Originally Posted by
chefisaac
I have a few questions for ya all. Not interested in sparking a debate or anything but just looking for opinions and advice.
1- Tubes: Do you patch them or throw them away and use new ones? At what point do you throw them away if you patch them?
Patch 3 times then toss.
2- Do you ever buy the tubes in bulk?
Bought 6 tubes from the LBS when I started, buy new ones in increments of two or whenever I'm at the shop and I'm down a tube.
3- CO2 inflating heads: do they make any with a psi gauge? I blew mine off the bead today.
I don't know of any. I practiced at home by inflating a tube to a certain lowish PSI with the hand pump, then going the rest of the way with the whole CO2 cart. Then again I have wide tires that need lots of air. Maybe find smaller carts if your tires can't handle a whole cart?
4- For the tires, do you ever swap the front and back to even out the wear? And at what point to do throw the tire away and get a new one? I run gatorskins and my pair has around 1700 miles on them so far. Wondering if I should get a new back one or swap out the front and back.
DO NOT ROTATE YOUR TIRES. THIS IS A BAD IDEA. So your best tire should ALWAYS be on the front. The rear tire tends to wear faster due to more weight being on it. The front tire needs to be the better one because the front tire controls where your bike goes. If that blows out or loses traction, you're losing control and hurting yourself. Typically when the rears' treads are worn down, you buy a new tire, toss the rear, put the old front on the back, then put the new tire up front.
And if you say gatorskins suck, please give other suggestions of tires. I ride through A LOT of glass in one area of my commute and no I cannot change routes as this is the safest route to take. I call the area "the glass gardens".
Can't say anything about gatorskins, never tried them. I'm having an incredible amount of luck with Schwalbe Marathon Dureme 700Cx40 tires right now. Should hit 1500 miles without a flat in a few days.