Who let Edward Scissorhands or Freddy Krueger near my tyres?

[daudi]

I'm still relatively new to cycling and I've been very happily commuting to work since late October last year. 12 miles each way, over a reasonable hill. I've had six punctures already and can hear Lady Bracknell questioning whether this is unfortunate or carelessness. After my most recent puncture I decided to take a closer look at my tyres and they appear to be shredded, or at least cut in many places. The rear tyre has at least 24 cuts that are quite obvious. I've circled the larger obvious holes.

As I ride bits of dirt or glass get stuck in these holes and wear their way through to the inner tube causing a puncture. The route I take involves some roads and cycle paths that always seem to have a lot of broken glass. It seems that the police have brooms they use to clear up after an accident and sweep broken glass to the edge where cyclists inevitably end up or onto paths (this is from a colleague who is a special with the police) but they don't have other more specialised equipment (like a dust pan and brush).

The tyres are Continental Eco-contact tyres ("Optimised and recommended for e-bikes"). I see from the page on Wiggle that "Some Continental tyres even come with a 1 year anti puncture guarantee and use a Kevlar and Polyamide filaments to form a protective belt under the tread." I was told when I bought my bike that these tyres do have Kevlar puncture protection, so perhaps I should ask 50cycles about this.

I would like opinions on whether I need different tyres, need to change the way I ride my bike, should fill the tyres with that green stuff, buy tyres designed for monster trucks or buy the local police force a dust pan and brush to go with their broom. If I need to replace my tyres every three months this is going to be an expensive way to get to work.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Puncture resistant tyres are obviously better, but they can still be punctured. Best not to ride on glass. Many of the cycle paths round my way get covered in glass from broken bottles. After a while you get to recognise the danger areas. i avoid them by riding on the road. Try not to ride too close to the curb on the road because that's where the debris collects.

 

[NRG]

Schwalbe Marathon plus will probably give you the best level of protection but they dont quite roll as well as the conti's and they can make the ride a touch harsher but the difference is small.

 

[johnc461165]

I remember a survey done by the AA many years ago about why you got punctures in bad weather, they came to the conclusion that the water acted as a lubricant and allowed glass or whatever to cut through the rubber more easily hence more punctures in wet weather than dry.

 

[yselmike]

I always locked my bike away for the first ten days of January as the amount of glass on the streets of Amsterdam
guaranteed punctures,a bonanza for all the bike shops though.

 

[flecc]

I remember a survey done by the AA many years ago about why you got punctures in bad weather, they came to the conclusion that the water acted as a lubricant and allowed glass or whatever to cut through the rubber more easily hence more punctures in wet weather than dry.

As a junior in the trade who had to repair all the punctures coming in each day, the wet days were the worst for this reason. Punctures were multiplied then, from zero to three on dry days to double figures when the morning was very wet. On those days I ran a midday repair production line for up to an hour.

 

[daudi]

Thanks all for your thoughts on this. I've had to cycle through some pretty heavy rain that was washing all sorts of material down the road and was not able to avoid it without risking trouble with cars.

Given the gash shown in the first photo above I'm going to change my tyre and see how I get on. If I get another puncture with the new tyre within six weeks I'll get some of that green stuff and see if that helps.

I'll also try to take some photos of the problem areas and send letters to the police and council to see if they can help.

Thanks again.

 

[steve.c]

Green Stuff!!

Hi.I also ride around 10 miles each way to work 2/3rds on road and 1/3rd on small lanes/cycle track (including the Magnificent cycle bridge over the M5 in Exeter) and had only one puncture and after that I put in the SLIME (green stuff) and have not had a prob since & you can even buy inner tubes now with SLIME already in them and I think it's well worth puting in you inner tubes.

 

[daudi]

Thanks. I've found one other variable that might have increased my risk of a puncture and that is the tyre pressure. I was pumping my tyres up to 6 bar as this is on the side wall of the tyre but I now see from my new tyre that 6 bar is the maximum and that 3.5 bar is the recommended pressure. I'm going to see if this makes any difference.

But if I do get one more puncture within 6 weeks I'll definitely try Slime.


