Should I Buy Another Set of Wheels and Tyres?

[G2EWS]

Yup... although I think I'll also have to invite @Defy-One or he'll be complaining.

You can always come over to the house one evening!

Jacuzzi in the garden with bar by the side along with a fire pit and dining area!!

I feel a meet coming on! Not sure we will get any cycling done though!

Regards

Chris

 

[e-rider]

you will probably find that the gears need some fine tuning when swapping the rear wheels over, unless you are either very lucky or have two idenitical rear wheels.

 

[PaulSecteur]

I had these land cruisers on my Carrera Kraken when the original knobblies wore out.

I like them because the smooth centre was good on road, but still chunky enough for off roading and canal tracks that were just a rut in the ground. Struggles a bit with proper mud, but you cant have everything! Bit heavy, but never punctured.

 

[G2EWS]

Hi Paul,

Yes, those are the ones. Thanks for the endorsement. Might actually get them fitted over the weekend, but damn tonsillitis means I probably won't be going out.

Regards

Chris

 

[PaulSecteur]

Might actually get them fitted over the weekend...

Now that brings back memories... I found fittin them to be a bit of a pain, but they were the first tyres i had changed since my my Raleigh Super Burner.

If you havent done a tyre change recently it might be worth having a look on youtube for spa cycle "fitting a marathon plus" video, it might be usefull.

 

[G2EWS]

Fitted the tyres and tubes yesterday when I got back from the weekend. Very easy considering it is the first time I have even looked at a tube for about 15 years!

Discovered my 'tubeless' tyres did not have any 'liquid' in, so not much point in them anyway as far as I can see!

Looking forward to getting out on my commute today and trying the tyres out.

Regards

Chris

 

[Cubist]

Fitted the tyres and tubes yesterday when I got back from the weekend. Very easy considering it is the first time I have even looked at a tube for about 15 years!

Discovered my 'tubeless' tyres did not have any 'liquid' in, so not much point in them anyway as far as I can see!

Looking forward to getting out on my commute today and trying the tyres out.

Regards

Chris

The original tyres were UST so were not designed to have liquid in them. Tyre sealant is used to seal "tubeless ready" tyres on TR rims, whereas UST have a clinch and bead system that will seal without fluid.


The "point" of tubeless systems is around off road riding, where riders run really low pressures (25psi or less) for higher levels of grip, but where a big hit on a square edge would trap the inner tube against the rim and cause a pinch flat. A useful by-product of running tubeless ready tyres with sealant is that it will seal any thorn flats as well, but that is not the original point.

UST tyres are armoured against flats, and so are usually heavy. TR systems with sealant can run lighter thinner walled tyres.

The bike spec you list is a balls-out off road spec, but as you appear to be using the bike to commute on you don't need the advantages of tubeless. It is capable of far more than the odd unsurfaced track.

If you ride off road then your UST tyres will do all that is asked of them.

 

[G2EWS]

Thanks Cubist, for a very thorough description to this newbie who knows very little!

Best regards

Chris

 

[G2EWS]

Awesome ride in on the new tyres!

What a difference, smashed my best time in to the office without trying and it felt so much easier.

Regards

Chris

 

[Cyclist33]

The original tyres were UST so were not designed to have liquid in them. Tyre sealant is used to seal "tubeless ready" tyres on TR rims, whereas UST have a clinch and bead system that will seal without fluid.


The "point" of tubeless systems is around off road riding, where riders run really low pressures (25psi or less) for higher levels of grip, but where a big hit on a square edge would trap the inner tube against the rim and cause a pinch flat. A useful by-product of running tubeless ready tyres with sealant is that it will seal any thorn flats as well, but that is not the original point.

UST tyres are armoured against flats, and so are usually heavy. TR systems with sealant can run lighter thinner walled tyres.

The bike spec you list is a balls-out off road spec, but as you appear to be using the bike to commute on you don't need the advantages of tubeless. It is capable of far more than the odd unsurfaced track.

If you ride off road then your UST tyres will do all that is asked of them.

I too have been wondering why you're not blasting around the trails on what sounds like, let's face it, a bit of an off road beast. And if you're not going to, why have such a bike?!

Stu

 

[G2EWS]

I too have been wondering why you're not blasting around the trails on what sounds like, let's face it, a bit of an off road beast. And if you're not going to, why have such a bike?!

Stu

Hi Stu,

Obviously it is not always possible to look at everything that someone has put on a forum and indeed why should you! So let me explain.

I have a Brother who is seriously into biking and it is probably 10 years since I did any mountain biking myself. That was on typical Halfords £3-400 bikes. He explained when I was talking about his carbon bikes that you have to try one to understand how good it is.

Now I wanted to get back into biking for health and happiness reasons. The idea of commuting to work was there, but I doubted it would be my main reason. But I had also decided that I did not want to do serious off roading as I had done years ago, simply because you get to an age that when you damage something it stays damaged! Oh, I have been a bit of daredevil in my time, trust me! But that is another story!

