Discussion
Per mile I’ve had fewer punctures with summer/race tyres such as 4000s than when I used to use Gatorskins or the very brief time I used 4s (took them off).
I guess it probably depends where you live and the quality of roads but for me, all season / training tires have only ever served to make my bike slower and less enjoyable to ride.
The only tyres I ever used that were truly puncture proof were Schwalbe Marathons but they were ridiculously heavy and slow rolling, just wasn’t worth it.
I get probably one puncture every two months using race tyres all year round - takes 10 mins out of my life which I’m fine with.
I guess it probably depends where you live and the quality of roads but for me, all season / training tires have only ever served to make my bike slower and less enjoyable to ride.
The only tyres I ever used that were truly puncture proof were Schwalbe Marathons but they were ridiculously heavy and slow rolling, just wasn’t worth it.
I get probably one puncture every two months using race tyres all year round - takes 10 mins out of my life which I’m fine with.
Ive run them for as long as I remember through the winter and have also had them on my commuter for the last 3 years too.
Your experiences do not reflect mine, they are extremely tough
In almost 10 years I can count the number of punctures Ive had on the fingers of 1 hand.
a) A double front/back whammy riding through masses of broken glass I didnt spot due to fog
b) A huge metal spike I picked up immediately outside a building site and almost broke my nail trying to get it out of the tyre
And thats it!
Cheers
Odd, the different experiences we all have.
Gatorskins - so few punctures that I genuinely can't remember the last time I had one (thankfully as they are a complete b
h to remove and refit to my Campag Ventos). And those are on my winter bike which gets used on crappier roads.
GP4000s - no punctures so far in about 2,000 miles.
Schwalbe One - a brief dalliance with them which ended with two ruined tyres with less than 100 miles each (big sidewall split on first and had to call wife taxi, 5p sized patch of rubber missing from the second which I repaired the puncture and nursed home).
Gatorskins - so few punctures that I genuinely can't remember the last time I had one (thankfully as they are a complete b
h to remove and refit to my Campag Ventos). And those are on my winter bike which gets used on crappier roads.GP4000s - no punctures so far in about 2,000 miles.
Schwalbe One - a brief dalliance with them which ended with two ruined tyres with less than 100 miles each (big sidewall split on first and had to call wife taxi, 5p sized patch of rubber missing from the second which I repaired the puncture and nursed home).
anonymous said:
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Surely if its going flat during a ride - or between rides - the issue is the tube, not the tyre. You say you "fix puncture" - you mean repair the tube, or replace?Im guessing you have a gradual leak from point "A" on the tube, during the ride it deflates enough that you end up with a pinchflat (point "B"), you repair that pinchflat and reinflate, and then overtime you continue losing pressure from Point "A" - rinse & repeat.
Im on my 2nd set of GP4000S - first set had one puncture, and were only replaced when worn out. No punctures on current set (yet).
Been running GP4s for years, very rarely get a puncture, even when the tyre is very worn down running at only 70psi on a thorn laden gravel path. In fact maybe only had one if that.
You need to work out why you are puncturing , I would bet you have a subtle piece of debris stuck inside the top layer that over time is pressing against the tube and puncturing it. Or the tyre is damaged /weak in one spot. As the post above are you using a new tube each time?
Sod suffering that many punctures, once a tyre gives me more than three over a few months I bin it, unless its a race orientated one and is to be expected
You need to work out why you are puncturing , I would bet you have a subtle piece of debris stuck inside the top layer that over time is pressing against the tube and puncturing it. Or the tyre is damaged /weak in one spot. As the post above are you using a new tube each time?
Sod suffering that many punctures, once a tyre gives me more than three over a few months I bin it, unless its a race orientated one and is to be expected
Matt_N said:
Have you inspected the tube to locate the puncture?
Is it tyre or rim side? Could be a rim tape that needs replacing, catching a sharp edge perhaps?
^^ thisIs it tyre or rim side? Could be a rim tape that needs replacing, catching a sharp edge perhaps?
I had a 2 or 3 punctures in the space of a week recently, new tyres on my summer wheels. The innertubes were all holed on the inside, i.e. where it sat against the rim. Changed the rim tape and no problems since. The wheels are 10 yrs old and the rim tape was original so I think it must have been wearing thin around the spoke holes
anonymous said:
[redacted]
The GP4S and GP4000 are very similar tyres, they use the same 3/330tpi carcass, the compound is similar but softer on the GP4S to provide better all weather grip, but loses out in dry weather performance and rolling resistance to the GP4000.The GP4S has 2 layers on Vectran puncture protection and the Duraskin sidewall protection like the Gatorskin running from bead to bead, the GP4000 just has the one layer of Vectran so it's hard to understand how you can suffer less punctures on them.
Matt_N said:
The GP4S has 2 layers on Vectran puncture protection and the Duraskin sidewall protection like the Gatorskin running from bead to bead, the GP4000 just has the one layer of Vectran so it's hard to understand how you can suffer less punctures on them.
I don't believe for a second that 4000s are somehow more puncture resistant that 4S, but the fact that I've had more punctures with the latter tells me that the additional protection doesn't make that much difference in the real world - rather it simply comes down to good/bad luck. I.e. if something's going to cut through a 4000 then in all likelihood it's going to get through the 4S too. For this reason I don't think the compromise is worth it based on the riding I do and the roads I do it on. For some reason almost all of my punctures have come in the first 100 miles of a new tyre - don't know if there's anything in this. And obviously when you run a tyre past its useful life puncture rate increases significantly - most people I know who seem to puncture a lot are cheapskates who tend not to replace when they should.
I find that provided you run a good quality tyre with plenty of life, probability of puncturing is extremely low, regardless of what protection the tyre has. Ironically the only road specific tyre I've ridden that I haven't punctured is a Conti GP TT.
I love my GP4000sII's and GP4Seasons, very rarely puncturing on both (touch wood)
The only thing I have found, even with the Conti MTB tyres is that they resist punctures quite well but they do seem to grab hold of very small flints and thorns.
Running my fingers carefully around the inside of the tyre I've occasionally felt a tiny scratch only to find a tiny pin prick of a flint or thorn tightly gripped through the tyre carcass, which has been enough to rub through the inner tube.
The only thing I have found, even with the Conti MTB tyres is that they resist punctures quite well but they do seem to grab hold of very small flints and thorns.
Running my fingers carefully around the inside of the tyre I've occasionally felt a tiny scratch only to find a tiny pin prick of a flint or thorn tightly gripped through the tyre carcass, which has been enough to rub through the inner tube.
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