Slogging through the grit and grime (Comments: 1)

Even crazy year-round cyclists will admit it’s more pleasant to cruise through 60-degree afternoons under a gentle sun than to battle a blizzard, though the latter has its special pleasures. But the bikers of spring face an unpleasant reality: seemingly glacial deposits of debris: cinders, pebbles, broken glass, metal shards, and lots more – all the stuff that gets thrown to the curb or shoulder by passing motor vehicles, only to sit in the narrow piece of pavement “reserved” for bikes till some spring rainstorms – or in town, the streetsweepers – wipe the slate clean again.

So how do you navigate the debris and avoid flats? Well, steering around the heaps and windrows can sometimes work – but then you run into obvious safety problems. Especially in heavy traffic, you must keep to the very straight and narrow, which of course leads you straight into the mess.

I’ve found the best strategy is to equip your bike with the right tires. As wonderfully efficient as those teeny 23mm road tires may be, spring riding calls for heavy duty rubber. I can’t think of a better investment than a pair of high-end commuter tires – at least 32mm in width, with plenty of tread material and solid sidewalls. A few years back, my son, Ian, and I were riding in early spring (I recall piles of snow here and there) on the trails in the Toronto port lands. We were plodding along, only to be passed by a hot road bike. But passed only in a contingent sense: the roadie hit a patch of stones and glass ahead of us and, pffff!, experienced a blowout you could hear 200 feet away.

I’ve been using Specialized Armadillo and/or Infinity commuter tires on my 20-year-old Miyata touring bike, and what these tires lack in efficiency (and the lack is minimal), they more than make up for in durability. Schwalbe, Continental and other companies make good stuff, too. Some models have Kevlar belts and other high-tech means to counter punctures and cuts, but I believe that the basic thickness of the tread and sidewall are more crucial – the more distance a shard has to travel from the exterior to the inner tube, the greater the chance you won’t get a flat. In any case, tires like these ain’t cheap, but they can run flatless literally for years; in fact, they may wear out before you have a single puncture. Or rather: you’ll have many near-punctures that the hefty tires will prevent from turning into flats. Look at any commuter tire with more than a few miles on it and you’ll find many scars and other evidence of abuse and assault. I’ve actually pulled pieces of wire and glass out of my treads with needle-nose pliers, and I know that any one of these tiny hitchhikers would have defeated the typical road tire.

On my mountain bike I use basically the same tire, though fatter and more buoyant, all the better to ride out the potholes. Don’t underestimate what potholes can do to a tire or wheel, and don’t have too high an opinion of your ability to dodge the craters and canyons. Sometimes, in low light conditions or when they’re filled with rain water, potholes can be almost invisible. Other times you’re forced into them by the traffic flow at your left elbow. In any case, you need solid, ample tires and wheels (the traditionalist in me still goes for 36-spoke wheels with fairly wide rims, and I’m a bit skeptical of many new wheel designs that severely reduce the number of spokes – I mean, what price do you pay for saving a few grams?). Yes, you’ll have to work a little more to keep these wheels/tires turning – the dreaded duo, rotational force/inertia and rolling resistance. But how much energy would you eat up while changing a flat and cursing your fate?

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