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Road Tyres


Rich

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I've got a set of Vredestein Fortezza Superlite tyres up for grabs

(700x23C) 185g each - R750 for both, brand new in the box

Max pressure 175psi
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Samma, get the Attack/Force for Bliksempie, just don't let him train with them.  Those, and the GP4000's, are all out racing wheels!!!

ewep2008-08-06 13:04:49

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Used Schwalbe Blizzard Sport for a while(2000km on a set), they just weren't as resilient as Gatorskins (ave 9000km per set).

 

I'd rather take the extra 200g on a set of tyres than spend 10min changing tubes.

 

If the weight is an issue, carry one bottle half full to compensate.
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I use the gatorskins wire bead at this stage great tires

very puncture resistant.

 

 

 

I am considering getting the Conti GP4000S (with black

chilly compound) has anyone tried these?

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Big%20smile

 

I've always trained/raced on Gators - the business in every respect but do agree not so lightweight -- tho' I won't stop using them.

Had GP 4000's - punctured badly in the wet (nice tyre tho') - racing ideal in the dry me thinks !!!

Got a set of Vittoria's from a bud - rolling resistance amazing - felt the difference especially after I put them on my racing wheels -- this morning's ride was a definate + in performance !!

 

Thinking of buying a set pretty soon as a must have !!! for spare !!!

 

'DTThumbs%20Up"
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Race and train on Conti GP4000s Black chili

 

Have about 6000km on them (half way about) and had two punctures so far.

 

Not bad me reckons.

 

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I find some of the comments here about wet performance quite interesting. Some tyres indeed perform very poorly in the wet. These are the coloured tyres where the coloured compound added to the rubber is silica.

 

Bicycle tyres come in two broad types of compound: silica and carbon black. Silica is just sand and can be had in many colours. Silica tyres have a slight (very slight) benefit over carbon black tyres in terms of rolling resistance. However, this comes at the sacrifice of mileage and wet handling.

 

Carbon black tyres are the ones we have on our cars and motorbikes and airplanes. Carbon black is pure carbon obtained by burning acetylene in an oxygen-rich environment and creates very fine, pitch-black soot of pure carbon. This is mixed into rubber and makes tyres last something like 100 times longer than pure rubber tyres.

 

Carbon black tyres are the only ones allowed by law on motor vehicles. A few years ago Smart (the car company) wanted to fit its cars with funky coloured tyres but zee Germans wouldn't allow it. Silica performs just too poorly in wet.

 

In the bicycle world, the carbon tyre has just about disappeared. One company, Avocet, actually brands theirs as Carbon 12 (or something like that) and still brags that they're an original carbon tyre. The rest of the industry remains silent on the issue and I suspect all their tyres, including the black ones (silica can be black as well), is just silica.

 

As for puncture proofing:

 

Thicker (and therefore heavier) is better.

 

Harder rubber is better than softer rubber.

 

The cords inside the casing play just about zero role. A needle easily penetrates any form of woven material. Therefore puncture-proofness of tyres advertising Kevlar and Aramid weaves is dubious.

 

Thicker cords offer somewhat better resistance to cuts than thinner cords - obviously, but by the time the cut has reached the cords, the rubber is gashing open in anyway.

 

In my view, the only scientific way of measuring puncture proofness in bicycle tyres is to weigh them. The heaviest wins.

 

 

 

 
Johan Bornman2008-08-07 01:16:20
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I find some of the comments here about wet performance quite interesting. Some tyres indeed perform very poorly in the wet. These are the coloured tyres where the coloured compound added to the rubber is silica.

 

Bicycle tyres come in two broad types of compound: silica and carbon black. Silica is just sand and can be had in many colours. Silica tyres have a slight (very slight) benefit over carbon black tyres in terms of rolling resistance. However' date=' this comes at the sacrifice of mileage and wet handling.

 

Carbon black tyres are the ones we have on our cars and motorbikes and airplanes. Carbon black is pure carbon obtained by burning acetylene in an oxygen-rich environment and creates very fine, pitch-black soot of pure carbon. This is mixed into rubber and makes tyres last something like 100 times longer than pure rubber tyres.

 

Carbon black tyres are the only ones allowed by law on motor vehicles. A few years ago Smart 9the car company) wanted to fit its cars with funky coloured tyres but zee Germans wouldn't allow it. Silica performs just too poorly in wet.

 

In the bicycle world, the carbon tyre has just about disappeared. One company, Avocet, actually brands theirs as Carbon 12 (or something like that) and still brags that they're an original carbon tyre. The rest of the industry remains silent on the issue and I suspect all their tyres, including the black ones (silica can be black as well), is just silica.

 

As for puncture proofing:

 

Thicker (and therefore heavier) is better.

 

Harder rubber is better than softer rubber.

 

The cords inside the casing play just about zero role. A needle easily penetrates any form of woven material. Therefore puncture-proofness of tyres advertising Kevlar and Aramid weaves is dubious.

 

Thicker cords offer somewhat better resistance to cuts than thinner cords - obviously, but by the time the cut has reached the cords, the rubber is gashing open in anyway.

 

In my view, the only scientific way of measuring puncture proofness in bicycle tyres is to weigh them. The heaviest wins.

