Saturday 21 February 2009

The Flintstones

Punctures seems to be a way of life for me at the moment. Probably something to do with the lightweight tyres that I am using. Although I popped down to my local bike shop on Friday and the guy there was saying that there is a lot of rubbish on the roads at the moment, including flint. Flint?! How the heck does that get there? I thought this was 2009, not 10,000 BC. Or maybe the flint has something to do with the recent road gritting that's been going on due to freezing temperatures. I doubt it somehow although it would never surprise me if the Local Authority turned round one day said they had gritted the roads with a nice sharp stone that can easily cut through tyres.

It is now a case of new tyres for old, and I have replaced them with Bontrager Race Lites. Now for the geeky bit:

The Race Lite Hardcase offers armor-clad flat protection without sacrificing high-end road feel.

Dramatically reduce the risk of flatting with the triple flat protection of Race Lite Hardcase tires: the bead-to-bead woven construction reduces sidewall cuts; anti-pinch ribs eliminate pinch flats; and a Kevlar belt provides outstanding puncture resistance.

And the Hardcase's high-speed tread compound provides optimal traction and low rolling resistance no matter what the weather, so this tyre is equally at home training and racing.
Dramatically reduce the risk of flatting with the triple puncture protection of Bontrager’s Hardcase technology


So now if I get mugged all I need to do is simply shout "Stab the tyres, stab the tyres" and can then laugh and ride off into the sunset as they have a Kevlar belt. But will they stop the flint and punctures? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

And yes, saddest of all, here's a picture of them!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Update from cycling forum:

Flint is a specific form of chert found in chalk apparently. Part of the quartz family. It is very brittle, so particularly with the recent frosts some will have been cracked and the small shards are incredibly hard and sharp.

And it seems as though it has nothing to do with grtiitng roads as “there is a lot of flint in East Anglia/ Essex (the old churches are all flint covered), and with the heavy rain after the snow, it's washed out of the fields onto the roads.

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