its a total newbie question but i have my shiny expensive new bike and have been out several time and love it. but...second ride i got a puncture and by time i fixed it the back had gone flat from a slow one. bike came with conti speed king 2.1 and they seem great but there is lots of surface area and not a lot of knobbles.they seem durex thin and the thorns that poped the tube arnt very common round my way.how many people use puncture preventative tyres as i have them on my commute and there fantastic. does the lack of flexability put a dampener on grip? im not overly concerned about weight as im no racer-yet!
I ditched my speed kings after the 1000th puncture. Their protection versions werent any better ime
[oh God, here we go]
[url= http://www.justridingalong.com/content.php?pid=547 ]JRA Tubeless Conversion[/url]
You need a supple tyre (IMO) for off road riding to give some grip, go for some chunkier tyres High Rollers/Nevegals etc or go tubeless if you want to really avoid the flats
[quoteI ditched my speed kings after the 1000th puncture. Their protection versions werent any better ime
Are the Mountain Kings just as bad? Was considering these or the Nobby Nic Evos, any preference?
Second vote for JRA. I only puncture if I take the sidewall out, which being a clumsy beggar sems to happen about once a year 😕
My mates just binned his mountain kings after third ride and 5th puncture (in the last 3 yrs on fire XCs he had 1 flat that I remember)
Thorn/glass punctures, not much you can do except use sealant.
Pinch punctures (i get loads) take your pick
increase tyre pressure (less control/comfort)
use thicker/chunkier/dual ply tyres (more weight)
Switch to downhill tubes (more weight)
Go tubeless (I can still pinch UST and latex tubeless tho)
Ride smoother (takes time to learn)
Ride slower over rocks (boring)
I use a UST tyre or downhill tubes on the back of full sus bikes, on hardtails I use chunky XC tyres and try to ride smooth.
yeo same for me, i have mountain king tyres on my shiney brand new bike , ...the very first day i was out i got a slow puncture ! if i keep getting them i will be switching back to "Kenda" tyres...(they are brill off road
Speed kings are a bit on the thin side TBH, they're really for groomed race tracks. You can use them, but you'd need to put at least 50psi in them. (although even with that much in, they still don't seem massively more robust) gave mine to my missus. Mountain King for me at least have been puncture proof so far.
What you need is a good all rounder rather than anything with puncture proof strips in them. Panaracer Fire XC Pro, or Maxxis High Roller are both decent 3 season tyres, with no real down sides.
They're right - it's all about tubeless - I punctured with Continentals on an Alfine wheel every time I went out. Now I have Schwalbe Nobby Nics tubeless. Loving it. Just do the rear wheel if you wish. I have on that bike and it's ideal.
MKs in "Protection" form are pretty puncture resistant, yes (though still susceptible to pinch flats if whacked into rocks).
They have the good Conti rubber compound too, so grip very well.
Mate just got some mountain kings tubeless and they seem really flimsy and thin to me - he got a tubeless burp then two puncture first time out on them.
When I ride HT, I rarely get pinches with Maxxis. But when I rode FS with Kendas, I got loads probably due to slamming the back wheel into everything at high speed. So went tubeless and now I'm a happy slammer.
been using speed kings with tubes in the sharp flints, hawthorn and bramble strewn chilterns for over a year.
tubeless is the way to go if you really mean it.
play with tyre choice till you find something you like.
i use nokian dh tubes.
one mate of mine had a puncture on a cold dark winter night ride, our hands were so frozen and muddy nobody could find the offending thorn. All the tubes and patches got used untill he eventually walked about five miles home.
those tyres went in the bin
So went tubeless and now I'm a happy slammer.
I wish! My heckler has trashed everything i've tried on the rear wheel.
back in the day i had farmer john's cousins.they had more rubber on them than a tractor tyre! what was with all those names, cousin's nephew's etc?
me thinks the speed kings are not long for my wheels from what im hearing,
good allrounder choise would be...?
Cant go badly wrong with maxxis IMO. HRs/ADs are not the lightest or quickest but they're not bad rolling, work well in filth, corner on rails and have proper carcasses.
then again, you could go with the school of
"tubeless is badaids, ghetto tubeless doubley so"
for an area where its thorns only, i would go with a slime tube.
(in shropshire, i got 7 punctures on one short afternoon ride once 🙁 )
in wales, where its only pinches to worry about, i swap to regular tubes, put up with a pinch flat every now and again, and dont ride like a heffer. 😉
think of the extra rolling weight of a slime tube as training?
or get one of those thorn proof strips inside the tyre?
personally, it takes me literally about 30 seconds to a minute to change a tube as i have baggy tyres on small rims.
i would rather just put up with punctures, than fill my wheels with all that tubeless gunk.