Road bike advice

MadMossy · 2 Apr 2020 at 20:06

So my lovely MTB is out of action currently while I wait for a replacement mech hanger to come from France (literally no where in the UK has any for my bike), so I thought I'd dust off the road bike and use that for my daily exercise.

Problem is its not been ridden in almost a decade, and when I did ride it, I had constant puncture issues. Could this be down to the tyres it came with?

The rims are 18mm wide (edge to edge) with a 12mm inner width, it has 16mm rim tape installed, the current tyres are Continental Ultra Sport 700x28c.

Based on that am I correct in thinking those tyres are too wide for the rim and should really be 23-25c with appropriately sized inner tubes?

Saytan · 2 Apr 2020 at 20:49

Conti ultra sports are not a great tyre.

I have had many puncture free miles from prime armour tyres from wiggle. They're pretty cheap and ride a lot better than their price tag.

Get a 25 or 28 and pump up to at least 75psi on a 28, little more on a 25 and you'll fly.

DarkHorizon472 · 2 Apr 2020 at 21:33

Main thing is check on the manufacturers website for the size of tyres the bike can take. Newer bikes have a lot more clearance and you can fit up to 33mm tyres with no problems, some older bikes have a limit of 28mm or even 25mm depending on the make of tyre. If you kept getting thorn type punctures then look for tyres that have built in protection strips like the conti 4 seasons or cheaper but similar tyres. If you kept getting snake bite / pinch puncture then check pressures, check rims for damage and unlike a MTB avoid any kind of pot holes or similar on the road.

MadMossy · 2 Apr 2020 at 21:41

The bike is so old it's no longer listed, bought it around 2011 or so i'll grab a new inner tube tomorrow and see how it is after a short ride, just hope if it is going to go its not like 3 miles from home like I was with the 60lb MTB with a bent deraillur hanger that was too risky to even freewheel due to the mech being dangerously close to the spokes.!