Road Cycling

#Chri5# said:
The recent tyre chat made me look up on Strava what distance I'd covered on the tyres on my Synapse. Front is on 5300km and rear 4500km, which makes think I should give them a good look over to know if they need replacing. FWIW, claimed lifespan on the tyre (Hutchinson Fusion 5 11Storm Performance) is meant to be 4000km.

Has anyone got a picture of a tyre they've replaced as it's worn out?
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As and when you replace them, you might want to look at the Hutchinson Blackbirds, same fast construction as the gravel tyre Caracal Race.
 
#Chri5# said:
Has anyone got a picture of a tyre they've replaced as it's worn out?
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Not many of mine get that far these days, roads are so bad they don't survive!

Had Hutchinsons Fusion 5 11storm 28mm. Ok for the money in 2019, early tubeless days (2 for £74). But very uninspiring to ride, wooden feeling. Not that great cornering in the wet even after all the hype with them since - needed more tread. Mounted ok on normal width rims, but going wider where a problem to mount and kept burping air. Did around 6-7000km on them. Wouldn't buy again - very comparable to the Vittorias Rubinio's I had.

It used ot be when you could see the 'threads' showing on the sides like the rubber edges had worn away enough. Don't most still have a 'wear dimple'?!
 
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@Jimbeam3678 - whilst I do spend too much buying new stuff, I also inherited my Dad's Yorkshire traits and don't want to replace them if there's decent life left in them :D

@UTmaniac - I was down the rabbit hole of https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ at lunch and did read their review of the Blackbird. I thought the PZero Race TLR seemed to be in the sweet spot of fast (but not the fastest) but with a good level of puncture protection.

Interesting to read @Roady's comments on the Fusion 5. I think they've been great but perhaps I'm missing a trick? Do people chop and change tyres on a regular basis in the quest for speed/feel? For instance, my Planet X (many, many years ago) came with Schwalbe Lugano tyres which would puncture if you looked at them the wrong way, so I swapped to Conti 4 Seasons and never tried anything else. I put the Fusion 5s on the custom wheelset I got for my Synapse when it was new and stuck with them. I've never even taken the Yksion tyres off the the Mavic Aksium wheels on my Dolan winter hack!
 
Still giving serious consideration to a Chinese frame. Ideally, I'd like an Ostro Vam (who wouldn't!!) but while I am pressurising the Mrs to say we should move house, getting a $21,000 bike sanctioned is going to be next to impossible. I reckon I can build a Seka Spear with the very best of components for $13k and can do it bit by bit.
I can get the frame first, groupset purchase when I sell my current bike and wheels in a month or two.

Thing is, the differing options on bar width and seatpost are a bit overwhelming. When my mate bought his Factor he went into the local BS and tried their set up to find his perfect combo - can't really do that with an online purchase. There are 19 different handlebar options!

How would I go about making the most informed choice? They have an Australian distributor but its still a bit of guesswork. I'd doubt they are going to have a warehouse full of them here to try out.

Link below to the bike in GOAT colorway except I'd go Dura Ace
ccache.cc

SEKA Spear RDC Frameset - Chronos

PRE ORDER, SHIPS WITHIN 10 DAYS. Listing includes SEKA Rapier handlebar with your choice of width and stem length. Please also select between 0mm/15mm offset seatpost upon order. Presenting the new Spear from SEKA. A next generation concept with data backed and wind tunnel development stage in...
ccache.cc ccache.cc
 
Hmm, my GP5000's on the SL8 are at 5,430 miles. I had been planning to take my next set of tyres with me when we head to Mallorca next week... I've never had a set last this long before.
 
Vandle said:
Thing is, the differing options on bar width and seatpost are a bit overwhelming. When my mate bought his Factor he went into the local BS and tried their set up to find his perfect combo - can't really do that with an online purchase. There are 19 different handlebar options!

How would I go about making the most informed choice? They have an Australian distributor but its still a bit of guesswork. I'd doubt they are going to have a warehouse full of them here to try out.
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Bike fit with an adjustable jig?
 
AndyCr15 said:
Hmm, my GP5000's on the SL8 are at 5,430 miles. I had been planning to take my next set of tyres with me when we head to Mallorca next week... I've never had a set last this long before.
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You're clearly spending too much time abroad and not enough time on **** UK roads!

I assume they are GP5000s ie the classic ones rather than the newer S TRs or AS TRs. I know you're not a whippet of a cyclist so we can't blame that either! Us lumps probably wear through tyres faster than the cycling whippets.
 
fez said:
You're clearly spending too much time abroad and not enough time on **** UK roads!

I assume they are GP5000s ie the classic ones rather than the newer S TRs or AS TRs. I know you're not a whippet of a cyclist so we can't blame that either! Us lumps probably wear through tyres faster than the cycling whippets.
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I expect lower pressures (especially from tubeless) relative to total weight of rider and bike cause a faster wear rate.

My GP5000s haven't seen much tarmac in recent years since I put on weight again to a brief max of 98Kg (currently 93), but when I was 75-80Kg around 2020-2022, I was using latex tubes and typically using 75-92PSI for 32-23mm GP5000s respectively on my 9Kg road bike... I'd often read claims of tubeless users using more like approx 50-60PSI, so bigger contact patch, quicker wear rate.
 
