CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Mythical beast sighted

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  1. SRD
    Moderator

    Actually, that should say 'once mythical'. Remember how last year we all talked about those 'mini-tractors' but sightings were few and far between. Well, I spotted it's spoor on the pedestrian side of MMW and then, jumping off my bike quickly, and hiding behind it, managed to catch these:

    In fact, to be serious, had already been reflecting, as I came down Leamington Walk, how much more on-the-ball the council has been this winter, despite the shaky start. Remember the list of 'offs' - some serious and some like mine just painful? I remember seeing 3 cyclists wipe out one morning. Not only have I not come off, but I've not seen any either.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. DaveC
    Member

    They leave droppings behind (which I'm told aid in the melting of snow). You can tell its partcular foot prints and the droppings are a particular shape.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. kaputnik
    Moderator

    One cooncil vehicle I'm happy to see chuntering up and down the cycle paths. More of this please.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Instography
    Member

    Agree, the NEPN has been very well gritted. My only complaint is that the grit's ability to penetrate the outer skin of my tyres has revealed that the useful working life of a Gatorskin seems to be about 3,000 miles.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. kaputnik
    Moderator

    That's exactly my experience of Gatorskins, and little orange grit flints that got them every winter too. They seem to be more reslient to bits of glass, which seems to get sucked into the rubber and then ground and polished into harmless glass spheres. The grit flints seem to work their way into the tyre and eventually through the inner tube.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Spokes CycleCampaign (@SpokesLothian)
    22/01/2013 10:29
    @CyclingEdin 'winter gritting great improvement' is due to budget http://www.spokes.org.uk/wordpress/2012/03/bulletin-112-edinburgh-excels

    Thank yr cllrs (next bdgt soon!) http://www.writetothem.com

    "

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. DaveC
    Member

    I haven't used Gatorskins. I have used exclusively Marathons, with Snow Marathons in winter. I must invest in some nice spring/sumer tyres soon.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. crowriver
    Member

    I have Gatorskins on the single speed, they're nice and zippy but tough. I use them mainly because the frame can only take 23mm tyres, and it seemed the best p****ure protection option.

    Otherwise I prefer Marathons or Marathon Pluses. They may be a bit heavy compared to sportier tyres, but they're so solid that (touch wood) I've yet to suffer any p*****res with either version of these Schwalbe classics.

    To be fair I've had no problems either with the Conti City Contacts that came on the Ute, nor the Kenda balloon tyres on the tandem, nor the Kenda city tyres on the Fold-it. None of these could be described as lighter, sportier tyres however.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    DaveC, difference between Marathon and equivalently sized Gatorskin is 0.5kg per tyre. You'll certainly notice a different if you do switch! (And Gatorskin isn't seen as a particularly lightweight summer tyre either, more of a general purpose hack-slick of a tyre)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. amir
    Member

    The apparent puncture proofness of tyres does depend on how you use them. My summer/weekend tyres (Conti 3000s) rarely puncture when they are in good condition but they don't usually suffer urban conditions.

    Cycle paths and gutters are obviously more risky. For commuting I have gatorskin hardshells (even tougher that gators) on the bianchi (but I am hardly using that bike now - potentially for sale) and michelin kyrilion carbon on the ridgeback. The latter don't puncture much on urban roads/paths unless old and are grippier than the gatorskins.

    I did have Marathons but they did puncture and were a bit slippy and slow. I think that I still have them if anyone wants them.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. crowriver
    Member

    @kaputnik, not quite. Maybe that's the difference between Marathon Plus and standard Gatorskin, but here are the official manufacturer's specs for an audax friendly 700x28c tyre:

    Gatorskin - 360g
    GatorHardshell - 410g
    Marathon - 560g
    Marathon Plus - 740g

    So the heaviest Marathon Plus is twice the weight of the lightest Gatorskin, but it's 380g per tyre difference, not 500g. But then the Marathon Plus almost guarantees zero p****ures (your touring blowout excepted). They're different tyres anyway, Gator is a slick tyre aimed more at road bikes, Marathon a treaded tyre aimed at touring/utility bikes.

    Pricewise, Marathons seem to be more cheaply available, then Gatorskins, then Marathon Pluses, with GatorHardshells the dearest. None of them particularly expensive mind you.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. Nelly
    Member

    @SRD, I saw two of the mini tractors chugging up Chalmers Cresent last night as I was getting home.

    They have also been used on lots of paths / pavements (Slateford Road pavements appear to have been gritted using these, and I think the Broomhouse path).

    Credit where its due and all that.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @crowriver yes I did Marathon Plus in 700x32c as I *think* those are the tyres DaveC has.

    For the record, I've also punctured a Marathon Plus on a hire bike. Shop wanted to charge for the repair as they assumed I'd been abusing the bike to cause it to flat on me. Instead we gave the bikes back to them and demanded deposit back.

    For the record, the front tyre on the tour that I blew out the Marathon Plus on was a Gatorskin 700x32 and suffered zero punctures with a substantial load over it on front panniers and bar bag (I did 40% load to front, 60% to rear).

    It's purely circumstantial "evidence" of course, but "cast iron" tyres like Marathon Plus etc. are only as good as the weakest part, be it side walls, rim damage, spokes poking through tape, under-inflation, manufacturing flaws etc. At the end of the day, it's inevitable that they will puncture, and a pure luck roll of the dice at which frequency.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. DaveC
    Member

    Cheers guys, This is fod for thought. I'm considering something else for Audaxing as the Marathon Plus' are quite heavy and if I can shed nearly a kilo it will help.

    Gatorskins
    Michelin Krillions

    What else, for urban Audaxing. Oh I have 35's for winter commuting when not icy and 28's for summer but I could go as low as 25 I suppose?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    If you're looking to splash out a bit, Conti GP4000 are a fantabulous tyre, roll freely like you wouldn't believe, grippy in the corners and reasonably tough to boot. There's a 4-season version that's a bit tougher yet. They havean aramid beadthat means pushing them on with your thumbs is easy. However like many light-weight tyres they do suffer from light sidewalls which begin to bulge as the main carcass of the tyre wears down. And they they go bang!

    I think the toss-up is often between 25 or 28 for Audax, the 28 is always going to be slightly heavier and negligibly slower to spin up, but has proprtionately larger volume meaning more cushioning effect. You may find that ultimately the "slower" tyre becomes the "faster tyre" over extreme distances.

    Durano is I think an equivalent from Schwalbe.

    I tried some of the cheaper Vittoria tyres, they weren't good.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. gembo
    Member

    I have had one puncture on marathon plus in ten years of commuting, average 75 miles a week, this was on the canal and it was a hawthorn. Quite difficult to get the tyre off out on the towpath. Hasn't been the same tyres all that time though. On my standard ten mile commute marathon plus are five minutes slower than gator skins. If gators puncture I reckon fifteen minutes to repair if all goes well. So in my head that would be 30 miles to make up time on the marathon pluses. On my commute it will always be Marathon plus, though I do have marathon winter on front at the moment.

    Posted 11 years ago #

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