Bike Friday Tires...

I'm hoping that a few of the other Bike Friday owners will be able to chime in here -

We have been riding Schwalbe Stelvio tires on our Crusoe's and we seem to get getting much worse than normal wear out of them. DH has been through 4 tires in 2000 miles (he weighs 150ish, so he's not a heavyweight by any means). They keep slicing open. Our roads aren't that bad, as we're not having similar problems on any other bikes (including some with 23's).

Does anyone know of a 406 1 1/8 inch tire that holds up better? I saw a couple of other options on the BF website, but thought I'd see if you have any ideas (and I'll call Bike Friday during the week too).

Thanks!

CA

As former bike friday owners (stolen :(), we had the best luck with the primo comet kevlar tires. They come in multiple widths. The skinny ones are great for everyday use, while the wider ones worked great for touring on packed dirt.

I just replaced our fave customers tandem BF tires with the Primo comet kevlars as well. They seem to have a stiffer compound. And thats good. The weight on the back of that tandem tire seems to makes flatting easy- changing it on the other hand.....:rolleyes:

Good to know. I've had no problems with my Stelvios, but they are not 406s, they are the other ones (I think--my bike is a BF PRP). I'm jotting down the Primo Comet kevlars for future reference.

EDIT: mine are Schwalbe Stelvio 451 x 20. No problems.

We use Schwalbe Marathon Slicks on our Crusoes. I think they're 1.35", and they have held up very, very well indeed. I think we've only had 2 flats between us since buying our Fridays in 2004.

Good luck!

Emily

The primo comets kevlars are also bomb proof, not sure we ever got a flat with them, yet they roll real nice and inflate to relatively high pressures.

Schwalbe Marathon Slicks- I have them on my Dahon.

I've got Schwalbe Stelvios on my Dahon, too -- although they're pretty low mileage since I just got them in May. Out of curiosity, where are your Stelvios shredding? The part where the tire touches the road, or where the different compounds meet (my tires are two colors, and I think it's because the material is slightly different in those parts of the tires)? Are they just particularly vulnerable to road debris, or is there something about the construction that isn't holding up? Just want to know what I can expect in terms of wear and tear.

I hear good things about the Schwalbe Marathon line -- a slightly wider tire than the Stelvio, but maybe a good idea when PNW's rainy season comes around.