9/20/14 4:51 PM

Could have been lots worse.

Toward the end of a ride today, maybe 6 miles from home bang, rear tire blows. I think the tire must have come off the rim, but that seems weird as I haven't changed the tire recently. In fact, it didn't come off the rim, but the sidewall separated (delaminated?) just above the rim, the tube pushed it out into a bubble and blew. Tire a fancy Challenge Strada, not that many miles, no damage I can recall. Tried a couple things but couldn't fix or boot it, tire is shot, didn't bring my cell (not a long ride, and not sure who I'd call anyway). So I start walking, and of course I have my road shoes which don't walk very well. Figure I can get home in around two hours or so at worst.

Fortunately a guy in a van stops, is more or less going my way anyway, and gives me a ride home. Thanks Eric.

But the really good thing is that I probably wouldn't have ridden the bike again until next weekend, when I have 2 rides for cancer support organizations, 60 miles Sat, 100 Sunday. Much better the tire blows now than then.

I looked around the net for Stradas, seems like most vendors have discontinued them. Hmmm. Fortunately I have some good Gran Bois Cerf 26s, I think those go on (NOT riding the Sachs with a Blackwall on front and tan on rear :).

So from a glass half full perspective, this is OK.

Last edited by dan emery on 9/20/14 5:18 PM; edited 1 time in total

9/20/14 5:18 PM

You're not alone. Check post #6.

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f2/challenge-tires-38052.html

Plus a bunch of other (anecdotal, yes) evidence that Challenge clinchers may not be all that great. From post 31: "Challenge tires; always a Challenge."

9/20/14 6:47 PM

Glad no skin spent. Been happy with Pave vitts I got when the used challanges I looked at had a casing cut in a puncture Hole.

9/21/14 4:57 AM

I ALWAYS do a shakedown cruise or two on my setup before long important rides. You see why.

9/21/14 6:10 AM

Sorry to read that. I ditched my challenge tires years ago. This was when they started first selling in the USA. No products reviews to go by, I took a chance. While the ride was silky smooth, I experienced too many puncture flats for my liking. I recall the black center and the red sidewalks being uneven. It reminded me of some some Vitoria tires I had many years back, with the same cosmetic issue. It would look like a wobbly wheel when moving slowly. For the Victorias I experienced the same problem you did. Perhaps that visual "defect" is an indicator of quality.

9/22/14 6:58 AM

Glad it happened this weekend vs in the middle of your ride next weekend. I will one up you. At the Sucker Brook cross race yesterday. (This is from last years race):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv1lKnxMmY8

Was riding pretty well until I double flatted with 2 to go about as far away from the pits you can be (section after the barriers in video) and had to run almost the entire lap back to the pits for a wheel change (so I think I got my entire season's quota of running in this one race LOL) Needless to say my race at that point was ovah.....finished almost dfl....

9/22/14 9:30 AM

Early in the year I broke a spoke rear Dura-Ace low spoke Scandium yada yada wheel. 8 miles from the house at the bottom of 550' in Elevation hill. When I hit the brakes at a stop at the bottom, ping!

Had to carry the bike as it was rubbing the seat stay carbon and I did not want to wear the finish off. 30 seconds later a guy in a SUV stopped asked if I was alright.

He drove me home out of his way. 30 seconds.. I was home a putting on some 32x spoke wheels in 10 minutes and back out on the road. Nice fellow, great luck, last boutique wheel ride for me. Have replenished a few sets of 32x wheels and built a new set, all J bend and 32x rears. Another story...

Doing a very long day today, bringing an extra clincher folding with.. ;)

9/22/14 9:49 AM

I know a guy who always takes an extra tire and I'd sort of laughed at that, maybe now not so much...:)

Only thing like that I've had before was when I first started riding clinchers I had one wear through on the road so the tube blew. I had always ridden sewups, and never had a tire last that long....

I got the new rubber on and looking at the Challenge, the sidewall layers just separated on the outside at the seam with the bead, and on the inside at the seam with the tread. Just a bad tire I think.

And Erik, yes I will certainly do a shakedown ride with the new rubber. The other tires I'd been riding all summer (though only once or twice per week) and nothing had changed, so it is just luck it went now rather than later.

Although the Sunday ride (Dempsey Challenge) is so well organized that a sag would probably be there in 10 minutes with a new tire (ha ha if not a wheel).

9/22/14 3:48 PM

Got a thumb-tac in my rear Pave today. Good thing I was on a group ride, my pump folded a few strokes into doing it's job.

It leaked down slow, so I managed riding 5 miles to the coffee shop where there where lots of pumps. ;)

9/22/14 5:51 PM

I've read lots of bad reports on Challenge tires. Superb ride quality but poor quality control. Lots of people complain that they can't get them mounted.

9/22/14 6:32 PM

quote:

---

"my pump folded a few strokes into doing it's job."

---

9/22/14 6:41 PM

One of the problems with all these shaped tubes on plastic bikes is getting a pump to easily pop on.

9/22/14 6:50 PM

This is a funny one (and it's not on the pump).

Years ago I went to CA to ride the Death Ride in the Sierras. On the first descent (about 8 miles at about 8%) I get a front flat. I keep the rubber side down and get to the roadside without taking anyone down (a very crowded descent with slower people in front of you and faster people behind). I pull out the spare tube and mini pump (left CO2 at home due to flying issues and I don't get many flats anyway). Then I realize the valve on my spare tube is not...quite...long enough for the rim.

I pump and pump and can't get any air in. I'm thinking "great, I fly across the country and can't do the ride because I can't get air in the freaking tire." Just before I'm about to give up I go all Hans and Franz and pump 10 strokes absolutely as hard as I can. Finally it seals and and air goes in, and I go on to have a great ride.

Of course someone would have stopped (one guy offered) but in the middle of a descent was not the best place, and even then they would have had to have a compatible tube. Note to self: make sure the spare tube actually works with the rim.

9/22/14 7:11 PM

I just had to order a half dozen 60mm tubes myself. I carry a long stem always now.

9/23/14 7:11 AM

The Lezyne mini-pumps with their separate hose and thread on Presta connection are probably the best at handling marginally short valve stems. They thread/push on just over the threads for the valve cap and don't have to go very far up the valve stem to seal.

The Hirame ($$$) Presta valve head does the same thing on floor pumps, it handles marginally short stems very well.

I've run into the same problem Dan describes trying to use a "standard" length Presta valve in modestly deep rims like Mavic CXP-33's where the extension was not quite enough for a slip on valve head to grasp it before the tube was inflated. The Hirame and Lezyne both work for these.