Life In The Saddle

We have all had that sinking feeling. Flat tyres are something you accept with bike riding, but there are several ways to prevent and reduce the chance of a puncture on a bicycle tyre. Whether you are running tubeless tyres or an inner tube there is still a risk of a puncture, and several ways to repair a flat. This blog post considers 7 Tips for preventing, fixing, and repairing a bicycle puncture on all kinds of wheel setups. Prevent Punctures – Tyre Choice The single most influential factor in preventing a bicycle puncture is your choice of tyre. Not all bicycle tyres are made equal. Most confusingly, even those with the same name are often not of an equal quality level. Some tyres feature inbuilt puncture protection belts made of Kevlar or a similar fibre—these help to avoid penetration of the tyre and puncturing of the inner tube. When looking at tyre reviews and choices, look out for those tyres with inbuilt puncture protection. It is worth noting that when you bu...

I have always been a bit of a tyre geek. Tread pattern, width, pressure and grip—they are all things that make a massive difference to the performance of a set of wheels and ultimately to the performance of your bike. At the Dirty Reiver 200km Gravel Race , the chat about tyres was abnormally strong: the challenging mix of terrain meant that there was a diverse mix of rubber on display. I admit that the chat (and some pre-race course riding) got to me, and I made a last minute switch from a set of Schwalbe G-One tyres  to these Panaracer Gravel King SK Tubeless Tyres. Damn, it was a good decision. Mounting The Panaracer Gravel King Tyres are available in a wide spectrum of widths , and a few different tread patterns. I tested the 38/40c Gravel King SK TLC version, mounted up on a set of  Campagnolo Zonda C17 Disc Wheels . The tyres mounted up easily using a Lezyne Digital Pressure Overdrive Pump  (it has a charger chamber, so acts like a compressor). I used Oran...