Thursday, June 7, 2012

Go Away Cheap Tires

The Captain America of bike tires.
I'm all done buying inexpensive tires, especially for the rear wheel. The other day I had a flat while out on a ride with the Hub. You know the kind—a disheartening psssst sound erupts and the tire immediately deflates. Close to home, I walked the half mile and patched the tube in the comfort of a lawn chair with a cold beer.

Nary a week later, while commuting to work, I encountered another leak. I limped to a known neighborhood bench. This is where it gets weird. Using my new mini pump for the first time, I gave it a few strokes, identified the leaky area, and pulled out a few inches of the tube. Dang, if it wasn't the same hole as before, only this time a tiny spot blew through the patch. I checked out the inside of the tire. There wasn't additional debris so I presume the pressure forced the patch through the tire hole? Either that or it was an incredible coincidence. I was a bit flabbergasted by what happened—the diameter of the cut in the tire is only .25 ". I admit I like high pressure, especially on 1.5" tires for the longer miles to work. I guess it was too much for the damaged tire to handle. My solution to the current dilemma: boot the inside of the tire with an elongated patch, then fix the tube's current pinhole with Park's thin glueless Super-Patch. (I re-inflated the tube with 35 pumps with Mini-Morph, yay!)

As I continued to work, I thought about how I've become a flat expert. It all started with traveling across the country with my husband. He had blown tubes galore. Me, I was smug. I rode a new bike and went 1000 miles before I had my first problem and that was a puncture. It was a teaching moment for him and bike mechanic school for me. He didn't touch my bike, but sat and talked me through patching my first tube. Since then I can, and do fix my own flats. I stop and lend assistance to others. But this isn't necessarily something to be proud of. And the more I thought about it I realized I do not need any more practice in the flat department.

So I went and bought a tire, which cost more than I would normally spend. It happens to be called the Nimbus Armadillo with Anti-Flat Technology. I know, it sounds like a Harry Potter broomstick with anti-ground warp speed features. Or maybe I'm be able to fly to work instead of spinning wheels...Whatever the fancy name, as long as it provides Kevlar-type properties, it ought to suffice.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Ms Bikes.I like the concept of the cold beer on the lawn. I still find a lot of satisfaction in repairing punctures. I suspect it's a zen metaphysics of quality type thing!
    ie totally relaxing/ satisfying.

    cheers,

    ian

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    1. I have to admit the cold beer made the job more palatable.

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  2. In terms of mileage-per-dollar coupled with puncture resistance in a 26" tire, I have settled on Nashbar Streetwise 1.5" tires for commuting. Paired with slime tubes, over thousands of miles of commuting, the only time I had to change a tire on the road was when I hit a large nail, which almost took out the rim with it. A very similar or same tire, no longer for sale, was the Performance Streetwise ST, one of which has been running on my front wheel for so long I don't know how many miles are on it. I'm sure that the elite would not consider them "supple", but they are made to last, not to pamper or race. And if you use them to replace knobby MTB tires, the improvement is quite noticeable for street riding.

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    1. It's quite intersting.. I just checked and I am running the Streetwise 1.5 on the front wheel. It must have been on sale. I'm glad to know that it works for you. I've never used slime...

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  3. As well as being 'incline-disinclined' I am also 'puncture phobic'. I have fixed many over too many years to print and have never managed to buy into the 'it gets better with practise' idea. I can fix them proficiently. I can fix them quickly. What I can't do is fix them sweetly :-) Top requirement in a tyre? It has to be bomb-proof and hang the weight, speed, roll and comfort.

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  4. I have lovely puncture proof tyres on my bikes and love it! I have never repaired a puncture, but I can change a tube, though I would rather not....

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