As promised, I ended up replacing the rear Conti GP5000 TL 28mm tire on June 30th as the wear dimples were barely a shadow at 1,750 miles, but the catalyst was skidding to a halt to keep from hitting an electric gate, and wearing through the 1/4 mm tread left. The black of the casing has a slightly different hue than the tread, so careful inspection convinced me I was pushing a bad position and should change the tire.
Another factor was I intended to ride a long ride on the 31st, and I didn't want to set myself up for failure by riding a bad tire, especially since the new tire had arrived more than a week earlier and was sitting on the shelf, ready to go.
I stayed with a 28mm tire, which I now run at 60-70 psi. I get a nice ride and better grip. Several times now I've rolled over a 1/2 to 3/4" stone in a turn, and the rear tire just envelopes it, giving way nicely, and staying hooked up. I used to run Michelin Pro4 Endurance 25mm in back @ 115lbs, and that was a much harsher ride, though the best I could find in a tough, tubed tire.
My Pinarello Prince also has a "D" shaped, flat-back seat-tube that pierces the wind nicely for the wider tire. There's also only about a 1/4" gap between the seat-tube and the tire, so the air-flow is probably pretty clean even with the wider tire.
As I said in the earlier post, you should expect to get about 2x my mileage on a rear tire, as for some strange reason, over the last 13 years I have consistently gotten about half the mileage others do - so expect 3,500 miles, at least from a 28mm rear tire. (probably due to unintentionally skidding the rear wheel - my bad - a bad habit I'm working on)
I guess I should also mention that I ran the entire life of the tire with NO flats. Not even one, and no slow leaks either. That's frankly amazing to me. The high desert is so hostile to bike tires I used to flat every 3-4 rides. I use Stan's sealant and tape, and, NEVER, EVER added one drop of sealant. I put a full 2oz (60ml) of sealant in when I aired it up, and never touched it again. I just rode it and rode it and rode it.
They still go on tight, and I had to use Zip-Ties again to get this one on, but it was on, inflated, sealed and seated in 15 minutes total time, and that included cleaning the rim-tape and valve. No way I would ever go back to a tubed tire.
1 comment:
I hate flats! On my last ride, I must have hit something because the next morning, it was flat and wouldn't hold air. Those are the best kind of flats though--the ones that happen after the ride.
Thanks for continuing to visit my blog despite my long absences. I'm planning on sticking around.
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