Continental Gator Skin

700c x 25 @ 3K each from Stay Tuned

Having decided to keep the Merida Scultura 200 for good as a weekend rider for fast ego boost rides, I decided to invest in a pair of good tyres. I know what a pair of good tyres, properly filled, can do to biking comfort. This I learnt after installing the Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus on my Surly LHT. They improved the ride quality by several notches. 

Today I brought home two Continental Gator Skins from Ritabrata for the Merida. These are reputed to be very good and puncture protection is quite fabled. They are not so fast but puncture protection and long life are two important factors. I am glad that they are now available in Calcutta. Unlike the Schwalbe these were properly packed and are relatively new. The Schwalbes never came in such original packaging. I think the packaging was thrown away to hide the old import date. But that's a different story.

The Continental tyres are folding, as you can see from the image to the left. Made in Germany. Size 700cx25. They have other non-folding rigid variety also as well as ones with wire beads. I am not sure if they are available here in India. My previous Maxxis tyres that came OE with the bike are 23. These new ones cost me, post discount, 3K each. I am yet to install them. I intend to ride this bike on the weekends for fast rides. So I can wait till the next weekend. I am in two minds whether to put them in with the spare Schwalbe tubes I have. Keeping tubes packed for too long might not be good for them. 

I plan to go for at least one brevet event and use this cycle if I find the comfort of the tyres to be good on the highway. Doing the brevets with the LHT might be a tall ask for me. After last Sunday's low pressure ride to Salt Lake I am not too sure how safe it will be for me to attempt those ten hour events. Right now there is no question of going anywhere. Everything has come to a crushing halt. 

I will make few more posts. After the installation - detailing the problems, if any and other observations. After the first ride - because comfort is a very relative thing and we forget or tend to take it for granted after a few rides. And the last one - after about 1000 km, whenever that comes.

July 29, 2020 - The installation (Velo 9 reads 775 Km)

Today being a complete lock-down day I installed the two Gatorskins on the Red Roadie. As usual installing a new tyre being difficult, this was also a little difficult. Folding tyres have this habit of losing their shape a bit. This was no exception. There were a few places which were out of true and the tyres were deshaped. But once the tube was properly inflated those crease marks went away. 

There was a paper stuck with the tyre under the plastic band with which it is tied. That paper has all the legal warnings etc in almost all European languages. Basically a useless piece of legal document. The place where the paper was in contact with the tyre had gone a little off colour. Possibly some mild acid or some chemical from the paper had leached. 

Anyway, with some effort the tyres were both installed. On the front wheel I put the new Schwalbe tube I had sitting in my saddle bag for long (it really has a very long presta valve because at the time I bought it that was the only thing they had at the Giant store on Bentinck Street). The older tube came OE with the bike. It has a patch repair done by me under the tube. I rolled it up and intend to keep it as my spare tube in the saddle bag for the city rides. If I ever go out of town on a brevet I will perhaps carry a new extra tube. 

The rear tyre had a Maxxis tube earlier changed by me. I have kept it. I had planned to buy a new Continental tube from Ritabrata last night but that didn't happen. Neither did he pick up the phone nor did he answer my message. I can take that later. This will do for now. 

I cannot ride the bike with the new tyres tonight due to the lock down. Will ride it tomorrow and report it. 

Tonight I also changed the two pedals. I had the smaller pedals on it that Happy Earth gave me with the Surly. I removed them and installed the ones I had bought from Firefox store when the Merida came. I think it's a Wellgo. Incidentally I also did two small videos showing how to install and take off the pedal. I will put it up on youtube once and for all so that I don't forget.  

I will also change the saddle and install the Probiker one. Later gator :-)

The Gatorskins had a tough feeling to the touch. It's not the rubbery feeling at all, like you would expect in a tyre. It's more plastic than rubber. The tread pattern is very distinctive. Like some tribal art or motiff. 

July 30, 2020 In Which Direction?