 

 

 

 
[/quote']

 

I find this quite interesting; silica can be used to reinforce rubber in the same fashion as carbon can.  Carbon is just easier to disperse in most rubbers, but actually has a negative effect on the physical properties of natural rubber, but a positive effect on the properties of most of the synthetic rubber we use.  Carbon has the added advantage that it prevents oxidative degradation of rubbers by providing protection against light (which provides energy for the degradation to kick off).

 

Silica, however, can only be "coloured" if it is mixed with a dye or pigment.  It might be that some of the coloured surfaces on the bike tyres are pigments that are mixed with silicone rubber?  This would make sense if there is a preceived effect of coloured tyres being worse in the wet.

 

I'd like to check a few tyres to see what the make-up actually is.  Carbon is actually quite cheap compared to silica particles of the same size.
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[i find this quite interesting; silica can be used to reinforce rubber in the same fashion as carbon can.  Carbon is just easier to disperse in most rubbers' date= but actually has a negative effect on the physical properties of natural rubber, but a positive effect on the properties of most of the synthetic rubber we use.  Carbon has the added advantage that it prevents oxidative degradation of rubbers by providing protection against light (which provides energy for the degradation to kick off).

 

Silica, however, can only be "coloured" if it is mixed with a dye or pigment.  It might be that some of the coloured surfaces on the bike tyres are pigments that are mixed with silicone rubber?  This would make sense if there is a preceived effect of coloured tyres being worse in the wet.

 

I'd like to check a few tyres to see what the make-up actually is.  Carbon is actually quite cheap compared to silica particles of the same size.
[/quote]

 

I'll give my left crank to know if there are still bicycle tyres with carbon in. Methinks the industry has gone for the more expensive silica ones. We certainly see it in the prices we pay with bike tyres costing as much as a car tyre.

 

Yes, the silica is coloured with dyes and my understanding is that the pigment is in the silica, not added to the rubber. I have zero knowledge of natural vs silicon rubbers and I use rubber in the generic context. I'd love to learn more about this field.

 

You say there is a perceived effect in the wet. I believe it is quite noticeable.

 

It is quite easily demonstrated by looking at the slip-out angle. Take two wheels, one with silica tyres and one with carbon tyres.  Put them on a smooth uniform surface and push down. Now tilt and keep on pushing until the wheel slips. Repeat this several times to get rid of the noise and most of the inconsistancies in your pressure. You'll notice that the carbon tyre is noticeably better and can tolerate a larger angle before slip-out. Now make the surface wet and notice the huge difference.

 

 

 

 
Johan Bornman2008-08-07 01:12:06
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While on the subject of punctures, is it true that tubular tyres are more puncture resistant than clinchers?

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While on the subject of punctures' date=' is it true that tubular tyres are more puncture resistant than clinchers?[/quote']

 

No. With the exception of shakebite flats.

 

The same rules I stated above applies to tubulars.
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You are not the only one, the road tires me as well, but I find the lighter tyres don't tire you as much!

Vittoria's brilliant, Vredestein excellent, Gatorskins good, just a matter of what your pocket can afford!

I spit on Michelin and Hutchinson!

 

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Race and train on Conti GP4000s Black chili

 

Have about 6000km on them (half way about) and had two punctures so far.

 

Not bad me reckons.

 

Thumbs%20Up

 

 

 

I have also read that this tire should be quite good. I don?t

cycle that fast so if I loose 20min changing a tire it would have a bigger

impact than loosing a few seconds every km.

 

And the price also makes a

difference.

 

 

 

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As for puncture proofing:

 

Thicker (and therefore heavier) is better.

 

Harder rubber is better than softer rubber.

 

The cords inside the casing play just about zero role. A needle easily penetrates any form of woven material. Therefore puncture-proofness of tyres advertising Kevlar and Aramid weaves is dubious.

 

Thicker cords offer somewhat better resistance to cuts than thinner cords - obviously' date=' but by the time the cut has reached the cords, the rubber is gashing open in anyway.

 

In my view, the only scientific way of measuring puncture proofness in bicycle tyres is to weigh them. The heaviest wins.

 

 

 

 
[/quote']

 

I wouldn't say the threads in the tyre do nothing and saying how a needle easily punctures the tyre is also irrelevant.

 

Most punctures on our roads are due to glass.  Glass pieces in general having tipss a lot larger than a pin head, they would thus have to cut through some of the threads to puncture the tube.

 

Thorns on the otherhand go through nearly anything no matter how hard or thick the rubber.  I say this after having a thorn go through my gatorskin tyre with a tyre liner underneath and puncture the tube.

 

This happened to me last week tuesday morning.

20080807_070612_Photo0481.jpg

 

This is a racing tyre with a 60tpi and the hole is big enough for me to fit my pinkie in.  Pretty much I had a blow out while riding, where I can only gather that a piece of glass must've gut a small slit in the tyre and the pressure of tube on the tyre forced the threads in the tyre to tear with the tube bulging through and bursting.  I doubt this would've happened if there was a 120tpi weave as I have seen on some of my older tyres where a piece of glass has cut a little slit where you can see the tube but it hasn't been able to force the tyre apart and come through.
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