Tubs

My spare was (it's now on the wheel) a Vittoria Corsa Evo CX, glued it, folded it up, wrapped it in plastic and left it for 18 months, worked perfectly when I had to use it.

Another week another conti tub trashed by a stone. Guess who is going to get some pictures and a letter of disgust. Utter bollocks, straight through the middle of the tyre again...

Which model?

Gatorskin

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9196/uomz.jpg[URL="http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9196/uomz.jpg"][/URL]

Another week another conti tub trashed by a stone. Guess who is going to get some pictures and a letter of disgust. Utter bollocks, straight through the middle of the tyre again...

Trashed by a stone? I've ridden Contis for years and not too infrequently have landed on horribly unpaved roads including some that were little more than gravel, slippery stones and twigs--- and yes its no fun as one needs to go pretty fast to not go down. My standard all purpose road tyres have been Conti Comps and Sprinters for at least 20 years. Sometimes stones can be like sharp knives and slash things up but generally its the glass--- especially the dark coloured shards from broken beer bottles--- that presents the main foe.
The sidealls are a typical Achilles Heel but that's where old school latex emulusion to new school Duraskin-- what the Gatorskins get--- come to the fore.
Unless it was a Belgian gravel quarry or garnet mine I can't imagine stones slicing through the middle of a tyre. The Conti rubber is quite firm and the layers of nylon are not easy to cut. Sure there was not a bunch of ground glass mixed in?

No, it was a piece of orange flint like stone. There is loads of it around SE London / Kent. They start off like little pebbles that when broken form lots of little sharp flint like material. I pulled it out of my tyre, same type of stone that ripped my front tub 2 weeks ago...

I am beginning to think that the tyres were too soft (ie the rubber used is too soft). I had a patch on the rear that had been ripped off down to the cord (superglue'd this back on), and my front cut like butter 2 weeks ago. I bought a pair of NOS gatorskins off ebay and they are different to the ones i got from Evans. The eBay tyres have the German flag in colour and are called Sprinter Gatorskin, the Evans ones are just called Gatorskin and the flag is monochrome. I am wondering if they have changed the manufacturing process, or the old tyres are harder due to age (I know this has been discussed). Either way the evans tyres are fucking useless....utter waste of £70, I managed 50miles on the front and 200 miles on the rear.

Interesting, I've only ever used the Sprinter Gatorskin and really liked them.

I was unaware of a sibling tubular.

The box, and instructions are exactly the same. Initially it looked as though it was a cosmetic change, now I am not so sure.

Hmm, now thinking that psi may have been an issue. I was running them at 100-110 psi, conti suggest 115-170.

I guess this would explain the ability to pierce through the middle of the tyre.

fuck it, time to break out the 4 seasons and winter wheels....

Currently the tyre has 120 psi in it, I'll report back tomorrow morning.

No, it was a piece of orange flint like stone. There is loads of it around SE London / Kent. They start off like little pebbles that when broken form lots of little sharp flint like material. I pulled it out of my tyre, same type of stone that ripped my front tub 2 weeks ago...

I am beginning to think that the tyres were too soft (ie the rubber used is too soft). I had a patch on the rear that had been ripped off down to the cord (superglue'd this back on), and my front cut like butter 2 weeks ago. I bought a pair of NOS gatorskins off ebay and they are different to the ones i got from Evans. The eBay tyres have the German flag in colour and are called Sprinter Gatorskin, the Evans ones are just called Gatorskin and the flag is monochrome. I am wondering if they have changed the manufacturing process, or the old tyres are harder due to age (I know this has been discussed). Either way the evans tyres are fucking useless....utter waste of £70, I managed 50miles on the front and 200 miles on the rear.

Weird enough my older Sprinter Gatorskin up front p_nct_r_d and the rear newer one is still OK... They clearly say Sprinter Gatorskin and duraskin + on both tires.

Still at 120 psi this morning. I'll ride it tomorrow as the acid test, but it's looking promising.

Where's a good place to get a small syringe and a length of tube in order to squirt this stuff in more easily/precisely- Boots?

Do you know any lab based scientists? They'll be able to sort you out with syringes. The ones we have here fit perfectly in a shrader valve stem.

Failing that, I'd be tempted to cough up for the Stans Injector.

Ordered the Stans injector, looks useful enough to justify a tenner.

The box, and instructions are exactly the same. Initially it looked as though it was a cosmetic change, now I am not so sure.

Hmm, now thinking that psi may have been an issue. I was running them at 100-110 psi, conti suggest 115-170.

I guess this would explain the ability to pierce through the middle of the tyre.

fuck it, time to break out the 4 seasons and winter wheels....

I tend to run ~100 rear and ~90 front, that's been fine for 2,500 miles (current mileage on the front tyre).

Anyone got any recommendations for track-only-use tubs? I've started building up my Powertap tarck wheels, so I'm going to need some tubs to fit on them at some point. The wheels have deep-section rims (60mm front, 88mm rear) so tubs with removable valve cores or removable valves (like the Vittoria red valves) would be favourite.

Indoor or outdoor track?

Just out of curiosity, why run low PSi pressures?

More comfortable and lower rolling resistance over most surfaces.

I thought higher pressure less rolling resistance?

Sorry I should confess I have 3 sets of tubs, all Tufo and different models, run them at 160+ and I've never had any problems.

It does on a very smooth surface but tyres with higher pressure tend to 'bounce' off little bumps in the road whereas a lower pressure just rolls over them.

I see your point, guess all depends on the rider and road surface and the tub.

19mm do bounce but never felt any 'hairy' moments.

Indoor or outdoor track?

Indoor. UCI velodrome in Aigle, natch. With possibly an occasional trip over to the equally indoor Velodrome Suisse up in Grenchen.

At the moment, since I'm going through a Vittoria fanboi phase, I'm eyeing up a pair of Pista CSes as potential candidates.

Nice. I'd go for the Vittoria Pista CSes myself, lovely tyres.