While installing I ensured that the first letter G was to the left so that the tire rolls in a logical way while going forward. I did not think these were directional tyres. But now I find it is mentioned on a forum that they indeed have a directional arrow (though many believe it is just a marketing gimmick). Will have to go back home and check it out for myself. If the arrow is in the opposite direction I have to take them off and change the direction.

Later The Same Night

Yes indeed they have a directional arrow. It was a real challenge to find it out. A very very subtle arrow on just one side of the wall (unless I missed the other side). I had to find it out with a flashlight. And of course I had installed them the wrong way. Didn't get it right even by mistake. So I had to change them.  No matter who says what, if the company says it should be installed in a certain way, I would instal it in that way only. 

For the front tire I just reversed the skewer and turned the wheel over. So that did not require the tyre to be taken off and reinstalled. The rear one cannot be given the same treatment. Had to take it off the rim and reinstall the tyre. This second time was much smoother than the maiden attempt. It got installed pretty easily. Funnily Gatrorskin still reads the same way :-) I didn't notice that they wrote the name in two directions. So no matter how you install it the name would read left to right.

There is a very subtle difference in the tread, depending on the correct and incorrect direction. There are two triangles. One large and the other small on the sides. Now that the installation is done correctly the smaller triangle is ahead of the larger one. Big deal? I have no idea. But Continental's design team doesn't think the direction is important enough. No one would notice the arrow and the tread is not as obvious as the Schwalbe Marathon, for example. 

Tonight I also installed the Probiker saddle. 

July 31, 2020 - The First Ride

 

Tonight I went for a short spin around Peep Inn and Menoka. Just a little over 2 Km. It was a lovely feeling. In terms of comfort over bumps and potholes it is not a patch on the Surly or the Schwalbes but as against my Maxxis Detonator they are a marked improvement. Tomorrow I intend taking it out in the morning. Will write a longer post about the impression after that.

I am measuring this bike on the Velo 9. I also intend to measure the tyres on Connect. Added it as a gear. I intend to keep the Garmin 130 exclusively for the LHT. 

Comments After 1373 Km - January 15, 2021

It's been quite some time since I wrote the above. The tyres have been since used more than I had initially expected to. These days, with Monisha going to work almost every day of the week, I am not getting a chance to use the LHT so much (I used to commute to work with it earlier during her WFH phase). So I ride the Red Roadie in the evenings - about 35 km each night from 8.30 to 10.30 pm almost every night of the working week. That's how the mileage shot up relatively quicker than anticipated for me. 

Another major reason for this higher than expected mileage is the tyre itself. They are so much more comfortable than my 23 mm Maxxis tyres and much faster than my Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour that I feel more partial towards the Red Roadie now. My average speed now comes to around 20 kmph. This I think is fairly decent given potholes and assholes on the roads of Calcutta, not to speak of the massive traffic on most roads. On the Schwalbes my average is 15 kmph.

To make the bike more comfortable I recently fitted it with my Brooks saddle from the LHT. Now a good thing has just become even better :-)

I do not know how good this tyre is on wet roads. I have seen many reviewers talk about poor grip on wet surfaces. But I don't normally ride in wet weather. So that's not a major concern for me. I had one fall when the tyre skidded on a plastic road divider and another time I almost skidded on a tram line in front of Triangular Park because I didn't realise there was a small groove just on the side of the track. These are not the tyre's fault. These are my fault. I should not have tried to cross any of these from the side keeping the wheel parallel to the object I was trying to cross.  

Touch wood there has not been any incident of puncture on the road so far. I have in fact stopped carrying my pump on these city rides. The pump in any case is useless for high pressure tubes. I think there is a Presta/Schrader adapter somewhere in the saddle bag. I can perhaps get it filled at any tyre inflation point. But I will check tonight how the pump behaves if the tube didn't have any air in it. If it can take me to 40 I am good for a slow careful ride home. But can I really change the tube in the night, sitting by the road side? I don't want to think about all these really and banish these thoughts from my head.

