I haven’t heard the podcast, but I know that graphene as a component of rubber in tire compounds can reduce the rolling resistance. It has a number of other benefits as well. Thing is, that’s all theoretical, however and other tire manufacturers have had better look with carbon black.
To my knowledge, the only top tier tires that use graphene are Vittoria and may be Good Year as well. The Corsa Speed G+ is very fast, but it’s also neck and neck with the GP5k for which the special ingredient is soot.
Wow, just installed inserts in 27.5+ tires. Dealing with 2.6" tires and the inserts are sized for 2.6-3.0. I may have broken a tire (wobble in tread near valve stem) and I got Stan’s in my eye. Lots of firsts!
I’d love on advice on whether my wobble is a borked tire or something that I can fix (insert itself a bit wobbly and will settle in? bead sitting weird even though it doesn’t look like it?)
Took lots of prying to even get this much space to put sealant into the old rear tire:
I’d say about 20% of the Teravail tires we see have a wobble. So it might have come that way.
Hindsight is 20-20, but for future cush core installs, here’s the official Outpost CYA method.
Install the tire on the rim and inflate dry to check for wobbles and let it stretch for a few minutes. If it has a wobble it takes about 99% less effort to bail at this point and process a return or warranty.
Stretch the cush core on a rim.
Install the insert and tire on the desired rim following the Cush Core method and check for wobbles again.
One minor modification of the Cush Core removal method that I found worked well: Instead of a trash can, I braced the bike wheel on a car wheel/tire (snow tires sitting in the garage). I didn’t have a round trash can and the car tire is heavier and more stable than a trash can. I could kneel on the near side while wrestling the tire bead on the other side.
how have they not made a cushcore out of that same weird spongy substance those little toy men were made out of when we were kids…the ones that you soak in water and it expands to 30x the size?
they should make a cushcore that’s like a piece of string and it’s activated by sealant which permeates the cushcore and then turns it into a big cushcore
The Teravail is perfect and took me no time. The brand new Continental Kryptotal is a total pain in the ass. I gave up on popping the bead to take the insert out and see if the tire is effed. Will let it stretch for a day or two before I try again. This is a bad bad combo. of rim, tire width and insert width.
Thanks for the tip. I’ve never had a wobbly tire before, that I know of. Who knows, maybe it is defective…
I’ve had wobbly tires from Conti and Maxxis. I just sent them back. A shame you had to go thru all that but you can’t tell until they are mounted eh : (
Still haven’t gotten the tire off, though I got this today. Couldn’t resist a bit of a struggle and while it didn’t pop off, I think that I made progress.
What finally worked was flipping the wheel over and trying the other side. I guess something about working one side freed up the other because it popped off as it should. I also think that side might have less of a valley created by tape.
