I am new to road biking(~4 months). Well I hooked up an 80's cannondale and have been replacing things on it for a little while.

I hooked up a new pair of Conti Ultra 3000 tires (700x25c) for real cheap off performance bike($10 a piece). Well everything was going well, until I went for a ride and got two flats(the second was a slow leak). So I just threw on two new tubes(figuring they were cheap), and went back to riding. I decided while at the LBS to buy some Mr. Tuffy tire liners to try and cut down on flats(two at once sucked). Put those in, had a spare in my bag and it was back to riding. Well today I must have hit a piece of glass, because I friggen slit open my tire and liner!

http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb.../Ultra3000.JPG

So on the side of the road I replace the tube with my spare, pump that thing up and ride home. Luckly(thinking it was because of the liner) it didn't go flat again, with that slit in it. So I'm going to get some more tubes again, but I was thinking about two things:

1) Are tubes worth patching(price of patch kit = to new tube?), and if so, under what circumstances is it pointless to patch them(like patch with thorns but not with glass cuts?)?

2) Is this tire toast or can I fix it(don't really care because it was cheap....but I only got about 100 miles out of them, and they have tons of tread life left)?


I'm thinking about going with a set(or at least one for now) of Specialized 04 All Condition Armadillo tires(in the same size, 700x25c). What do you think about this?

ANY INPUT, POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE(I can learn) WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I think that $10 for 100 miles is not a good deal. Sounds like you have converted a tire to trash.

I think that you will be much more pleased with a set of those Armadillos. I ride Armadillos on all my bikes and ride over some pretty mean streets. I don't get flats. $30 apiece may sound pricey, but you can chuck those liners and the tires will pay for themselves in tube savings.

I put those exactly same tires on 300 miles ago and just got my first flat yesterday thanks to a 4 inch tall pointy rock that I got my front tire to avoid but not the rear. I ride almost daily through downtown minneapolis and it's northern suburbs (See: glass everywhere) and these tires seem fairly good at avoiding flats to me.
As for patching, go get yourself a novara brand patch kit from REI for $2. It comes with 10 patches, glue, and sand paper. Heck, even if it saves 1 tube of the 10 patches you've saved money. And it takes maybe 5 minutes to patch a tube. I'd patch, but then again I always carry a spare tube around so if my patch skills are less than I think I can still get home.

Andrew

does the picture show up for everyone else? I can see it, but from this statement I wonder if the link isnt working. here is is manually:

http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb.../Ultra3000.JPG

Oh ya, well $10 for 100 miles sucks, but I didn't place that piece of glass in the bike lane.....I wish I had seen it, i was looking.

had a reliable site host the photo.

I picked up an armadillo for the rear wheel. Those tires were a pain in the a$$ to mount. I busted up my hands pretty bad, and that was working with tire levers. About 100x harder to mount than the Ultra 3000 that I replaced. I wonder if it will stretch a little. I hope so, otherwise if I end up with a flat I will probably have to just call someone for a ride, because I dont have an hour to sit on the side of the road struggling to get the thing back on the wheel.

Oh and I left the liner in for the hell of it. I dont think it can hurt(they dont weigh much), and hey, just a tad more protection, though if something can get through that thick rubber tread, it will probably take out the liner.

I've run in a little strip of duct tape behind slits like that and squeezed in quite a few miles before it finally gave out-- I wouldn't do it on a long distance ride (unless you had a foldable tucked away in your seatbag).

Dave