A very important thing in the world of tyres in India has happened. The Modi government has banned the import of tyres from abroad. This now means that in India you can now only buy Ralson tyres for your cycles. There might be other local brands. I am not aware of them. I am lucky that I have German tyres on both my bikes. But this pair of Gatorskins might require replacement later this year if my current rate of biking is sustained over the next few months (today in mid January I have already done a good 400 kms and the tyre is already close to 1.5K).

I intend to request one of my nephews or nieces to bring me the folding tyres. Let me see who comes next. Bringing the tyres for personal use is not illegal. One never knows. The policy might be changed also. Technically it is not a ban. They have made a licensing provision. If you want to import you have to apply for permission. Reality is that these licenses are not being issued and nothing is available in the market legally. EU has apparently sought clarification. But it may not yield anything much because India's tyre imports are mostly from China and Korea so EU is not really affected. 

I spoke to Minku, one of the largest tyre traders of Calcutta. But only car and motorcycle tyres. He said companies like Michelin and Pirelli who did not have any manufacturing base here in India are affected. Their tyres are not available in the market. No wonder EU enquired about the ban. 

Michelin's India website has a big notice on the home page that they are facing supply shortages due to the import restrictions. I wonder what their sales staff are doing.  

German cycling tyres have very few takers in India. I am one of those :-( 

Scwhalbe Marathon Plus Tour

Yesterday the two Schwalbe tyres arrived in office and I installed them right away last night itself, replacing the stock Continental tyres. My odo on the Catseye Velo reads 653 km. Let me see how long they last. 

I was very disappointed with the packaging by BOTS (though technically it was packed and couriered by Ozone Ventures of Pune but BOTS is responsible). The tyres were packed in a figure of eight with plastic strips and cello tape. No cardboard box was used. I was shocked to find the wire beading had lost its shape in one place. Tried to adjust it a bit by hand by pressing it. Didn't improve things much. I installed it on the front wheel. I spoke to Rana about this and he said that's fine. Once you instal it doesn't really matter. I hope he is correct.

The new tyre sat on the rim rather easily without much trouble. However, due to my carelessness I had pinched the tube and it burst when I pumped it up to 50 psi. 

When I took the wheel off to change the tube (I had a spare Schwalbe tube in my saddle bag) I noticed a little bit of thread had come off the edge of the tyre. The wire is not exposed but it might get exposed if it is rubbed more. Malcom thinks it is because of the tube burst but at the same time he thinks it must be an old tyre that was perhaps sitting in storage for a long time. Otherwise a tube burst shouldn't normally injure the edge of the tyre.

Anyway, I ignored it and installed it once again. The folded bead part does not show any more. I am just hoping that nothing happens to the tyre during my trip. 

The rear tyre got installed without much fuss.

This morning I had meant to go out to test ride the tyres but couldn't wake up on time. Went out in the evening for a short spin around Peep Inn - Menoka and Southern Avenue. About five kilometers. The tyres are rolling rather well. Perhaps because they are new. I also reduced the seat height just by a centimeter or so. It feels much better now. 

The treads look really nice. I hope they serve me well. 

But frankly if I was buying these tyres off a brick and mortar store I wouldn't buy them. One of the tyres even had mud marks on the side wall. I don't think they are used tyres. They are just old and took a very long time to be sold.

Accessories and component retailing in India is just about taking off. It is yet to mature. Expensive and famous brands are now available in India but they don't sell fast and hence gather dust in warehouses of distributors. My new Surly was four years old. The SKS mudguards were also obviously very old. 

Also these retailers try to spend the least on packaging the larger items that they sell. This is very unfortunate.

27th March 2019
This morning I went for a 10 km ride. My usual course. Peep Inn, Menoka, Gol Park, Guru Saday, La Marts, Exide, Hazra, Rashbehari, Home. The bike rolled like a dream. It's smooth as silk. Is it because of the new tyres? Don't know. They are supposed to be heavy and slow. At least that's what all reviewers say across the touring world. I loved them though and didn't feel either the weight or the slowness. The weather also perhaps plays a role. A very pleasant morning it was. At 1.75 the width of course is more.




