I have hit a flatitis bug. Three flats in the last 2 months on both front and back, two in the back, one in the front. And they were punctured holes causing the flats. The tubes were Conti Race 700. I’m airing up the tires and the tubes and tires are on properly.
I use a Michelin Pro Race tire on the back and a Vittoria Open Corsa EVO KS on the front. I was about to buy another Vittoria for the back, but I’m not sure about how they hold up to riding on highway surfaces and places where I ride.
Is there a tire and tube out there which is considered a racing tire but which leans more toward training which are a little bit more durable. What about the Michelin Carbon ones? They look stronger.
I have Continental front and rear (whatever that paired-up technological hoo-ha advertisement is called…force and ____), with Slime inner tubes. Very happy with this setup. I’ve run the Michelin Axial Pros…like them, but, they seem to pick up stray pieces of wire from the road moreso than my other tires. I’ve often been able to remove the slivers before they flat me, but, not always. The Continentals seem a little harder to me…don’t know if that is a fact.
My bike has Specialized Pro All Condition tires. Not very sexy but over 1,000 miles without a flat and I live in a rural area heavy with goatheads and broken beer bottles courtesy of Billy Ray and hs 4x4 elevated truck.
You might want to check out the Vittoria Diamante Pro’s. The are more durable than the Open Corsa’s, take 150PSI (not that you’ll run them that high), and are actually a bit lighter at 210 grams vs 230 for the Open Corsa or Michelins.
They are still a race worthy tire, but you’ll find them more cut and puncture resistant, and I’ve seen fewer flats with them than the Michelin Pro Race tires that I used previously.
No specific recommendation on tubes, but I’d suspect that the real improvement will come from a change of tires.
Vredestein. Both tyres and tubes. I’m partial to the “regular” Fortezza’s, but have also heard lots of good things about the Tricomps. A very supple tyre that goes on and off a rim easily without tools, and has great feel (for a clincher). Pretty tough, as well - which isn’t easy to do without making the tyre feel like a steel-belted radial. They’ll go up to ~170psi if you care to inflate them that high…
I run the standard butyl tubes, but they also make a latex tube that I’m told is simply amazing for racing.
I’ve bad experiences with Continental. I use Michelin Carbon on my training wheels and I can’t remember the last time I had a pucture… we’re talking about more then a year without any flat tires! But with the Continental (GP 3000) I had two on the past month! So you see… BUT as someone said here, even the best tires have flats…!
Here’s a tip… before a race, ride your race wheelset on the day before. Ride them for at least an hour or so. If you’re about to flat… it will happen the day before and NOT on the race (we hope… lol)
Although my experience with Conti GP3000’s haven’t been great, I feel the Conti Gatorskin is a great training tire. Not a great racing tire but that’s relative to the speed you’re traveling and time it takes to fix a flat.
Hopefully the roads that you will be racing on will be in better condition and you can use your Pro-Race tires there.
Good reason to go with Tubulars…I use Conti sprinters front and rear on my old Zipp 440 wheels and although they are 20 grams or so heavier than the top of the line, they flat a bit less. Four years ago at the tdf TTT, Postal used the Sprinters on their rear wheels as they are good bet for surviving flats on bad roads. If it is fast enough for Lance, George and Eki, where giving away 5-10 seconds on a TTT could mean a yellow jersey, they are fast enough for everyone else on this forum
Vredestein. Both tyres and tubes. I’m partial to the “regular” Fortezza’s, but have also heard lots of good things about the Tricomps. A very supple tyre that goes on and off a rim easily without tools, and has great feel (for a clincher). Pretty tough, as well - which isn’t easy to do without making the tyre feel like a steel-belted radial. They’ll go up to ~170psi if you care to inflate them that high…
I run the standard butyl tubes, but they also make a latex tube that I’m told is simply amazing for racing.
Those are the ones that I use. I put them on my bike on Saturday, but had to take my bike into the shop due to a front derailleur problem. I haven’t tried them on the road yet.
