Another puncture

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Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
^^
Impossible to answer. It's how-long-is-a-piece-of-string sort of question.

Depends on the type of use, type of roads (or presumably paths or terrain) type of tyres, and luck.

In days when I used to tour a lot (a while ago) I used the basic 27" Michelin road tyres, and when going around with 25kg of kit rarely got more than 2,500 miles from them, whereas on the same bike commuting I used to get about 5000.

In recent years I've used Schwalbe Marathons and got between 7000 and 14000 miles from them. There are exceptions though. Get a bad cut from bits of metal, glass etc. and you write them off in one at any age. The pair of Marathons that only did 7000 miles were a few years ago when we had a hot summer (remember them?) and they went soft. So did a lot of road surfaces, which probably contributed to their deterioration.

I can't be sure but I think I've lost more tyres to mechanical damage than to wearing out. The Marathons on my Dawes Horizon came off a previous bike and have now done about 6000 miles. The front one looks like new, the back one is more worn (quite normal) and has picked up a load of small (<1mm) cuts this summer. I picked loads of tiny bits of glass out but how come it's the back only? I'll replace that one before the winter.
 

clockhammer

Senior Member
Location
West Lothian
cool, thanks David, like I say a general idea is all I was looking for and you've given some great info there. I'm a total noob so just trying to learn as much as I can.

thanks again
 

Matt1705

Über Member
Location
Redditch
I had a puncture yesterday. Going down a country lane with a variety coming towards me, concentrating on the car I didn't see the pot hole. Hit it pretty hard, front was fine but back went flat, heard the air hissing out :sad:

Fixed the punture and swapped the front tyre with the rear and all is fine so far...
 

CycleChris

Active Member
I got a puncture on my carrera hybrid, about two years ago.
I was flying down sharpenhoe clappers (2 track country road) on the way home from work trying to hit 40mph. I remember glancing down and seeing around 38, then my back tyre hit a large stone, and that was it. The back of the bike started fish tailing really quickly, and there was a car coming up the hill. Not wanting to use my brakes of fear of what might happen, instinct took me back to my childhood, and I slammed both feet on the ground to slow down which provided much needed balance as well. I slowed down enough to lift my feet back off the ground and got to the side of the road. Heart pumping big time. I remember thinking that my feet were really hot as well lol! Lesson was quickly learned and I hardly travel that way now, prefering the more gentle decent the A6 provides.
 
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