I am beginning to wonder if the wheel needs just a bit of truing. I am checking out truing techniques. Not sure I want to try it out before the trip.

March 29, 2019

Looking at the burst front tube which came as OE from the company I realised it's size 1.25 to 1.5. Therefore it is not adequate for my new 1.75 tyres. Have to replace it right away. I will go for a ride tomorrow but now I am a bit scared. What happens if you put a tube that is one size narrower? I don't know. But this OE tube is definitely narrow, compared to the Schwalbe tubes bought from Giant store.

Waking Up An Old Soldier

Today's project was - revive an old soldier, a foot soldier to be precise. They go to sleep but they never die. This is the cycle on which I learnt to balance and ride about forty five or six years ago when I was about eight years old. Half pedal only though. I couldn't sit astride the saddle back then. I could hardly reach both the ends of the handle and instead would hold the saddle with my right hand. I cannot remember the countless miles of sheer joy this bike gave me when I would go to Shantiniketan. My uncle Popul who owned it rode it till he was past 80 and I think this bike is one of the reasons why he hardly ever had any disease. 

I had stopped Mezda from scrapping it and took it from him a few years ago when they closed down their establishment in Shantiniketan and sold off most of the stuff and brought back some unsellable things over. This was one of them. 

It was lying idle at home in Metro Park. Yesterday (a Saturday that was a holiday) when Kushuda brought our washing machine from home on a mini truck, I had requested him to bring the cycle over also, which he did. 

The adapter

My first priority (after dusting it, particularly the seat and handle grips) was to pump up the two wheels. I had to push it to the tyre repair shop to blow in some air. I had thought that these old style valves (they call it Woods or Dunlop valves) work like Schrader valves because all tyre repair shops use the same nozzle to fill these in as they do with cars. But I soon realised that it doesn't work like that. At least my 12 volt car tyre inflator didn't fit on it. I later learnt that you use the Presta to Schrader adapter on it and then you can use those 12 volt car tyre inflators. So these have the same thread as the Presta. It didn't strike me why the Presta nozzle of my pump wouldn't work. Will check that out later. (Later addition: I checked out. These Dunlop valves work perfectly with the pump in Presta filling mode). 

Anyway, I pushed the bike to the tyre repair shop next to Mudiali Meat Shop. They inflated the front wheel fine but said the rear tube is punctured. No air was going in. Again I pushed it back home. I thought I would take the wheel off and take it to a cycle repair shop to see what was wrong. I had no clue how it is done. I have never even seen any mechanic take these wheels off.

Someswar, my dial-in advisor for bike repair (he is a fantastic, properly trained and educated mechanic but lives quite far) told me how to take the wheel off. But he gave only half the advice. He said take the brake pads off and then take out the nuts on either end of the rear axle. The brake pads came off fine but taking the axle nuts off seemed like a near impossibility. The drive side nut was not as obstinate as the non-drive side one. This side had the added problem of the kick stand which was limiting the range of motion for the spanner to work. 

Anyway, I put in a lot of WD 40 on both the nuts and closed the project down for the day. I shall revisit the project another day.

The thin tube for valves

Later during the day I had a brainwave. Why was air not going in at all? I thought may be the valve-tube was damaged. Unscrewed it from the valve and checked it. I had sort of melted. I had some spare thin tube in my IceToolz repair kit. I used it to change the valve tube (our local mechanics use this term. I have no clue if it is correct.) I used the Presta to Schrader adapter and used the car tyre inflator. Nothing doing. Nothing went in.

I thought now that I have a way to inflate the tube at home let me try to repair it without removing the wheel. Prying the tyre out with a plastic tyre lever near the valve I realised the tube had almost melted. It was pointless trying to repair it. The tube has to be changed.

I tested the rear axle lock nuts. Today they had softened up it seemed and turned relatively easily. I was quietly ecstatic. Today is the day to learn this intimidating subject of taking the rear wheel off an old soldier.

