Punctures............

[SRS]

Thin sidewalls cannot withstand the extra load from an ebike.

Lots of instances of sidewall problems on converted bikes and some from woosh.

The extra dead weight of an ebike does make a difference.

Hub motors also appear to torture tyres, maybe it's the snappier acceleration of the newer generation motors.

To be fair to Schwalbe, they are rating lots of their tyres as ebike reasdy.

Anything with Marathon written on it qualifies.

They can sometimes be picked up quite cheaply from the likes of Wiggle.

I guess that I must just be extremely lucky.
Never used anything other that good quality thin wall tyres.

Despite severe hammering off road and day to day commuting/ kerb jumping, nothing has happened to my tyres that would not happen on a regular bike.

The few extra kgs over a standard bike is nothing, little more than a pair panniers with the weeks shopping.

I you are an obese rider then yes heavy duty tyres would be a good idea but if you are a healthy weight standard tyres are fine.

At the end of the day, try a few different combinations and stick with whatever suits you.

 

[Ferdinand]

I think this thread highlights the importance of tyre selection. This is my view.

The couple of comments on the thread suggesting that Schwalbe as a brand are poor because one particular bike tyre out of the 100 different types they manufacture didn't work for a particular use for which it might not be specified seem to me to be ever so slightly churlish.

Perhaps they also have a difficulty communicating the details of their wide range to their range of customers.

Anyhoo, taking the OP's puncture problem with Racing Ralph's. Schwalbe put that up as a high performance, lightweight, MTB tyre for offroad, which deliberateky sacrifices puncture protection for performance. Though they also have another version with more protection. Hence more punctures (?)

Or perhaps HaiBike supplied inappropriate tyres for the intended use?

Here is the graphic. They specify according to about 8 criteria on a 0 to 6 scale. On puncture protection a Racing Ralph Lite Liteskin (cutie names don't help) is a 2 out of 6 while a Racing Ralph Double Defence Snakeskin is a 5 out of 6.

I think (open to correction) that a Snakebite is the puncture you get from the edge of pothole because your tyre pressure is too low.

Ditto sidewall protection etc etc. The price you pay is 225g extra rotating weight on a pair.

(Link:http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/offroad-reader/racing-ralph.html)

Personally I run Marathon Supremes because they are fast and grippy in the dry and wet, well protected for punctures, comfortable for a non-suspenion bike, and acceptable on the trails I use which are mainly ex railways. I compromise on sidewall protection, and my 2 punctures were duly both sidewall thorns on trails between hawthorn hedges in the cutting season. And I use Winter tyres in winter.



Horses for courses, and homework before choosing the horses!

Ferdinand

 

[Ferdinand]

Thin sidewalls cannot withstand the extra load from an ebike.

Lots of instances of sidewall problems on converted bikes and some from woosh.

The extra dead weight of an ebike does make a difference.

Tend to agree with that, and I wonder if it is an instance of economy vs quality?

If my numbers are right, the extra weight of the e-bike is about the same as a lightly -> medium loaded tourer depending (say 10-15kg extra), while it becomes a heavily loaded tourer when you put another 10-15kg of stuff on it.

Some of us turn bikes into tourers ourselves.

Perhaps feathering in of power when it starts makes a difference?

Ferdinand

 

[Westoe]

Last weekend after doing a considerable amount of road riding I noticed the centre area of my rear tyre was worn down to almost 1mm of tread left.
So after researching a few of the tyres other members had recommended I have changed my Racing Ralphs for a set of Schwalbe Super Moto X tyres which are ebike ready according to the Schwalbe site.
As the greatest percentage of my riding thus far has been on road trail and old wagon ways I thought these would be a reasonable choice.
I have not been disappointed as the ride has been transformed with the tyres adding a certain amount of comfort that was not apparent with the Ralphy jobs.
A further bonus is the speed and range has definitely went up. I have smashed my previous best speed - without really trying and after 62 miles done today on road and cross country I returned home with still two green battery lights showing and 42 miles available on the range - amazing.

I road the Racing Ralphs with 35 PSI and have the Moto's currently with 30 PSI front and rear. The Racing Ralph's have been retired to the garage and I will get a better set of ebike ready off roaders when I can afford them.

The Moto tyres worked out at £16 each form Bike24 with £4 postage charge -

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;search=schwalbe+super+moto+x;menu=1000,2,103,317;product=101819

cheaper than anything I could get in the UK.

 

[Westoe]

20 days later and no problems. These Schwalbe tyres are perfect for the riding I am doing at present and have given me a lot of confidence in the bike again - I really enjoying getting out and about on these tyres.
They allow the bike to roll with confidence and behave themselves even a in a downpour today - no problems. I still wonder why Haibike fit the Racing Ralphs when it is very apparent (to me) they are not are not up to the stresses of off road riding on a decent ebike.

 

[JamesW]

Anyone able to explain what a "schwalbe tough tom active" tyre is, how puncture resistant the are, why they aren't on the schwable website and why they only come fitted to cube bikes? (Reading this nor sure how fast I should be replacing my default tyres!)

 

[Bigdaddyuk666]

I am fortunate to of managed 1200+ miles with only 2 punctures one front one back using tubes switched to slimed tubes and rolling strong I have swapped tyres front to rear due to wear tho but can't fault them