So I sort of decided that a hybrid would be the way to go and I wanted discs. I was unable to find a decent carbon hybrid at a sensible price so we found this bike and decided the solution would be to put tyres on similar to a hybrids. I totally fell in love with the bike and realised my Brother was right, it is an amazing ride, not only because it is carbon, but because of all the other great bits on it. As you can see I looked at a new set of wheels, but in the end the cost and implication's of doing that seemed pointless. I then spoke to Raleigh who told me the bike had tubes, but as you can see from above, it does not and it also does not have the liquid as Cubist has told me. So the good news is I have ended up with a hybrid type tyre that will allow me to commute and do the bit of off roading I want to do. The commuting has become such a pleasure and I would never have believed it. I do anything I can to not use the car and miss the ride when I have to go out in the car.

However, in the not too distant future I will most certainly go for a 'cross' bike, but will wait until I understand what would suit me better. I have been making decisions very carefully with what I purchase, something I am not used to doing! I normally go and have a look then buy and that includes vehicles that cost in excess of £50k! So I am being a sensible chap about this and making sure I do not fall into the trap of 'all the gear but no idea'. Apart from buying a rather good bike that I am trying to learn about as I go with the great help on here of course.

I hope that makes some sense of why I own the bike I do!

Best regards

Chris

 

[Cubist]

I think its great, but like Stu hope you might at least try the bike out in its natural environment. So come on, spill the beans, what bike is it? It sounds like an xc racebike.

 

[Cubist]

Oh and by the way, I am a firm believer in buying what you fancy and can afford....

 

[G2EWS]

Oh and by the way, I am a firm believer in buying what you fancy and can afford....

Hi,

From the OP the list of the build and it is a Raleigh MTRAX 5 Carbon MB.

No issue with using it off road and indeed have done a few times and will do so at weekends when I get a chance.

Best regards

Chris

 

[Cyclist33]

Hi Stu,

Obviously it is not always possible to look at everything that someone has put on a forum and indeed why should you! So let me explain.

I have a Brother who is seriously into biking and it is probably 10 years since I did any mountain biking myself. That was on typical Halfords £3-400 bikes. He explained when I was talking about his carbon bikes that you have to try one to understand how good it is.

Now I wanted to get back into biking for health and happiness reasons. The idea of commuting to work was there, but I doubted it would be my main reason. But I had also decided that I did not want to do serious off roading as I had done years ago, simply because you get to an age that when you damage something it stays damaged! Oh, I have been a bit of daredevil in my time, trust me! But that is another story!

So I sort of decided that a hybrid would be the way to go and I wanted discs. I was unable to find a decent carbon hybrid at a sensible price so we found this bike and decided the solution would be to put tyres on similar to a hybrids. I totally fell in love with the bike and realised my Brother was right, it is an amazing ride, not only because it is carbon, but because of all the other great bits on it. As you can see I looked at a new set of wheels, but in the end the cost and implication's of doing that seemed pointless. I then spoke to Raleigh who told me the bike had tubes, but as you can see from above, it does not and it also does not have the liquid as Cubist has told me. So the good news is I have ended up with a hybrid type tyre that will allow me to commute and do the bit of off roading I want to do. The commuting has become such a pleasure and I would never have believed it. I do anything I can to not use the car and miss the ride when I have to go out in the car.

However, in the not too distant future I will most certainly go for a 'cross' bike, but will wait until I understand what would suit me better. I have been making decisions very carefully with what I purchase, something I am not used to doing! I normally go and have a look then buy and that includes vehicles that cost in excess of £50k! So I am being a sensible chap about this and making sure I do not fall into the trap of 'all the gear but no idea'. Apart from buying a rather good bike that I am trying to learn about as I go with the great help on here of course.

I hope that makes some sense of why I own the bike I do!

Best regards

Chris

A very eloquent thread and I totally understand and applaud anyone getting on their bike, I suppose my concern (although that's hardly the right word) remains that you've got a very high spec mountain bike which is crying out to be sent across country for a day, but which is just being used for commutes. Ditto with the cross bike, my impression is that you feel happier spending a lot to get proper quality stuff, while that's fine, if you get a pricey CX bike it really will feel underused if you just slap a pannier on the back and commute with it.

I just want to observe really that there are stacks of great commuting bikes that don't cost a huge amount of money and aren't made of carbon or other exotic materials. Just in case anyone who's reading the thread and is newish to cycling and is thinking 'OMG I've got to spend thousands'.

By comparison I, who am getting older too, and am inherently unstable, took my chunky aluminium hardtail out over Frodsham yesterday and around Delamere Forest and up to Pale Heights and back to Chester. It's way not as classy as your bike but it just begs to be taken off-road. I had such a good time that I'm seriously considering Cyclescheme-ing a £1000 mtb after Xmas.

Stu