What actually gave way?
The tyre bead or the rim?

Any idea what pressure it went at?

Personally I don't think tubeless tyres are to blame here, perhaps more working practice..
As mentioned already in the car / truck tyre industry these things also happen occasionally with far more severe consequences and accordingly there are well known recommended working practices. It's not like an inflation cage is necessary with cycle tyres but standing back a bit & not holding the rim would seem to be sensible (hindsight is wonderful I know)

I am just back from Nassfeld – I'm by no means an expert on alpine riding but there seemed to be plenty of opportunities there…

some people seem luckier than others… Don't think there are any magic fixes unfortunately.

We're somewhere in the middle.
A biking mate & his good lady are getting never get more than 5 hours sleep and it's driving them crazy!

My eldest (almost 5 yrs) chose to get up last night & go downstairs to kip on the sofa. Odd boy.

I have no faith in the strap on type racks. Used to use on ones of Halfords finest until it fell off the back of my Alfa. Fortunately I used to tie an anchoring strap inside the boot (before mouting bikes) and that saved the bikes from actually leaving the car (though not from the short drag along the tarmac).
I commute 100 miles a day by motorcycle so I am rather nervous / aware of road debris hazards…
A couple of weeks ago on the highway I saw a guy walking back along the hard shoulder recovering a bike that had made a break for roof-rack freedom. Scary thought.

Always use a roof rack type now or towbar type. I prefer the towbar as it seems solid as hell even though the roof rack mounting has never budged an inch.

Has anyone had one got held up at customs?

Mine was clearly marked as 'gift' on the packaging but a friend who has ordered 2 has them sitting waiting a duty evaluation to be made on them…

I am also no fan of Brussels which is a bummer as my office is there. :(

With regards the Marriot hotel in Gent it is behind the right shoulder of the photographer (first piccy) overlooking the Korenlei and is cleverly built behind the facades of the original buildings so is absolutely hidden until you walk in…

Gent is also the birthplace of Bradley W and the adopted home of Tyler Farrar (who speaks good Flemish by the way).

Belgium is indeed a fantastic place to live (apart from the lack of mountains) but it's not far from great mountainbiking hills in the Ardennes. (Houffalize for example)

Bruges (|Brugge) is nice though Gent is better….

They have both medieval town centres though Gent is a little less touristy.
I live in Gent by the way so perhaps a little biased. Gent has recently been rated as the most authentic Belgian city by National Geographic Traveller.

Take a look here if tempted.

Don't know how much you are looking to spend on a hotel but the Marriot in Gent is just fantastic (location & standard).

Will you be looking to take in any cycling when on your trip or is it a bike free experience? Although Beligum is flat we have a huge cycling culture of course and that includes lots of moutainbiking. For something a bit different you could always visit one of the elite cyclo cross races – shows how popular cycling can be!

Do you have a specific weekend in mind?

With regards to Roma – it's always a great option. I am lucky enough to work there some of the time so get to visit frequently. The weather is also a nice bonus whereas Belgium is rather high risk if you don't fancy a rain shower.

now that is damn nice….

It is not a completely mental idea – there is also one here in central Brussels..

do you mean the cycle specific lamp with remote battery?

I've just received one of those & it definitely is light enough to mount on a helmet. I'm not sure if the cable would be long enough to reach from a back pocket though…

Lamp seems good so far generally, though still new enough for me to being keeping fingers crossed.

mine did this last night too….
Was fine when I put it away for the summer.
I just assumed (and hoped) it was that I had almost dead batteries…

well after reading 2 pages of bull shit

hmmmm. Nice start…

my UK passport re-application in Brussels was turned around in less than 2 weeks but they've closed the office now.
Nearest passport office is now Paris…..

I'm also thinking about getting one.
I fancy the idea of a classic car or similar and this option seems to combine some practicality along with retro style….

(I''ve had Beetles before & am a auto engineer so not so nervous about the mechanical side of things)

An average XL tyre would likely be stiffer than an standard load rated example but this is certainly not an absolute rule

As mentioned: Ford has strong ideas over how they expect their cars to perform hence the OE Standard load tyre could quite conceivably be stiffer than the replacement spec XL rated to match the steering dynamics they insist upon.
As Ford themselves say: "Feel the difference"…

bikes are for the track……..
once tried you'll never ride the road again !

Nice idea but I use mine for commuting & saving >1hour per day that gives me 'spare' time to get out cycling…

When I was racing Enduro I didn't need to commute by motorbike and as you say – had no desire to ride on the road.

my advice is go to the ford garage…its thier car they have lists of recomended tyres for it.

Recommended tyres for the C-Max in this size are:
Pirelli P7
Bridgestone ER30
Conti Sport Contact2
Goodyear ENCT5
Michelin Primacy

BUT
those are just the brand names…
The challenge you would face is making sure you get the Ford spec tyre….

I am still surprised that the Yokohama tyres make it feel quite so bad.

does wild fruit include dangleberries? :-)

Perhaps the originals had a higher load rating than the new ones – I would expect this on a car such as the C-Max, particularly if it's a diesel.

They should be the standard load tyre on this vehicle – 91 index.

It is quite possible the original Ford specified tyre is stiffer due to high demands that Ford impose on tyres with regards to handling expectations.
I am quite sure that the tyre could feel less direct & less confidence inspiring than the original but that is not linked I believe to the roundabout incident which was 'confirmed' as a diesel issue.

FWD – front wheel drive
RWD – rear wheel drive
AWD – 4 wheel drive

As suspected then – a diesel issue rather than a tyre one..

