Also when I was a boy 25 years ago, I did alot of cycling, and I can't remember having to pump my tires up so often, or fix punctures. Perhaps we just forget.
I have very little to complain about with the Yuba Mundo's tyres which have kevlar in them and despite 5 or 6 hundred miles loaded up and running over urban detritus have not punctured yet. Fantastic. I still have to top up the pressure every week or so, but that is the same with all my bikes.
As the temprature dropped this week, and heading for the foothills only 20 minutes away from home seems less of a heatstroke risk, I got on my mountain bike and headed for the hills for some fun. Something I have managed not to do since April.
I rode out from down there...
Had a great time, despite riding out there on the road. The climb out of the last village into the hills on dirt track underlined the drop in my level of fitness since April. Will have to do this more often...
On the way back I had a headwind, but it wasn't that bad because it was down hill. But I still found it hard going. I figured out why when I got back from the school run and noticed that I had two flat tyres. It was tough getting back in because my tyres were slowly deflating because of tiny thorns, but not flat. Soft tyres are tough to push along...
Great two punctures to fix... Are tyre compounds too soft. Are inner tubes now wafer thin ?
At least my bike had the decency to get me home. I realised when I got home that I had my puncture repair kit but not my pump. I was a long way from home. Won't do that again.
:) I get a flat about every two weeks on my yuba. And then, due to the way teh back tyre is set up, I always have to deal witha half day of getting it positioned right again so the tyre doesn't rub against the frame. Love having something that can carry two people on it, but am hating all the issues I am having with my tyres. I might ask, do you have the original wheel frames on it? I was thinking changing that might help.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteNo, everything is original on my Yuba. I have Fat Fred tyres I think, and they are Kevlar reinforced. I do keep them pumped up really hard though. I have seen Yuba models on the internet with different tyres though.I am considering slime type inner tubes for my mountainbike. I had 12 minute thorn punctures when I took the inner tubes out, so I will have to change them... Have read good reports about "slime" inner tubes. Not cheap, but might be worth a try...
I had more flats back in the 70's than I ever have now, but I rode a lot more miles then. Slime tubes are a damned if you do, damned if you don't proposition. They work okay for the minute leaks, but if you ever have a blow out you will have a helluva mess to deal with (been there done that).
ReplyDeleteWith a few exceptions I run kevlar belted tires on most of my bikes (usually Schwalbe) on your MTB it maybe the tire compound is too soft? That is a hard one to figure out, there doesn't seem to be much information readily available on the hardness of the various tires, just the advertising hype.
Aaron