Conti Attack Force Cracking

[IanJ]

Some feedback...

 

I had no reply to my email. I phoned Interac the distributors and spoke to Ray.

 

His reply was he had received my mail, printed it out but hadn't had time to respond. He had also not bothered checking this thread from the link I sent him.

 

He is adamant that the damage to my tyre is a cut, caused by impact, so it looks like I will have to replace it myself (with another brand of course).

 

My gripe is mainly the lack of service, surely he could have replied to my mail at least and I would have thought that he would have been interested enough to check out this site to see what the general consensus was on their service levels.

 

Interesting contrast to the other thread currently running about Polar's service levels, one extreme to the other.

[Kranswurm]

That is an appalling lack of interest and service level

Some years ago I had a Conti 3000 de-laminating on the rear.(Due to an indoor trainer I think)Told AVH about it and he exchanged both front and rear immediately with no questions asked.I hate dealers who hide behind the distributor and dont make decisions.

I have to put new tyres on both my Mtb and road bike so I am going for Michelins on the road and Kendas on the mtb.

 

Stuff Continental

[Dr. Seuss]

i think there was a previous thread about tyres.  anyhow,  there i said that i ride gp4000 and no problems.

 

i must of jinxed it,  because had to bin one a couple of days back for (you guessed it) cracking in the sidewall!

 

these did not even have more than 1000km on them!

 

have a pair of force / attack still boxed,  but suspect that it is not a good idea to use them.

 

got a pair of michelin pro2 race & will see how these go!  the sidewall seems to be made of a different material than the conti & appears to be thicker.

 

for the past year i have been on hutchinson, schwalbe, conti, bontrager & vittoria - all of them messed up with gaping holes or torn threads apart from the vittoria - you just have to look at them & they puncture!

 

this is starting to get expensive!

 

 

[Ray Earl]

I respond to all the postings in regard to Continental tyres.

 

My name is Ray Earl and my company imports and distributes Conti bicycle tyres and tubes throughout Southern Africa.

 

Ian Jones posted his brief on this forum on Tuesday 10th October. I opened it on Wednesday and printed it out for attention when I had a chance. Ian Jones phoned me next morning (before I'd had a chance to do this) and without any preamble asked me why I had not followed the forum string and responded, and proceeded to attack my integrity as the Conti distributor.

 

Firstly, I have an extremely busy schedule. I am frequently not in the office for days at a time. Secondly, I am not employed by Ian Jones and thus am not answerable to him for my movements or work time schedule.

 

The tyre he submitted had a jagged superficial cut in the tread running diagonally from shoulder to sholder on the tyre. There is no question or doubt about this. I challenge Ian Jones to take this tyre to any other tyre distributor or experienced bike mechanic to verify this. The tyre also had numerous other impact cuts and bits of glass and debris imbedded in the tread area.  

 

For those in the forum string who have intimated that they never received attention or service from myself in relation to problems experienced with Conti products, I would like to place on record:

 

If action was not taken it would have been due to processes not being adhered to at dealer level, or to a break down in communication. These things happen occasionally.

 

Regarding the GP3000's and any other Conti tyres with tread delamination or compound break-up (ie cracking), these were replaced immediately I received the faulty tyres. This includes tyres replaced by Alan van Heerden who would have done it automatically, knowing my (and Continental's) stance on the issue.

 

There was a compound problem with these tyres in South Africa due to our extreme UV intensity. This problem has been rectified on all new ASC compound tyres including GP4000's.  I had no reason to avoid replacing these items. Conti in Germany reimbused our company fully for every tyre. It cost us nothing to replace and it was essential to the well-being of the brand to acknowledge that South African road conditions had realised the need for a compound review. 

 

Our country is now the primary test bed for all compound R&D under trial because of this and some serious machinery is to be sent here and set up for continuous running tests. I doubt that any other tyre manufacturer is going to similar lengths to ensure that their tyres are suitable for local conditions. 

 

I could go on at length but that is not my objective here and now. I will do backward somersaults for anyone who has a genuine problem with any Conti tyre or tube. This can be verified with around 300 dealers countrywide. It has been the status quo between myself, my dealers, and my valued friends and customers, the cyclists, for over 20 years. If I am attacked in an aggressive and confrontational manner as Ian Jones did before I had even ascertained who he was or what his problem was, then I will react as anyone else would in the circumstances. 

 

Regarding the negative remarks about the Attack/Force tyres, it should be noted that these are the tyres of choice for the Microsoft Team. Their results on the products over the past 2 seasons since they were launched, speak louder than any sales pitch I can offer.

 

I am at the service of any cyclist who purchases and uses Continental products. If there is a problem, contact your dealer who will then raise the issue with me. One way or the other, the problem will be addressed, and it will be done in a forthright and friendly manner. 

If satisfaction is not achieved, I will meet personally with anyone who feels they have not received due attention in their loyalty and support of our products.

This includes Ian Jones who is welcome to meet with me if he wants to ease his mind with regard to both Conti and myself.

[IanJ]

Phew, I am not going to respond to this right now but will do once I have properly digested what Ray Earl is saying here.

[IanJ]

Ok here is my response:

 

1) At the stage when I created this thread, I had been told by the salesman at the LBS that the damage was caused by an IMPACT. As I stated at the beginning I know that I have not hit anything hard enough to do that kind of damage. By impact I assumed that they were referring to a pothole or some such thing. I accept that it is possible that I could have hit a stone or some item on the sidewall of the tire.