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[overlander]

I can also recommend Schwalbe Marathon plus, used to get punctures regularly until i changed to the marathons. Touch wood never had a single puncture since, as for rolling resistance cannot say i noticed much difference, came from bontrager slicks.

 

[daudi]

Thanks. I had previously bought a spare continental so I'm using that now, but given your recommendation my plan is now:

1) learn to avoid riding over glass;
2) if I get a puncture within six weeks, try using Slime;
3) if I get another puncture within six weeks of trying slime I'll get Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres;
4) if/when my tyres need replacing anyway, I'll get Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres.

Come to think of it, now that I've used my spare tyre, I'll get a replacement tyre now. Is this the one: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-marathon-plus-smartguard-city-tyre/ ?

All good learning experience.

 

[jerrysimon]

I was completely sold on Marathon Plus when I started to commuting over two years ago. They are great and if I did not need to keep my bike weight down, as I like to carry it, I would still be using them.

Last summer I switched to Kojaks and I have to say that unlike other reports here, I really noticed how much better they roll (maybe its the smaller wheels ?) to a point where the bike seemed to glide along at a couple of miles an hour faster with similar effort. However I had my first puncture on them a few weeks ago (fortunately during the daylight and it was dry) which was caused by a deep slash. I am forever picking chards and flints out of them, as the protective kevlar lining stops them short of going through into the tube.

The problem now is the slash is quite large and the tyre bulges slightly at that point. On Friday I ended up with another puncture where the tube was pinched at same point where the tyre split all the way through. I have now put patch inside the tyre to stop it happening again but suspect the tyre will have to be replaced.

As always my punctures are in the back wheel. With Kojaks the trick is to keep them up to pressure which helps avoid punctures.

Regards

Jerry

 

[RegularGuy]

The Green stuff (Slime) is excellent. I had a puncture only a couple of days ago. Straight away heard the dreaded Hssssssss, quite loud indicating a serious puncture. Still 5 miles from home I thought 'ah bugger' then about 10 seconds later it sealed itself leaving me more than enough pressure to get home, in fact I still haven't topped it up. Highly recommended.

 

[Scottyf]

Anything with Kevlar protection should work. I use Marathon Plus myself.
However in 35c road tire size they are grippy in dry weather. Rain upright there ok. but poor weather they are a bit rubbish. They weigh alot to and roll ok.

However quite a few of those points with an electric bike you can discount. Weight and rolling resistance are not the main concerns for most ebike riders.

I've still had in a year about 4-5 punctures with Marathon plus tires. More so in the rubbish weather. Couple of Pinch flats.

If your using moutain bike type tires then Specialized Aramdillo tires are meant to be good.
There also cheaper than most Marathon Pro's.

 

[bigroy]

has any one tried these out. puncture-proof-tyres.co.uk

 

[DJH]

has any one tried these out. puncture-proof-tyres.co.uk

My daughter had them on her mountain bike about 18 years ago and I thought they were brilliant............mainly because previously I was forever mending punctures! The bike hasn't been used for many years except on the odd occasion when the grandchildren have ridden it and the tyres are still fine. However I don't know what the rolling resistance is like compared to the pneumatic variety. They seem to be softer than I would have them normally but the lack of/fear of punctures more than makes up for any increase in rolling resistance. I was wondering what had happened to them because when they were fitted I think they were a fairly new idea but I have not heard much about them since.

 

[flecc]

Stability can be a problem on these solid tyres, since they don't have the different lateral and vertical differences of stiffnbess that pneumatic tyres have. The carcase on the latter is designed to be laterally firm for stability but vertically compliant for comfort. Single material solids are usually too soft for banking stability, but if made more rigid would be boneshakers.

For these reasons every attempt to introduce them for any vehicle, and there have been many over the years, has failed to catch on.

 

[DJH]

A godsend for wheelbarrows!

 

[daudi]

I'm beginning to think this guy has the right idea: http://www.leevalley.com/newsletters/Woodworking/2/3/article1-1-popup.htm


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[jerrysimon]

Gosh

Must be quite a bone shaker!

Also needs to varnish it and I hope it does not get woodworm.

Regards

Jerry