Originally Posted by
Butcher
OK I will say it officially without reading between the lines. Vitoria Rally 23 are the biggest POS there are. I personally believe you cannot get a cheap tubular but if you add the miles per cost of tires they are truely the most expensive POS you can buy. Yes, you can get them for cheap, but I have not seen any of them last longer than 20 miles without a flat from some small rock [not glass or thorns]. I have had no less than 5 of them leak and I will no longer purchase them even if they were only $5.00 each. Sure every one has their experiences but I am one person with real experience with these tires and they are POS. I have had silks in the past that have lasted > 2000 miles without leaks.
Damn! You are jinxed.
Running the same Vittoria Rallye 23's over the last three years, I've done 13,000+ miles (I keep records on each bike), have had six punctures in that time. Four of them were on tyres so worn that I didn't bother unsewing and patching, just threw them away. The other two were patched - one's currently strapped under my seat of this week's ride, the other is on another bike. I normally run them at 100lbs pressure, and they're topped off at the beginning of every day's ride.
Luck of the draw, I guess.
Somewhat interesting side note: Three years ago, flying down a hill I threw the chain, locked up the back wheel, and highsided me over the bars breaking my right wrist. Fortunately, I landed about a hundred yards from my driveway. Picking myself up and checking over the bike (and not looking at my hand which was bent at a really sickening angle), I realized that despite having skidded about fifty feet with a locked rear wheel, the tyre had not popped, and while trashed, it would have probably gotten me up my driveway and into the garage, were it not for the wrist.
That's when I started believing in Rallys.