This is basically me blowing off some steam, but if some useful advice comes out of it, all the better.

My bike is a leftover '07 Jamis Sputnik bought early in '09. It came with Vittoria tires that I never had issue with. I put a bit over 2000km on them, then finally noticed that the sidewalls were cracking. It was probably like that when I bought the bike, cracking as a result of the rubber just being old.

Anyhow, I decided in my great wisdom to be proactive so that I wouldn't get stranded due to a tire failure, and swapped on a set of great-looking Michelin Krylion tires. Of course, I did a bad job of the swap and ruined the tube, breaking it right near the stem where I couldn't fix/patch it. And of course I did that on the Sun of a long weekend when all bike shops were closed until Tue, AND I had no spares at home. Had a 75k ride with my wife planned for that Sun, too. STUPID!

Anyhow, lots of folks like these tires a lot and I spent more than I planned but was happy with the looks and performance of the result once I sorted out my stupid failure. I put about 500km on them before putting the bike into storage last fall, but noticed a cut in the middle of the tread of one of the tires when I took it out this spring.

Oh-ho, what a good eye I have! It hurt to replace the most expensive tire I ever bought after such a short time, but I don't want to get stranded, and it's a safety issue. Even for a slow guy like me, a blowout at speed would be very unpleasant. The pretty Krylions were on back-order, so I spent some time looking at what was in stock, talking with the salesperson, and settled on some Hutchinson something-or-others because they claimed to be a tough tire and they were almost all black, which I figured would look good on my unmachined black Velocity Deep V.

So I premptively changed the tire, used much more care with the tube this time, and started riding again. NICE!

Yesterday I go to leave work and that back Hutchinson is flat. COME ON! I've put less than 200km on that tire! Let's have a look - yup, picked up 2 pieces of glass. Pushed it to the MEC, they picked out the glass and swapped tubes right away, and I was back on the road.

I talked with the repair guy a bit about tires, and he suggested going to GatorSkins. I know that lots of people on here like those tires, I'll probably do it. I just wish that the logos weren't that garish orange.

Have I just had a string of bad luck, or were the Krylion and Hutchinson tires bad choices for city riding? Or did I worry too much about a little nick in the Krylion and replace it before I had to? Who knows? What will I do next? I have no idea. Nothing will look better on my bike than the Krylions w/ grey sidewall. Realistically I don't need a performance tire, but it's hard for me to make myself put something heavy on my nice light bike.

Thanks for listening.

My advice is buy some tubes...
I can't believe you were thinking of doing a 75 mile ride w/o a spare.

As far as tires, like condoms, everyone prefers a different rubber.

I used 23mm Krylions during my traning rides on clean streets. They were awesome. Then I became a commuter and started riding dirt-infested streets, and the awesomeness had gone.

So I swapped to 23mm Gatroskins and the awesomeness had come back. Well, at least the punctures disappeared. Gatorskins are a pita to install. The funny thing is, one day it could take me 45 (forty-five) minutes to change one tire, and the next time it would take me 18 (eighteen) minutes to replace both tires (like the other day I went into a pothole and blew both of them).

Gatorskins are also a lot harsher riding the krylions, a LOT harsher riding. Grip isn't as confidence inspiring either because 1. the compound is softer and 2. I haven't reached limit of grip yet coz I dont feel cnofident enough with grip levels on these guys.

sorry im going to hijack this thread because reading it arose tire questions in my bike newb brain....

are wider tires (700x25, 28) in general more prone or less prone to flats? like, will the same make of tire in a 25 or 28 be more or less prone to flats than a 23?

configuration:
i read sheldon browns thing on wider tires up front vs wider tires in back...
and i am assuming a trade off in tires is grippiness vs. durability/flat protection....
is it smart or stupid to have say one grippier tire in back and a more durable tire up front? other way around? or are mismatched tires on a bike stupid?

sorry in advance for question hijacking this thread, or if this has been covered before.

well, pinch flatting at least, you'd be better off with a larger tyre. I woudl think puncture flats are generally the same regardless of size(correct me if im wrong here)
As for mismatched tyres, I dont really take durability into account; just grippiness.
all my bikes, I run a more dirt oriented tyre up front, and a slick out back. I figure, if Im cornering and lose grip, it will be the rear that slides first. In that case I might be able to save it, whereas if my front washed out, I will be eating concrete for sure.

good to know. thanks!

