensive version of Fortezza tires, not TriComp, and had no problems with those tires. The TriComp are more expensive and are supposed to be of higher quality, but I've spent $150.00 on tires so far this spring! I'm wondering if the increased psi is possibly the cause for the cuts on the tires. The TriComp is rated at 175 psi and I've been running them at 165 psi. The tires I used last year were rated at 145 psi and I ran them at 140 psi. My body weight is about 173. Has anyone had the same problem with the TriComps? What road tire would you recommend that is fast, but somewhat durable?

Yes I recently used a set of 700x25 Tricomps for a 102 mile race in Mtns and after it was over the front sidewall blew out while sitting in the sun. I was using Latex tubes, and since I prefer to have lower rolling resistance, I only had the pressure up to 110psi. I am 190lbs. I thought maybe the damage happened via handling in the truck that returned the bike (it was a point to point race), but after seeing your post I don't know, and maybe I was just lucky it didn't happen during the race.

Did you have trouble installing them? I found them to be a real b!tch to get on.

[quote="southwind"][b]The TriComp is rated at 175 psi and I've been running them at 165 psi. The tires I used last year were rated at 145 psi and I ran them at 140 psi. [/QUOTE]
BTW this has been discussed ad nauseam, but you are not doing yourself any favors pumping them up that high, unless you are riding on a perfect surface (like indoor track).

southwind said:

I purchased a new set of Vredestein Fortezza TriComp tires this spring and first ride I took the back tire ended up with a large gash. I replaced the tire and within 2 months I have gone through 3 tires, all having cuts in them. Last year I rode on the same roads with the less expensive version of Fortezza tires, not TriComp, and had no problems with those tires. The TriComp are more expensive and are supposed to be of higher quality, but I've spent $150.00 on tires so far this spring! I'm wondering if the increased psi is possibly the cause for the cuts on the tires. The TriComp is rated at 175 psi and I've been running them at 165 psi. The tires I used last year were rated at 145 psi and I ran them at 140 psi. My body weight is about 173. Has anyone had the same problem with the TriComps? What road tire would you recommend that is fast, but somewhat durable?

Just bad luck. I've been using a vredestein tricomp and have been doing training rides for 2 months and have had no flats. I did get 1 pinch flat of the tube, but the tire was never penetrated. That was riding with a Zipp 404, which doesn't really absorb shock well. Hit a stone hard, and it'll rupture the tube without doing anything to the tire.

-bikeguy

Yes, these are the most difficult tires to put on that I've come across. I really had to work to get them to stretch over the rim.

wilmar13 said:

Yes I recently used a set of 700x25 Tricomps for a 102 mile race in Mtns and after it was over the front sidewall blew out while sitting in the sun. I was using Latex tubes, and since I prefer to have lower rolling resistance, I only had the pressure up to 110psi. I am 190lbs. I thought maybe the damage happened via handling in the truck that returned the bike (it was a point to point race), but after seeing your post I don't know, and maybe I was just lucky it didn't happen during the race.

Did you have trouble installing them? I found them to be a real b!tch to get on.

wilmar13 said:

BTW this has been discussed ad nauseam, but you are not doing yourself any favors pumping them up that high, unless you are riding on a perfect surface (like indoor track).

I tried to look for a thread about psi inflation rates, but didn't see one. I'll keep looking. Thanks.

southwind said:

The TriComp are more expensive and are supposed to be of higher quality, but I've spent $150.00 on tires so far this spring!

In the bicycle world, more expensive usually just means lighter. Lighter usually means more fragile. Often there is no direct relationship between price and durability or functionality, but there is usually an inverse relationship between price and weight.

gclark8 said:

Conti Ultra Gator Skins with Kevlar for glass problems, GP4000 for race days. My friend with Michie Pro Race had 5 glass punctures in 2 days, none with the Conti gators skins in two weeks.

I had some Fortezza SEs last year and trashed them in 50 miles due to a huge gash in my rear tire. I've been running with Conti Gatorskins for about 1,000 miles so far, and no problems.

I'm riding stock Bontrager Race X Lites. They're $50 per tyre and are riding good. No punctures or flats with about 300 miles so far. They seem to roll pretty nice too.

Bought a pair of continental gp4000's today. We'll see how these hold up compared to the TriComps. At this time of the year I'm putting in just over 200 miles a week so I should know fairly soon if these tires are durable.

RickF said:

In the bicycle world, more expensive usually just means lighter. Lighter usually means more fragile. Often there is no direct relationship between price and durability or functionality, but there is usually an inverse relationship between price and weight.

Strong
Light
Cheap

Pick any two... but in tires, a high end tire is a good investment if you care about performance. Weight isn't any different but the casing and rubber will give a much better ride... those lightweight tires "race only" are stupid though, they acheive that weight with less rubber... just ride your worn out tires.

southwind said:

Bought a pair of continental gp4000's today. We'll see how these hold up compared to the TriComps. At this time of the year I'm putting in just over 200 miles a week so I should know fairly soon if these tires are durable.

I have had really good experience with the GP4000, they last forever, and you can run them until the threads show (which is like 5000 miles!). But I don't use them for racing, because they do have high RR.

wilmar13 said:

I have had really good experience with the GP4000, they last forever, and you can run them until the threads show (which is like 5000 miles!). But I don't use them for racing, because they do have high RR.

What is RR? Glad to hear these tires hold up.

southwind said:

What is RR? Glad to hear these tires hold up.

RR= rolling resistance
here is a recent thread... but there are many more if you do a search
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t333219.html

wilmar13 said:

RR= rolling resistance
here is a recent thread... but there are many more if you do a search
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t333219.html

Just curious, why does the GP 4000 have a high RR?

southwind said:

Just curious, why does the GP 4000 have a high RR?

They don't. They are not on that list: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-1503651.html
I have found them to be similar in rolling performance to Michie Pro Race. GP4000 are on my race wheels and Ultra Gator Skins on my Training wheels, quite a difference in ride comfort and speed, the GP4000 are far softer and faster. I run the GP4000 at a lower pressure.

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/race/gp4000/GP4000_en.html

gclark8 said:

They don't. They are not on that list: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-1503651.html
I have found them to be similar in rolling performance to Michie Pro Race. GP4000 are on my race wheels and Ultra Gator Skins on my Training wheels, quite a difference in ride comfort and speed, the GP4000 are far softer and faster. I run the GP4000 at a lower pressure.

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/race/gp4000/GP4000_en.html

I probably should get another set of wheels for training tires. I've been running racing tires year round. The weather was foul yesterday so I didn't get to take the new tires on the road, had to ride on the trainer. I'll try them on the road this evening.

gclark8 said:

They don't. They are not on that list: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-1503651.html

http://biketechreview.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=527&highlight=conti

I don't have time to do a more exhaustive search, but I have seen several tests where they performed poorly with regards to RR... and I am a GP4000 fan. Great tire, just not the fastest.