Vandle said:
Still giving serious consideration to a Chinese frame. Ideally, I'd like an Ostro Vam (who wouldn't!!) but while I am pressurising the Mrs to say we should move house, getting a $21,000 bike sanctioned is going to be next to impossible. I reckon I can build a Seka Spear with the very best of components for $13k and can do it bit by bit.
I can get the frame first, groupset purchase when I sell my current bike and wheels in a month or two.

Thing is, the differing options on bar width and seatpost are a bit overwhelming. When my mate bought his Factor he went into the local BS and tried their set up to find his perfect combo - can't really do that with an online purchase. There are 19 different handlebar options!

How would I go about making the most informed choice? They have an Australian distributor but its still a bit of guesswork. I'd doubt they are going to have a warehouse full of them here to try out.

Link below to the bike in GOAT colorway except I'd go Dura Ace
ccache.cc

SEKA Spear RDC Frameset - Chronos

PRE ORDER, SHIPS WITHIN 10 DAYS. Listing includes SEKA Rapier handlebar with your choice of width and stem length. Please also select between 0mm/15mm offset seatpost upon order. Presenting the new Spear from SEKA. A next generation concept with data backed and wind tunnel development stage in...
ccache.cc ccache.cc
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Could you not compare your current bike to the Spear on GeometryGeeks and go roughly from there?
 
fez said:
You're clearly spending too much time abroad and not enough time on **** UK roads!
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I did worry when I watched a Katie kookookoobthingy YouTube video about cycling in Gran Canaria, and she stated, 'don't come here on old, worn tyres!' :eek: (But I watched it while waiting to set off to the airport so... :cry:)

Btw, it's the first time I've seen a bicycle tyre squared off. I rotated them when I noticed that on the back tyre.
 
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Vandle said:
Yes but I'm not sure if I could benefit from wider or more narrow bars, shorter crank, offset seatpost etc.
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Oh yeah, I know what you mean all of those are a bit confusing to me also. In my mind I'm going with a 38cm bar at the hoods but other than that I'm probably going to be guessing a bit. If I had one of those IDMatch places near by I'd visit one of those. Closest one in the South West is two hours away from Bristol, which is kind of wild really.
 
Junglist said:
Oh yeah, I know what you mean all of those are a bit confusing to me also. In my mind I'm going with a 38cm bar at the hoods but other than that I'm probably going to be guessing a bit. If I had one of those IDMatch places near by I'd visit one of those. Closest one in the South West is two hours away from Bristol, which is kind of wild really.
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There must be a closer bike fitter? Worth chatting to them as even if they don't use that IDMatch software they'll have their own jig?
 
UTmaniac said:
I expect lower pressures (especially from tubeless) relative to total weight of rider and bike cause a faster wear rate.

My GP5000s haven't seen much tarmac in recent years since I put on weight again to a brief max of 98Kg (currently 93), but when I was 75-80Kg around 2020-2022, I was using latex tubes and typically using 75-92PSI for 32-23mm GP5000s respectively on my 9Kg road bike... I'd often read claims of tubeless users using more like approx 50-60PSI, so bigger contact patch, quicker wear rate.
Click to expand...

I go to 75psi for my Fusion 5s (tubeless) as IIRC there's a recommended / specified minimum of 70(ish). I do remember getting home from a long ride with a puncture that re-opened a few times before finally sealing and think I had 35ish left in the tyre.
 
Martynt74 said:
There must be a closer bike fitter? Worth chatting to them as even if they don't use that IDMatch software they'll have their own jig?
Click to expand...

When I was thinking of going with either Specialized or Basso, they both have dedicated fitters quite near within 30mins or so. but I like the idea of IDMatch as it's not tied to a brand who will likely try and push their offering onto you

ViresVelo who I was thinking about getting a Monza from offer it for £300 but again it's about 3 hours away. 6 hours driving just to get fitted up seems a bit extreme!
 
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I tried to swap my gravel bike to tubeless but my track pump wasn't able to push enough air to seat the 45mm tyres. I also left one side seated from the inner tube and pushed half the other side to the edge but this made no difference. Putting the inner tube back in, I couldn't help notice how much air was needed to get it to reseat the tyre.

Any recommendations for a good air canister? I expect one that works without the valve core installed would be better.
 
Part of me wondered if I should be tapering for Mallorca on Wednesday, but then I couldn't let this sunshine sneak by, so went out and did 75 miles / 120 km and I'm feeling pretty ruined tbh! Sunday is usually a locked-in 40 to 50 miles with the club, but I might set off early and meet them at the cafe, so I can go super slow! :cry:
 
Trifid said:
I tried to swap my gravel bike to tubeless but my track pump wasn't able to push enough air to seat the 45mm tyres. I also left one side seated from the inner tube and pushed half the other side to the edge but this made no difference. Putting the inner tube back in, I couldn't help notice how much air was needed to get it to reseat the tyre.

Any recommendations for a good air canister? I expect one that works without the valve core installed would be better.
Click to expand...

Similar issue i've always had. I ended up just taking the wheels to a local shop with an air compressor to seat them for me as they only charged a fiver to do it and that was with me pushing the money towards them!

I've since bought a compressor but not had the need to use it yet.
 
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