MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I got FOUR punctures on the way to work today, 3 in the front (different places on the wheel), and 1 on the back.
This is a bit of a pain. It only seems to happen when I ride towards work, over cycle paths / pretty wide off road tracks on the edge of Nottinghamshire, not on my normal trails, I'm guessing because there are more tiny sharp thorns this way.
The tyres are Continental Speed King. Are they likely to be very puncture prone?
Other than changing the tyres, I can think of:
a) Buying great heavy slime tubes
b) Converting to tubeless - I was thinking maybe the [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=18703 ]Joe's Tubeless Conversion kit[/url] - which appears to be somewhat cheaper than other kits, and almost cheap enough to make doing it with old inner tubes and things not worth the hassle.
Anyone have any opinions on what makes most sense (or reports on how you used the tubeless conversion and ended up exploding grey goop into your face or whatever)?
Joe
[i]or reports on how you used the tubeless conversion and ended up exploding grey goop into your face or whatever)?[/i]
Badger to the thread....
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Slime Tubes just aren't that heavy! they are certainly a cheap easy way of avoiding puctures
I've just filled the tubes on my cross bike with Joe's stuff (the tubes have removable cores). Other than one pinch flat it seems to have been quite succesful.
Provided the tyre sidewalls aren't to thin/porous it should work fine. What tyres and rims are you using?
Rims are 'carrera XC rims', who knows what they are, double walled, quite narrow, aluminimum xc rim, look like any other to me.
Tyres: Continental Speed King 26x2.3 (wire bead)
Joe
Speedkings are terrible.
Ghetto tubeless is a hassle right enough, but its only a hassle once, provided you get decent tyres with decent sidewalls (maxxis is AAA rated) and don't want to change them ever. Also makes the bike fly cos rolling resistance is WAY better for a given pressure.
Alt, get a road bike and ride it on the road instead 😉
I am going to be converting to tubeless for this exact reason.
4 puntctures in the 6 or 7 commutes to and from work.
Not down to the tyres as i have changed to some brand new ones in that time.
Always the rear, and its some along some of the trails i would usually ride. Only happened since they cut the foiliage back on the North downs way.
I think i will be buying that stans kit. Although i tried something a few years back and it never worked, but have heard it has developed over the years since.
Speedkings are terrible.
Terrible in terms of getting lots of punctures, or how they ride or something?
Alt, get a road bike and ride it on the road instead
That is the normal way to work. No punctures in the last year on the road bike.
Joe
The speed king was a puncture-fest for me on the cross bike, worst I've used. Sort of a different story to a mountain bike tyre I guess. The tyres I replaced them with (vittoria somethings) almost never get punctures, so I think the tyre can make a big difference to punctures on a commute.
Terrible in being paper thin, slack beaded and fitted with knobbles that are as soft as cheese.
Terrible in being paper thin, slack beaded and fitted with knobbles that are as soft as cheese
Hmm, maybe I need some new tyres at some point then. Any (cheap) recommendations for a general all round xc tyre? I have a road bike for road riding, so this one is probably ridden 90% off road, and I'm not likely to swap tyres for winter and summer, so something that can cope with a little mud would make sense.
Joe
Slime.
Been using it for about 10 years.
The draw back is when you really get a big puncture and take the tyre off it's usually full of holes and thorns.
Always carry a spare tube.
Slime
4 out of 5 Pikey's IMO
Cheap and good tyre Black Panaracer Fire XC's.
Are fire XCs okay for tubeless if I did end up going that way?
I imagine they will be heavier than the current tyres?
Joe
I've used the Joe's kit, and TBH the extra cost vs a ghetto method probably isn't worth it - why not?
The sidewalls of my Panaracer Fire XC's were way porous, so the job itself was a bollox to do - which it would be with ghetto as well.
Other problem I've encountered is that the back tyre blows off the rim, only seems to occur on singletrack, presumably the tyre is just rolling off the rim. Means that I'm tubeless on the front, tubed on the rear and I'm not that arsed trying to sort out the rear. If the front blows off I'll probably not bother renewing it (thats assuming I don't die if the tyre blows off the rim!).
So tubeless - good idea, but for me in practice its a pain in the arse.