DallasSoxFan

I've gotten about 6 flats in the past week that had me scratching my head.

They have all been outside punctures. I quadruple checked the rim tape just to be sure, no problems. They were kinda random, not happening immediately, not in the same areas of road, and no slow leaks. At each tube change, I used my fingers to check every surface of the rim and the tire and nothing seemed odd.

So, in a bout of frustration last night, I pulled the tire completely off and examined it and the rim under great lighting. I finally found a 3-4mm gash in my tire that was unnoticeable by finger touch with the tire not under pressure. Sure enough, with the tire under pressure, the gash opened ever so slightly and evidently has been causing me problems.

I've had a pair of junky cheng shin $5 tires pulled off an old bike that has long since been sold. I threw one of those on while I'm waiting my RibMo's in the mail to replace the stock Specialized tires that came on my secteur. The funny thing is that I have been considering tossing the cheng shins for a while but for some reason never got around to it.

Cyclaholic

Why toss perfectly good tires? I picked up a pair of Cheng Shin 700x28 at an LBS sale ($5 the pair!) and got a couple of thousand good commuting miles out of them. Never had a problem with them.

dynaryder

If I get a bike with non-puncture protected tires,I swap them for something I trust and give away/sell the stock ones. I have yet to flat any of my Randonneurs,Flak Jackets,or Marathons. I know plenty of folks who'll ride anything that fits on their rims,they can deal with them. Too much crap on the streets around here,and some of the neighborhoods are not condusive to stopping for repairs.

YMMV

mickey85

I've got a set of Cheng Shin 28c's on my "fast" bike, and I kinda like 'em. They're grippy, puncture resistant enough for country/small town riding, and cheap. I got 'em for $6.8something on amazon.com. I'm a fan. Maybe one of these days I"ll step up to a set of Paselas or some such, but for the time being, they're good, fast, tough, and light enough I don't feel like dragging boat anchors.

ItsJustMe

Thanks for the heads up on cheap tires. I have zero trouble with punctures on my route. I'm running Marathons right now, just in the hopes that they'll last a lot of miles, but I'm always up for some $5 tires too.

mickey85

Here's the ones that I nabbed:

https://www.amazon.com/Cheng-Shin-C73...351009&sr=1-25

Like I said, they aren't the best of quality, but they're still really good.

DallasSoxFan

Why? Because I'm American. We throw away anything we can.

Actually, I don't love the ride on them. They also are a bear to get on an off with the wire bead.

mawtangent

I've gotten good use out of $8 27 x 1 1/4 Cheng Shin tires (mine have the yellowish "gumwall" color on the sidewalls, they have performed all right and I like that they had a somewhat uniform thickness from bead to bead instead of just being thick in the thread area. I don't really go for the "paper" thin sidewalls (in relation to the thread thickness) for use on my back wheel (though I did find some Panaracer Pasela with Tourguard tires on sell that are pretty light and maybe a bit thin-skinned on the sidewalls in relation to the thread and they have been good tires).

Anyway, my Cheng Shin tires have a healthy amount of bead-to-bead nylon thickness (the performance and weight-obsessed need not apply). The feel and weight of them makes me think of them as a bit-lighter version of an Armadillo tire (I know the Armadillos are probably much tougher tires, I've only held an Armadillo tire in my hand and I know they are supposed to have a lot of flat-fighting technology stuff in their construction). I've ridden a mixed-up assortment of bikes and tires over the last three years so I can't really comment on the Cheng Shins durability over many miles.

Mauriceloridans

I pride myself for my frugality (cheapness) but out of 8 Cheng Shins I've bought and used 3 developed "goose egg" knots on them from defects in manufacture. I switched to Paselas. It's been about 3 years since I tried the Cheng Shins. Maybe they improved their quality control.

BrooklyntoNYC

Nashbar.com resells Cheng Shin tires under the Nashbar brand name, and they are flat resistant, I have a pair, I love them and they are fast.

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...2_10000_200527

mawtangent

Just looked at several of the reviews (in the linked page)...I'm always amazed that a product can be so loved and so hated at the same time.

pitchpole

Cheng Shin is the largest manufacturer of bicycle tires in the world by the way...