I called Someswar up again. Hell bent on taking the tyre off. There is no youtube videos showing how to take off the rear wheel of an old style fixie with a mudguard and carrier rack. Someswar told me the rest of the story to really take off the wheel. I think yesterday he didn't take it too seriously and had given me a very superficial advice.

What I did is as follows. Step by step.

1. Turned the bike upside down.

Two chain tensioners and a bit of kickstand

2. Took off the two brake pads using spanner size
3. Took the lock nuts off from either side of the axle using spanner size 15
4. Took the kick-stand off, removed the stays for the mudguard and the carrier rack. The entire mudguard or carrier do not need to be taken off. They keep hanging from the bolts that attach them to the frame.
5. Take the chain tensioners off using spanner size (see pic)
6. Just pull the damn wheel out
7. Take photographs for viewing later and for showing off to friends who walk home after a puncture on the road
8. Forgot to mention - one has to take the chain off the free wheel at some point of time. In my case I didn't have to do anything as it was already off the gear.

Broken Park Tool tyre lever

Now, I tried to take off the old tyre - off the rim. Idea was to take it to a cycle repair shop and buy replacement tube and tyre (the tyre also looks brittle now) as per the size. I didn't realise how hard it is to take the tyre off from these old style bicycles. The beads are really deep. In the process I broke one of my Park Tools tyre levers :-( . The plastic tyre levers are fine for road bikes. For mountain bikes and these sort of older bikes one would need metallic levers. I have to order for them.

As of now the wheel is waiting to be taken to a shop and replaced. I shall put it in the boot of the car and see who can help. I would love to go to this store near Biplav's house in Golf Gardens. The guy is a gentleman there. I once asked for an old tube to cover my locking chain. He gave me one and refused to take any money for it.

Let me see how the reassembly goes. I am feeling a little intimidated. Far too many parts were taken off. They have to be reassembled one by one. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Like a beetle turned over

Sunday Night

I went to the cycle shop in Golf Gardens with the wheel. The shop owner was quietly impressed that I had taken the wheel off all by myself. He said he had the tyre and tube but it was behind a lot of stuff. It would be nice if I could come tomorrow. I didn't leave the wheel there because a. I would love to do the replacement myself. b. I want to come tomorrow on my motorcycle and taking the wheel back on my motorbike would be difficult. It will cost me Rs 310 (Rs 220 for tyre and 90 for tube). 

I also ordered for two steel tyre levers on Amazon for Rs 270 plus Rs 80 for delivery. Let me see when they arrive. I am not in any particular hurry. These can be used for my MTB Hero as well.

Sunday Afternoon (22nd July 2018)

Much as I would have loved to get the tyre and tube from the shop in Golf Gardens, ultimately I couldn't. I had called the shop up on Monday and they said the owner wasn't around and he is never around after 6.30 or so in the evening. I went to the shop on Saturday evening - at around 6.30 pm. He wasn't there. His old mother was at the cash counter. The assistants at the shop didn't seem too interested to understand what exactly I needed. And they started asking irrelevant questions. This is a hall mark of illiterates who know a little bit of something. I have dealt with many of them in the past.

The new tyre

The Tube

I muttered a quiet "fuck you" and came home. This shop is quite a distance from my house and I have no reason to go there except from a sense of gratitude. But beyond a point I cannot keep visiting it in search of an ordinary tyre and tube, especially when I have so many cycle shops closer to home. I also have a feeling that the owner probably goes for a drink every evening. Otherwise, it is not believable that he goes to the market every evening for buying supplies for the store. That's what the boys were trying to make me believe. The cycle market in Calcutta is in Bentinck Street and no one in his sane mind goes there in the evenings, leaving a busy shop. Anyway, enough is enough. I closed the chapter.

This afternoon I bought the tube and tyre from the shop in Kalighat called Bipul Cycle Stores.  Before that I had called up Someswar and he told me to check the tyre wall for the size. If it's too large then it's possibly 28x1.5. That was what was written, I found on the old tyre (on the tyre wall it's actually written one and a half and not 1.5. I believe when it comes to tyres there is a difference between the two though mathematically both are same). . So there was no more confusion and no need to take the old one to the shop.

