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#$%^&!@* pinch flats!

02.15.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Got up and out earlier than usual yesterday morning. My wife is on the local Advertising Federation cycling team that rides in the Hill Country Tour for AIDS, and they have regular training rides leading up to the Tour. It was in the 40s, overcast, and breezy, and Mrs. Noob decided she wasn’t riding. But I was.

I assumed it would be just a few Ad Fed folks, but when I got to the elementary school where the ride starts, I found it was a full-blown training ride organized by the Tour. At least 50 people turned out. There were even three SAG vehicles.

This was an easy ride, because it’s still early in the season. A number of riders were even more noobie than the Bike Noob. Lots of hybrids, even a few cruisers, and some riders in mid-weight jackets and blue jeans. The route was the Mopac loop I take all the time. One loop is eight miles, and riders had the option of doing as many as three.

The ride organizers explained the route and procedures. They passed out cell phone numbers of all the SAG vehicles. They went through all the common hand signals. Then it was time to leave.

I was among the first half dozen riders out of the parking lot. The wind actually wasn’t as bad as it was for the last couple of weekends, and I had dressed right, even wearing full-fingered gloves, so I was all warmed up by the time I got to the end of the first lap.

Going around the second time, I picked up a little speed over the first lap. A couple guys passed me on a downhill, but I passed them back going uphill. As I approached the intersection with a major road, I checked behind me to see if it was safe to cross over to the left shoulder and prepare for my left turn. It was. Still looking back, I started my turn to cross to the left. When I looked back to where I was heading, I saw it — then I hit it.

“It” was something squarish. There was no way I could avoid it. My rear tire went flat immediately. I stopped on the left shoulder, assessed the damage, then walked the bike back across the road to change the tire next to the right shoulder.

Once I got the tire off, I did the usual inspection to try to find whatever caused the flat. But I could find nothing. Remember, these were the new Kevlar-belted tires I bought just last week. I was displeased. I checked the tube, but a cursory examination there turned up nothing, either. Unfortunately, when I ride, I wear prescription sunglasses that have only my distance prescription, and not my bifocals. So I can’t see anything close unless I hold it inches from my eyes.

I pulled the spare tube from my seatbag, and had just about got it and the tire back on the wheel when one of the SAG vehicles pulled up. He held the wheel while I pumped up the tire. We put it back on the bike, and I packed up my seatbag.

When I turned back to the bike to resume the ride…the tire was almost flat again! The spare tube must have had a leak! Defeated, I put the bike up on his carrier, and he drove me home.

Back in my garage, I grabbed the first tube that had flatted, and took a closer look at it. There it was: the “snake bite” — two small punctures side-by-side. Whatever I had rolled over caused a pinch flat.

I blame myself on two counts: I didn’t see the thing that caused the flat (it turned out to be a a small rock, about three inches across by two inches thick — it was still in the road when I rode by it this afternoon), and I probably didn’t have enough pressure in my tire. If you saw last week’s post about the new tires, you know I planned to experiment with pressures to find what was right. I had already ridden at 100 pounds, and for this ride, I was down around 95 — maybe a tad less.

The late Sheldon Brown, my main source of information for all things bike, says tire manufacturers are conservative when they put recommended pressures on the sidewall. Brown says if the tire bears a 100-pound load, a 25 mm tire can be pumped up to 110 pounds. Since I weigh about 210, that’s about 105 pounds per tire. Hutchinson recommends a tire pressure of 101 pounds max.

This afternoon, I pumped the tires up to 100 pounds again, then went for a ride. No problems. I may still fiddle with pressures, but they’ll be firmer, not softer. And I guess if I find the energy this week, I’ll be patching two old tubes.

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Categories // tires, Uncategorized Tags // flat tire, tires

Switching to 25s

02.08.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

Challenging day for a ride. Temp 73F (nice!), but wind from the south at 16 mph, gusting to 36. It was even blowier than last week, when I cut the ride short because the gusty winds made the bike seem unstable.

But I rode today anyway, because I have new toys. Actually, they’re a lot more important than toys. I bought new tires. The ones on the bike were showing signs of wear. The Specialized Mondo Pro on the front was the original tire, so it’s been on almost a full year. I felt it was losing grip, and the surface was cut up. The Vittoria Rubino Pro on the rear was a nice tire, but had flattened in the center of the tread, and was due for a replacement.

