Road tyres that can cope with shards of flint?
Discussion
I live in the Chilterns and like to ride the lanes in the hills, this means lots of flint chippings on the roads, last 4 road rides in a row i've punctured. Each time checking tyre its been shards of flint wedged into the casing. Continental ultra sport lasted no time at all and now a Vittoria open Corsa CX has a 4mm cut in the centre of the tread after less than 80km use. I have nice wide rims that make the 23mm corsa measure up at 25mm, so 700c 23 size is good, can anyone recommend a more durable tyre that cope with sharp stuff better? Never had a pinch puncture or a thorn puncture, but the flint punctures are now feeling quite disruptive.
I use 700x23 Continental Gatorskins over the winter. So far I've had no punctures at all this season, where often in a group of 8 or so riders, we get 2-3 punctures each time out. They do feel very hard and inflexible compared to the GP4000s I use in spring and summer, but it's worth it for the robustness - and when I go back to summer tyres, it feels like I've bought new wheels :-)
My riding is mostly between Windsor, Henley and the foothills of the Chilterns north of Marlow and Slough. It does take in a lot of crappy roads with holes, flint, mud and gravel up the middle, so maybe not quite as extreme as you.
Pete
My riding is mostly between Windsor, Henley and the foothills of the Chilterns north of Marlow and Slough. It does take in a lot of crappy roads with holes, flint, mud and gravel up the middle, so maybe not quite as extreme as you.
Pete
I often ride that way, taking the 'Maidenhead Torture 40' route. I was getting punctures nearly every time, but none since I fitted Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Ok so they weigh a ton, but if it saves a puncture every couple of rides it's well worth it. I can actually go out & enjoy the ride again!
A four-page RoadBike.de magazine test of winter tyres here...
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/download_f... (the link is from Continental's own website)
...I love the Continental GP 4Seasons - great grip, really confident handling, and a reasonable assumption that you'll spend less time patching them than lots of others. Not absolutely bomb-proof, but then which pneumatic tyre is? They don't give too much away in terms of weight and dry weather performance either, so you can get away with them all year round if you either cannot afford a 'summer' set of boots, or, like me, you can't really be faffed with swapping them over when the British Summer is such a (potentially) wet affair much of the time anyway.
They'll be my first "upgrade" for the new bike, to be sure.
Having said all that, my son has Continental Contact II tyres on his MTB which he uses for commute duties, and just this morning I repaired two punctures on the front tyre. One caused by small beads of broken glass, the other by a shard of flint that resembled a Megalodon's tooth (he exaggerated wildly
). Despite having 'Safety System' puncture protection technology under the tread, there will always be something out on the road capable of penetrating it, it's just a game of chance whether you roll over it or not. The tube, which was fitted more than two years ago, at the same time as the tyres, had no evidence of a previous repair. I think I could just about live with one puncture per year, to be fair.
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/download_f... (the link is from Continental's own website)
...I love the Continental GP 4Seasons - great grip, really confident handling, and a reasonable assumption that you'll spend less time patching them than lots of others. Not absolutely bomb-proof, but then which pneumatic tyre is? They don't give too much away in terms of weight and dry weather performance either, so you can get away with them all year round if you either cannot afford a 'summer' set of boots, or, like me, you can't really be faffed with swapping them over when the British Summer is such a (potentially) wet affair much of the time anyway.
They'll be my first "upgrade" for the new bike, to be sure.
Having said all that, my son has Continental Contact II tyres on his MTB which he uses for commute duties, and just this morning I repaired two punctures on the front tyre. One caused by small beads of broken glass, the other by a shard of flint that resembled a Megalodon's tooth (he exaggerated wildly
). Despite having 'Safety System' puncture protection technology under the tread, there will always be something out on the road capable of penetrating it, it's just a game of chance whether you roll over it or not. The tube, which was fitted more than two years ago, at the same time as the tyres, had no evidence of a previous repair. I think I could just about live with one puncture per year, to be fair.Gatorskins are hateful things. Little grip, poor ride, hard to fit and in my experience no better than GP4000s for puncture protection. I sold a pair, used, to a bloke at work for £5. I tried to give them to him but he insisted on paying something. Anyway, he binned them after a fortnight!
Steve
Steve
Herman Toothrot said:
Will take a look at GP4000's, heard so many bad things about gatorskins. Cheers for the advise, I was hoping with the high tpi count of the Corsa's they'd be more durable than they now appear to be.
Nope. The Open Corsas are a lightweight race tyre, and not best suited to winter! The TPI count is more an expression of how "supple" they'll be, rather than durability. That said if they just cut and it's not down to the tube, either ignore it or glue it. The more-suited-to-winter Open Paves also cut badly, but again, nothing else happens.jamiebae said:
I used to live in Chinnor, and ruined two Ultra Sport 25c tyres with flint cuts to the sidewall so feel your pain.
Personally, I solved the problem by moving to another country, but I appreciate this may not be the ideal solution in your case...
Ultra sports are porous enough to be Vatican approved. I'd recommend GP4S as others have,or durano plus if you are prepared to compromise the ride for some additional protection.Personally, I solved the problem by moving to another country, but I appreciate this may not be the ideal solution in your case...
Speaking of GP 4Seasons, anyone know of anywhere online, or perhaps local to Farnborough, Hampshire, which has stock of the 700 x 25c size?
None of the 'usual suspects' has stock of that size, yet everywhere seems to have the 23c and 28c sizes at around a third off RRP. They're for a bike I haven't yet bought, so not keen to splash out on 700 x 28c rubber until I can be sure the bike has clearance for them, and don't really want the 23c size because I'd prefer a bit more volume for comfort, and a smidgin more of a contact patch for better grip. I'm also well aware of the current school of thought regarding the advantages of slightly wider tyres over thinner ones. I had hoped to nab a couple of 25c's in plenty of time to whop them onto the bike prior to 'first ride'.
None of the 'usual suspects' has stock of that size, yet everywhere seems to have the 23c and 28c sizes at around a third off RRP. They're for a bike I haven't yet bought, so not keen to splash out on 700 x 28c rubber until I can be sure the bike has clearance for them, and don't really want the 23c size because I'd prefer a bit more volume for comfort, and a smidgin more of a contact patch for better grip. I'm also well aware of the current school of thought regarding the advantages of slightly wider tyres over thinner ones. I had hoped to nab a couple of 25c's in plenty of time to whop them onto the bike prior to 'first ride'.
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