 

2) I created the thread to see whether other people had similar problems with these tyres (which I thought at that stage was a crack). From the responses it seemed that there were some general issues with Conti products and service from dealers/suppliers. I then emailed the link (on Tuesday) to the local distributors so that they could monitor and if they wanted to to respond to the thread. In the mail I asked them to respond to me to let me know what they thought.

 

3)  By Thursday morning I had not had a response so I called the distributors to see if they had received the mail and asked to be put through to the person that receives the mail. I was put through to Ray Earl. When I asked Ray if he had recieved the mail he replied that he had and had printed it out but had not had time to respond to it.

 

4) Ray's response above is that he does not have to answer to me as to his time etc. but I beg to differ. If one of your customers has a problem surely you have to answer to them. If it wasn't for customers you wouldn't have a business. If one of my clients complains about something I make sure that I contact or respond to them straight away.

 

5) In my opinion Ray was fairly agressive and that is when I got angry. It certainly wasn't the kind of reaction I would have expected from a supplier to a customer who has supported their products for more than 4 years. I suggested that I should maybe contact Germany (hinting that they might have more time etc.).

 

Anyway to sum up I accept that the damage to the tyre was probably caused by road debris and I apologise if I made incorrect assumptions about the actual causes of the damage.

 

I do not feel that Ray's rather personal attack on me was justified but seeing as it is Friday and we all have bikes to go and ride over the weekend I think we should just close the book on this whole issue and forget about it.

 

 

 

 

[TheLegend]

best tyre around is the conti ultra gator skin. buy the version that is not foldable and you'll be riding happy for long time. good protection, good for many many many miles!!

[Cois]

Ek het Conti vir 'n kort tydjie gebruik (5 jaar) en het redelik probleme gehad met hulle. Die "side wall" van hulle het al mt paar keer langs die pad gelaat agv die kant wat los trek van die "beading". Ek het die laaste keer 'n probleem gehad dat een van my wiele se loopvlak op 'n hoe spoed los gekom het.

 

Ek ry nou met Vredenstein en Mich. Ek sal weer terug gaan na Conti toe as hulle my kan verseker dat my loopvlak nie los gaan kom nie. (Ek kan nie onhou watse Conti reeks ek gery het nie sal probeer om my rekords te kry)

[Ray Earl]

Ek vra om veskoonen dat ek in Engels moet beatwoord want my Afrikaans is n bietjie swak met tech-talk.

Conti had a problem mainly with the GP3000 tyres which were affected by UV attacking the silica tread compound. This caused tread separation from the tyre casing and/or cracking on the shoulder of the tyre. The problem was eventually eliminated after extensive testing of tyres in South Africa which had the highest incidence of failure due to extreme UV intensity. All such tyres were replaced under warranty if submitted to dealers.

 

The bead problem your're talking about sounds like bead core exposure which happens when too much force is applied when fitting the tyre. The material covering on the bead core gets torn or pulled away resulting in  

tearing of the material along the bead until eventually the tube is forced through the sidewall and blowing. This is a common problem and is caused through incorrect fitting methods. Never use extreme force and always lubricate tyres with soapy water on tyhe final seating section of the bead.

[widget]

This is a common problem and is caused through incorrect fitting methods. Never use extreme force and always lubricate tyres with soapy water on tyhe final seating section of the bead.

 

I find this rather interesting, I am a complete technical idiot, but what you say about soapy water makes sense to me. In fact, if I am not mistaken a lubricant is also applied when fitting motorcar / motorcycle tyres as well?

 

.............however, I have purchased many,many new bicycle tyres (and quite a number of them Contis) and stood and watched as the "best workshops" and probably "the worst workshops" in the country have fitted them initially - and I have NEVER,EVER,EVER, seen even ONE of them use ANY KIND OF LUBRICANT.!!

 

..........Has anyone seen any bike shop use a lubricant???

 

Perhaps, this information should also be passed on to bicycle workshops??

 

 

[ewep]

Ray and Widget, too true, BUT, how am I going to carry some soapy water with me on rides?

[bikemonster]

Not using 'extreme force' (whatever that turns out to be) makes sense, but I have never needed to use a tyre lubricant either.

 

Replacing GP3000's and GP4000's is VERY easy (K SL rims), and does not need a tyre lever.

 

I will, of course, now add a tube of KY to my Camelbak just in case I flat on my next ride.

 

 

 

 

...or happen to meet somebody.

[NotSoBigBen]

bikemonster - or meet someone nice?

[bikemonster]

BigBen, I was thinking more along the lines of somebody nasty.

 

 

Puncture repair was not where I was headed.

[Kranswurm]

In all my life,which is considerably long,I have never used soapy water to fit a tyre.??????

Even when fitting my UST's

 

All the soapy water was ever for was to show up leaks

 

I carry enough sh.t in my Mule as it is to carry a bottle of soapy water as well

[Ray Earl]

Anything slippery will do. Even a bit of saliva or mix from your water bottle on that last section will help. The big problem is friction between the tyre bead and the tyre lever or, if fitting without a lever, the friction of forcing a dry rubber covered bead over the wheel rim flange. Always work slowly and use 2 levers if the tyre is a tight fit. Difficult if you've punctured during a race and you're in a hurry, but tyres are expensive.