So I put on a pair of new tires. They had to have puncture resistance, and I decided that they had to be 700C x 25mm, rather than 23s. Nashbar had a nice price on just the tire I was looking for, so the bike now has a pair of Hutchinson Top Speed Kevlar Protech tires.

Why 25s? I mentioned a couple of months ago that one of our club members had switched to them, and liked them. That planted the idea. After reading more about the difference between 25s and 23s, I concluded that they were worth trying.

I figured my best bet on a windy day like today was the Veloway. It’s a three-mile circuit, so it would be into the wind half the time, but thickets of cedar and live oak that line the track block the wind somewhat, part of the time.

The ride over there was a taste of things to come. A gentle downhill a mile into the trip often gives me my highest speed of the ride, but today going into the wind, I topped out at 16 mph.

One benefit of the 25s was immediately apparent. They were more stable in the wind. I was also putting the good advice I got last week about riding in the wind to good use, and that helped — but the tires were the biggest change I’d made, and I was pleased to see the difference.

Once I got on the Veloway, another difference was evident. Better grip. I could attack the turns on the course with more confidence than I’d had with the old tires. I did five laps and then headed home, for a total ride of 21 miles. The 25 mm tires do seem to offer a softer ride than the 23s.

One of the arguments people use against 25s is that they have greater rolling resistance than 23s. According to Al Ardizone in the Feb. 5, 2009 edition of Road Bike Rider, that’s not true. He says 25s actually have less rolling resistance, and suggests riders use their weight to determine which size tire to ride. I’m still over 200 lbs., so according to his formula, 25s are right for me.

He’s also a proponent of lower tire pressures, for greater comfort with no loss of speed. Al suggests 85-100 pounds pressure. I had been running 105 lbs. in my old tires, and have the new ones at 100 now — recommended pressure is 87-101 lbs. I’ll decrease the pressure a bit on upcoming rides to figure out what’s right for me.

Interestingly, these might be last year’s model, because Hutchinson’s web site doesn’t list a Top Speed model. Their current Equinox seems to have the same specs as my tire. A check of Road Bike Review shows mixed reaction to the Top Speeds — some say they performed well, other say they’d never buy another pair. Anecdotal evidence is interesting, but a sample of only five reviews is not enough to generalize from.

So I’m looking forward to riding with the new tires. I’ll be watching closely to see if they’re as puncture-resistant as billed, and if they deliver increased comfort with no loss of speed. But after only one ride, I think I can safely say that I won’t be going back to 23s.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // Equipment, tires, Veloway, wind

Broken glass

01.17.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I don’t know what conditions are like where you ride, but it seems that the routes I ride have been plagued with more broken glass than is typical.

One particularly irksome spot is in a bike lane on a street that leads to two of my most frequently-traveled routes. Someone smashed a bottle there at least a week ago. It hasn’t been cleared yet.

I seem to manage to avoid the glass, at least the stuff I can see. My recent flats were caused by tiny shards of glass I couldn’t see, because they weren’t mixed in with lots of other obvious glass. It’s still a surprise to me to see that a sliver of glass so small that it can hardly be seen — even when you find it in the tire by running your fingers across it — can cause a puncture.

Part of the problem around here is that we’ve had very little rain recently, so the glass doesn’t get washed into the gutters. It’s bothersome to the point that when I have a ride where glass is not a problem, that’s worth making note of.

The Specialized Mondo Pro tire on my front wheel continues to perform amazingly well. It was the original tire that came with the bike, so I’ve had it for 11 months, and it’s got about 2,700 miles on it. It’s only flatted once, but I think it’s nearing the end of its natural life. The rear tire is the one that flats most often, but I still can’t complain about it. It’s a Vittoria Rubino Pro. However, it doesn’t appear to be able to last as long as the Specialized. I suspect I’ll be hitting the LBS within the next month to get two replacements, and start the serious biking season with new rubber on both wheels.

The city is pretty good about sending street sweepers around to sweep along gutters, but they usually do a street no more than twice a year. If some kind biker from the neighborhood were to head over there with a push broom and a paper bag, the glass problem could be irradicated quickly. Hm. It’s almost two miles from my house, but since I travel it three or more times a week…

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Categories // Equipment, Specialized Tags // broken glass, tires

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