Tyre help for beginner

dazzday

Hey all,

Fairly new to this cycling lark and looking for a little advice. I own a Giant FCR3 flat-bar road bike which i'm delighted with but im having alot of puncture problems lately...probably due to quite alot of wear of the tyres (2nd hand) and these pot-hole ridden country roads around here.

Any advice on new puncture resist tyres (current specs are 700x26C) and would the FCR give clearance for slightly wider tyres (28s maybe?) for perhaps a slightly more comfortable ride?

Overwhelmed with the amount of info on google at the moment so anything a little clearer would be greatly appreciated.

petethedrummer

dazzday wrote: »

Any advice on new puncture resist tyres (current specs are 700x26C) and would the FCR give clearance for slightly wider tyres (28s maybe?) for perhaps a slightly more comfortable ride?

You can check yourself. Take a look at your tyres and every point they go close to the frame, is there room for more tyre at these points?

I had an FCR with 28s on it. I imagine you could go up to a 32, not guaranteeing though.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus for the best puncture proofness.
Continental Gatorskins for a good compromise between low rolling resistance and puncture proofness.

There are others that will do the job, but these are the most oft quoted. I'm going to try a vittoria randoneur as my next commuting tyre.

Deflate your tyres often and pick the embeded glass out with a pointy knife. It will eventually work its way through any tyre.

Have you gots a track pump?

Trekker09

Make sure that you check the inside of the tire for bits of glass etc, as I failed to do recently. Got a load of slow punctures, spent ages checking spokes etc and eventually sat down with tire, turned it inside out and checked every inch. Found a tiny sliver of metal that was puncturing all my new tubes.

dazzday

Thanks for the advice guys. Found the advice of glass slithers before which was quite helpful, but its been blowouts from stones etc that has hampered me recently.

Track pump is next on the shopping list!

My current tyres are rather worn so definitely time to invest,the schwalbe and gators look promising, probably in 28s.

petethedrummer

dazzday wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys. Found the advice of glass slithers before which was quite helpful, but its been blowouts from stones etc that has hampered me recently.

The track pump will solve alot of these, you're probably not up to pressure. So when you hit a bump the tyre is getting nipped between the rim and the edge of the pothole.

The track pump is a more important investment than the new tryes.

dazzday

Thanks for the advice guys.

Found a pair of Continental Gatorskins on a well known auction site for €60 which seems a fair price.

petethedrummer

Should be able to get them cheaper online
Cycle superstore in Tallaght have them for 30 notes each.
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=9162

Here for tubes and tyres.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-ultra-gatorskin-road-tyre-and-tube-set/


Actually it looks like GatorHardshells are the new version of the gatorskin (can anyone else confirm this?) and are a bit more expensive.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-gatorhardshell-road-tyre/

dazzday

petethedrummer wrote: »

Should be able to get them cheaper online
Cycle superstore in Tallaght have them for 30 notes each.
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=9162

Here for tubes and tyres.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-ultra-gatorskin-road-tyre-and-tube-set/


Actually it looks like GatorHardshells are the new version of the gatorskin (can anyone else confirm this?) and are a bit more expensive.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-gatorhardshell-road-tyre/

awesome help there pete, much appreciated!

reilig

Does anyone use tubes with "Slime" ??

I have 2 on my bike for several months and have yet to get a puncture.

cdaly_

petethedrummer wrote: »

You can check yourself. Take a look at your tyres and every point they go close to the frame, is there room for more tyre at these points?

I had an FCR with 28s on it. I imagine you could go up to a 32, not guaranteeing though.

I was running 28s on my FCR at one point. Very little clearance for the mudguards. Had to stop at one point and pull all the little moulding sprues off the tyre as they were rubbing on the mudguards. I doubt you'd fit 32s on there...

Schwalbe Marathon Plus for the best puncture proofness.
Continental Gatorskins for a good compromise between low rolling resistance and puncture proofness.

There are others that will do the job, but these are the most oft quoted. I'm going to try a vittoria randoneur as my next commuting tyre.

I found the randoneurs ok but I reckon the gators are hardier.

petethedrummer

cdaly_ wrote: »

I was running 28s on my FCR at one point. Very little clearance for the mudguards. Had to stop at one point and pull all the little moulding sprues off the tyre as they were rubbing on the mudguards. I doubt you'd fit 32s on there...

I have 32s on my SCR right now which I would have presumed would have tighter tolerances than an FCR. I don't have mudguards though. There would definitely be no room.