Tires Whoes

So a couple months back I decided it was time to replace my worn out Schwalbe Alberts (2.25) tires. They had given me a good life but they were showing their age. What I mean by that is the soft tackiness of a fresh tire gives way to a hard friable dry feeling. The tires stop giving that same grippy feeling and its most noticeable on loose technical climbs. I had been running the normal tires on my tubeless rims in a tubeless mode. Basically you run a rim strip to push the normal tire up on the bead of the rim. It took a bit of work to get it to all work, had to use a high pressure tank and soapy water to get the bead to pop out, refer to hearing loss for more details.

I road the new tires for just over a week and took a trip to the Monarch Crest Trail. Its one of my favorite rides around, some great downhill, some good uphill (at high altitude) and just plain majestic. I was somewhere towards the middle of the ride that I noticed some traction loss. I checked the pressure of the tires and saw multiple side knobs missing on both tires. There were quite a few others there were starting to tear off also. Not a good sign for a brand new tire (less then 50 miles). Anyway, I pressured up the tires and continued on. I was starting a really long downhill section (Silver Creek) so I just enjoyed the ride . When I got to the bottom the rear tire had lost a lot of air. I wasn't sure why at the time but I pressured up and got to the car.


The next day I went for a ride and I could not get the rear tire to hold air for any longer then 10 minutes. When I closely looked at the rear tire one of the torn off knobs was leaking the air. Bummer.

So I went to my LBS and spoke to him about the issue. He wasn't sure if the distributor or the manufacturer would do the warranty. Anyway it turned out he said that the manufacturer would be doing it and they wanted a picture of the tire showing the problem and the lot number (printed inside the tire). So I sent that off to my LBS and he sent it to the manufacturer. Then I waited, and waited, and waited. I asked my LBS for updates but nothing seemed to be happening. Finally I just called the manufacturer and she knew nothing about this warranty. Anyway Celeste (the manufacturer) was most cordially on the phone with me and asked me for picture of the warranty issue. I sent her the pictures by email and she quickly accepted the warranty . A new pair of tires were on there way to me. Great customer service! I had waited 2 months for something and within 15 minutes I had it all taken care of. Sweet.

Long Term Equipment Update - Part 2

Tune Speedneedle Marathon Saddle

My original blog Speedneedle entry goes into more detail on the saddle and I had a previous Long Term Update on the saddle. The saddle is comfy for what it is but you better have some padded bike shorts to make up for the lack of deep cushioning.

After using the saddle for about 6+ months are started to notice some numbness and discomfort in one leg. I attributed it to it being my leg with a bed knee (ACL replacement from skiing). Sometimes just standing for any period of time could be a bit painful. I tried stretching before a ride, massage, rest, chiropractic care and even some Yoga, but it did not seem to get better. I tried changing back to a chair at work instead of my ball, still not any better. Finally I switched back to my old, comfy and fairly heavy Specialized saddle. It was much nicer to ride on with all the padding and I liked not having the sharp edges that the Speedneedle saddle has. I had no issues moving around on the saddle in technical sections of the trails, with the Speedneedle it can hurt and chafe sometimes due to the sharp edges. At first I still had the same pain and numbness, then the pain started to get much better and over a months time the numbness went away. Wow, an amazing difference.

So I am in search of a lighter saddle that won't give me the pain and numbness issues that the Speedneedle gave me over time. I am currently looking at the Selle Italia Flite TT.

So I guess for a race its a great saddle or if your butt perhaps can deal with it over time or if you don't have the body biomechanics that I might have? Between my bad knee and the saddle there was some sort of bad synergy that caused some nerve damage. It appears that it was only temporary, lets hope it was not permanent. Its bad enough all the crashes that I take and land on my head. Who knows how many mini mild concussions I get?

So my current recommendation is that its a questionable long term saddle very dependent on your body and your body biomechanics on the bike.