Together they cost me Rs 355 at Bipul. The tyre is some brand called Varosa and the tube is Fargo. Obviously these are more expensive than quoted by Golf Gardens store (I think the shop name is Lokenath). They folded the tyre in a figure of 8 and it was quite handy for Mampu to hold it while sitting pillion on my motorbike. We came home. I have told them that if I cannot fit it to the rim I will come back with the rim and get it fitted by them. They assured me that they would stand by me :-) Now I am waiting for the steel tyre levers. Hopefully by next week they should be with me.

28 by one and a half - that's the size

Monday 23rd July, 2018

I finished a Herculean task this evening. Took the old tyre and tube off the rim. Put the new tyre and tube on. And then pumped it up. Believe it or not, it was a huge task and had to learn something new at every step of this process.

First taking the tyre off. Actually this I found was the most difficult part. I guess because it's an old tyre. Success came after I did two things. A. I loosened up the tyre sitting on the tube by pressing it all around and moving it a bit. B. I held the lever close to each other. Like 5/6 inches apart only. Even after half the tyre came out of the wheel and was hanging out of the rim it took me some time to actually take it off the rim.

Next was putting the tyre back on. I had thought this would be a lot more tough. In the end I managed to put it on. It took a lot of back  and forth pushing but I succeeded in getting the entire tire to sit on the rim properly. I had used some talcum on the new tube before putting it on. I inserted the tube in the tyre and then put the tyre on.

Next step was pumping the tyre up. This turned out to be the most challenging part. Air was just not going in. I would pump in and could hear the hiss of the air flowing back out.  I was quite at my wits end and was about to opt for "dial a mechanic" - my all time dependable Someswar Rao. I was using my good old Fire Fox floor standing pump in Schrader mode and added the Presta/Schrader adapter. It would just not work. Tried several different things including replacing the inner core with the old inner core of the old valve.

Dunlop Valve

Promptly returned with full refund

Finally a simple solution did the trick. If you look carefully at the
photograph of the valve (to the left) there is a small nut at the base of the valve. This sits on the rim. I tightened it against the rim with a spanner. Before that I was keeping it a bit loose, thinking I might need to take it out some time in future and it might get jammed. Turns out, this has to be really tight against the rim. Look at the raised edges of the base of the valve. That creates a space between the valve base and the rim. If you don't tighten the screw the pressure in the tube pushes the air out through the valve. These are very very old systems and have probably survived only in the Third World.

Earlier in the day, the tyre levers had arrived but much to my disappointment I found they were totally different from what was promised. Just a pair of cheap rusty screwdrivers. I did the job with them but am definitely going to return them. Learnt a lesson. Never buy anything that is not Amazon fulfilled.

Wednesday 25th July, 2018

Chain Tensioners

Although I didn't write about it, I fitted the tyre back to the bicycle on Monday night itself. However, I didn't quite like the fit. The chain is a bit lose. I should have pulled the wheel back a bit and adjusted the chain tensioner. That part of the bike is so old and jammed that the screw had to be tightened and loosened using a spanner. Somehow managed to put everything back on but as I said it didn't quite fit properly.

On Tuesday, I went to Bipul Cycles and bought a pair of chain tensioners. It cost me a royal sum of Rs 30 for the pair. On Amazon there is some joker who sells it for Rs 180 plus Rs 60 for courier. The guy at the shop told me an interesting thing. Keep the bulging side on the outside. The ring kind of thing that sits on top of the screw is not welded to the middle of the screw. It is on one side of the screw. That side should be on the interior part of the bike. The side that is bulging out should be on the exterior part. I don't know if this is clear to someone who has not seen the tensioner closely. Incidentally, in the shop I didn't ask them to give me a pair of chain tensioners. I was more than certain that they had some local name for it. So I showed it to them fitted on a cycle. They said it's called a "chain chabi". Chabi means key. Some call it chain adjuster also, he said.