FWIW, a former co-worker who rides all year set his bike up similarly for winter commuting.

you guys really need to learn how to swap out tires

gatorskins are not hard to install. at all. i just put one on last night and it took me like 3 minutes.

krylions are a great tire. higher performance than gatorskin but not quite as tough. personally, i run krylion on my roadies and gatorskins on my fixie.

also, i had really good luck w/ panaracer t-serv messenger tires on my FG bike. Rode them for a few months w/o a single flat and they held up very well to skidding.

This.

Honestly, there's so much fail and bizarre details in the OP it has to be a troll.

This is the way I'm leaning. I've been reading tire reviews this afternoon and evening. The trouble is, that so much of it is subjective and it's hard to know what's being written by a knowledgeable and experienced cyclist and what's coming from someone who doesn't know the difference between schrader and presta.

Wow, I knew it was pathetic but I didn't know it was so pathetic that it had to be fictional. Oh well.

lol i bought a krylion as a skiding tire since they were only like 25 bucks last year on pbk (exchange rate then ftw)


now i just buy whatever good stuff i can find in the stock take off bin at the lbs for $15 a piece. right now I got zaffiro pros. they had some diamante pros in there before, might but i dont need any tires

For urban riding like that, from what I've been reading, sounds like Vittoria Randonneurs or Shwalbe Marathons would be good options, and they come in a range of wider sizes too. Not the fastest tires, but you're not putting them on a track bike anyways.

I guess I was hoping nobody could be that pathetic. I stand corrected.

Life is full of disappointments.

I'm curious if people can actually feel that one tire is faster than another. Ride quality I can kind of buy (although inflated to 100psi and above it's a bit hard to imagine that one 23 feels appreciably different from another), and traction in wet and dry and especially at colder temps I can believe 100% - but I really suspect that the difference in acceleration and rolling resistance between two different tires of the same size would be much smaller than the difference between the rider on a good day vs. a not-so-good day.

Oh, did I just rationalize buying some heavier, tougher tires? Kinda looks like it.

Knobs SUCK on concrete.

I have been pretty content with my Gatorskins (23 in back, 25 up front), but I rode one Gatorskin upfront for less than 15 miles before I got a flat from glass. Haven't had an issue since (It's been about 3/4 of a year, dunno the miles).

Is this a typo? You do realize that softer compound means better grip, right?

I got confruzled reading that too.

on my dirtjumper, at least, im running a holy roller. Its good in dirt and still rolls relatively fast on concrete.
Id like something similar for my pista (currenlty running a cross tyre). I dont feel much difference, so it doesn't matter much for me. besides, its not like im running a DH type tyre or something.

I had 2 flat tires in the past 3 weeks, what a pain, to walk out of class at school and see that your tires is fully deflated, and then walk your bike 3 miles to get it changed.

i heard Gatorskins were nice , and I was about to get Specialized Armadillos , but then I found MAXXIS REFUSE tires (no relation to me) it's Kevlar lined and Very light compared to other puncture resistant tires

I've told myself if I get yet another flat anytime soon i'll be switching to puncture resistant

If you want bomb proof tyres for commuting and you don't skid stop then I'd suggest Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Virtually puncture proof.







Now the bad part. They are a royal PITA to mount. They are very heavy and slow. they are harsher riding than a nice light tyre.

I use Schwalbe Duranos for my single speed journey through Asia. They can take quite a beating.

https://osmosno.wordpress.com/2010/03...hwalbe-durano/

My favorite tire for the same reason.