Re: Re:
Justonemorebike":17wt364v said:
Took it out in the snow this morning worked really well better than my modern bike. Must get some proper tyres for it.
I use Schwalbe tyres fitted with their 'snakeskin' side-wall reinforcement. Their standard sidewalls can't take the strain of the tyres being run at low pressures and will eventually rip.
If using inner-tubes, in order to run the tyres at very low pressures you need wide inner tubes whos surface does not need to stretch before it touches the inside of the tyre. There are two reasons for this:
1/ so that all of the air pressure in the tube supports the sidewall (narrow tubes might require 20psi before the tube even touches the tyre)
2/ a thorn entering a tube that is not stretched is less likely to let out air than one that enters a stretched tube (this uses the same principle as attaching Sellotape onto the surface of a balloon then sticking a pin into the Sellotape will not burst the balloon or let the air escape.
Running tyres at very low pressures risks the tyre sliding on the rim causing tube valve damage or even ripping the valve from the tube. To prevent the tyre from slipping you need to use wide and thick rubber rim tape or build up the rim by winding electrical tape round and around until the tyre is a tight fit. This can of course make tyre fitting and removal difficult. Rims where the centre of the inner rim is a larger diameter than the outside are best as the tyre bead can be lossened by pushing it towards the centre of the rim.
Alternatively you can use tubeless rims and tyre combinations, but remounting them on the rim after a puncture repair using a standard bicycle pump is hard work.
I am impressed by how aestheticaly pleasing and modern this build looks. A Cleland/Highpath is effectively a fat-tyre Dutch roadster with the geometry componentry and structure modified to improve off-road performance. Making such a tall bike look in any way contemporary is not easy.