At 10:22 -0800 03.06.2007, Donald Gillies wrote:
>In about 1979, i had the experience of getting 2 flat tires in one month
>commuting to work 3 miles, on new-fangles 27x1 1/8 skinwall tires.
>
>I then installed tire savers on the bike.
>
>Since that time I've never had a flat (other than a snakebite - low
>inflation-type of flat) with tire savers operating on my bike. If you
>look at any photograph of an around-the-world travling bicyclist, you
>will ALWAYS see tire savers installed on their bike. I challenge
>ANYONE on the CR list to find an article & photograph that contradicts
>this assertion.
for what its worth...
i used to run tire savers (flint catchers/nail catchers/tire wires/whatever) irregularly on various bikes. i wasnt running them when i started messengering. when i started to get annoyed at the amount of flats i was getting (several a week) i installed them on my work bike. flats effectively stopped. (tires used at the time were conti top touring 2000, 700c x 28 or 32) this is work mileage - 50-70 miles/day, 5 days a week (13000-18000 miles/year), in san francisco conditions (ie glass *everywhere*. flat tire heaven.).
lots of people chuckle at them, or question their effectiveness, but as far as im concerned, they work, and work well, and im always surprised more people dont run them, and bike shops dont encourage them as an easier to install and more effective flat prevention mechanism than things like mr tuffys and whatnot...
-joel
(although, also for what its worth, i stopped using continental tires
when i started to have issues with sidewall durability 7 years ago or
so, and switched to nokian ultra tours, which are *extremely*
puncture resistant. i forgot to reinstall the tire savers, but it was
a moot point by then - with the nokians, i have maybe 5 flats a year,
tops.)
--
joel metz : magpie@blackbirdsf.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
portland, oregon
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...