Like I mentioned earlier – I'd have been surprised if Yokohama manufactured such a senstive tyre (particularly in such a mainstream size)..

diesel is just shockingly slippy. Don't care who is behind the wheel – if you try to corner at anything approaching a normal speed and encounter a spill you are in trouble.

350 miles should be plenty though depends a bit on what that 350 included..
If you have a dry day go & get them warm on the highway.

btw: softside walls normally reduce oversteer tendency.

I don't wish to be provocative but I have almost never come across tyres that are so fundamentally poor that they cause accidents as described. (there are some shocking ultra low budget tyres out there that mind & Yoko don't fit that description)
I would suggest your wife has has either been unlucky with some road contamination or that the tyres have yet to get bedded-in..

Sadly I would suggest there is not much you can do…

Try proving the tyre is not fit for purpose! You never will.
The future EU tyre regulations that will rate tyres for grip (braking) & rolling resistance and score them A thru F (like a washing machine) will only generate more of these problems I expect.
Ford's have generally quite excellent handling but the downside of this can be tyre sensitivity.

If they are really very bad get in touch with your dealer. It depends how desperately you want to change them but maybe he'll take them back & credit you something towards another brand.

What size are they by the way? I am guessing the 195/65R15…

(edit: if they are the P7 then I think it should be the 205/55R16)

After a long ride I am very happy to pop my shoes off & drive home with some air round my feet.
I used to drive cars competitively and the ultra thin shoes worn for that are really nothing more than 5 mm of soft rubber & a fireproof fabric. If the boys in F1 / WRC can manage to control their cars with this completely unsupportive footwear I think I'll be just fine in bare feet.

Flip flops on the other hand (or my Birkenstocks) do feel a little scary underfoot. Personally not something I'd think was a good idea but maybe other people feel more secure in their flip flops…

I tried driving my car in my moto-x boots once (just briefly) and it is not to be recommended…. Similar issues to the ski boot experiences I imagine

just tried it – 48 wpm :(

(biggest problem was reading it right I think…)

I made a headset installation tool with 2 blocks of woods & a length of all-thread..
It's worked ok for the last 4 headsets but the wood is starting to split a bit now.

i can sell you a triax sr110 fta satellite reciever with a small dish for about £45.
this will give you about 100 tv channels

what channels does this include?

And another one of the overseas correspondents….

I'm from Warwick originally but now reside in beautiful Belgium.
What it lacks in mountains is more than made up for in a true bike friendly atmosphere…. (the beer helps too :-) )

start tearing.

You're going nowhere without the passport :(

one guy from my club rides with a bulb type horn on his Trek, though this is more for comic value than any kind of safety..

honk honk

Have you ever seen the cadence of team columbias' Bert Grabsch (World time trial champ). Looks almost painful to watch but seems to work for him….

Are there no Alpen fans out there? :(

:-)

Never seen a table of it, but – and as one not usually sensitive to fine details – hopping off an XT HTII bike and onto an XT square taper 68×110 set-up was a shock, a much lower Q and (following cleat tweaking) way more clearance between shoe/ankle and crank. Very nice!

Interesting to hear that – I had never really thought about that before but now it becomes clear…
I have a few MTB's all Shimano HT of one type or another but also ride a roadbike with old Dura-Ace 9 spd (cartridge type BB) and I always had the feeling that my cleats weren't right. (they were under enough side tension to feel but not enough to click out). This would explain a lot..
Will measure it this evening now…

In this instance clearly an experienced rider who had some misfortune…

Regarding the matter of renting MTB kit to persons of unknown abilities, I think MTBing pales into insigificance when compared with the ski industry. I've rented kit a few times and never had any questions asked about my ability… Same mountains / same cliffs.

a bit OT but my Italian colleague managed to block the sewage system on an entire floor in our office with his 'contribution'…..
Too much pasta in his diet if you ask me :-)

I've got a Tacx Satori and very happy with it.
Stable, strong & reliable (it took quite a hammering over the winter as I was too much of a pussy to venture out into the dark wet nights).
Little noisier than I would like (have to turn TV up louder) but for the price it's better than any of the others I checked out.

I think you'll struggle to find another way – incredibly tight on the splines.

Find a 2nd hand one? I have a spare but live overseas so posting would probably kill that option..

No votes for Gesink in this years tour? Riding with a broken wrist and giving it everything to try & get back onto the peloton only to implode & drag it home 20 minutes afterwards….

There is a big miss here!
AG2R…
They managed to keep Nocentini in yellow for a week!!
For sure it would have been impossible if Astana had wanted it earlier btu they managed to prevent any breakaways reaching critical point (including the ever so close finish for Hincapie)

For a team that had nothing to really go for they surely got the most media time!!

Astana don't deserve to be classed as top team as they won through Contador's brilliance, even though he ignored internal 'agreements' made with Bruyneel.

Columbia for me as #1. They didn't have a GC rider but managed to put Cav in the perfect position every day there was a realistic chance of the win. Slight **** up with the blocking of Hushovd but that was perhaps a little unlucky…

My 4 yr old lost his at around 4 1/2.
I took them off before that but they had to go back on as he lost the desire to use his bike.
His mum took them off again when I was on a business trip and he did it straight away. After 1 week of cracking his stabiliser virginity he was riding like a star and trying to make jumps! He would happily come to the hills with me but he's got no concept of braking (apart from at junctions). My nephew(in-law) is 4 and his dad works in a bike shop – now he is really good for 4 and does rear wheel skids (foot up) on his coaster brake Specialized… (I was never this cool)