It's impossible to get more than 4,000km out of a tyre in rural NSW (hello, chip sealed roads). IMPOSSIBLE!
+1 (on the state of rural roads)
I can't say anything about Gatorskins - I don't ride one of those skinny little tyres but I was very disappointed in my set of Continental tyres and couldn't wait to be rid of them. I was packing $h1t every time I took the bike beyond walking distance in case I got a flat, and it was almost never a puncture, always a cut tube. the tyres were either oval or had a faulty bead or were manufactured with titanium wire bead from the NASA space programme because I could never (not ever, not once) get the tyre to re-seat road-side, couldn't get it to fit properly using a service station pump, tried talc on the tubes, tried liquid soap on the beads, tried everything- I only had a run of 4 weeks without drama after I had the LBS fit them for me
The roads out here have to be seen to be believed, the gravel is specially sorted to provide a layer of 200mm irregular octahedron each edge being laser-sharpened. The design theory for this road construction seems to be a reverse-MTB downhill tread (imagine a knobby mountain bike tyre where each knob is a large lump of gravel. I say 'reverse' because the knobs are sticking up from the road not down from the bike) so under heavy braking these 'bricks' provide extra traction. In practice, for a cyclist, they make for an uncomfortable ride and more wear and tear on the tyres.
Oh, and if I have to ride on the shoulder (our main roads are two-laners and there's a lot of coal travelling towards the coast and empty coal trucks coming back to get more) it seems that there is a council truck driving along the shoulders early every morning laying an even covering of broken glass, bolts, wheel-nuts, dead animals and wellington boots to test the mental acuity and reflexes of anyone forced over to the side of the road.
That's one reason why I'm training my ar$e off and trying to get up to an average ride speed of 22km/h
(another might be I'm a big fat slacker on a hybrid, but that's different music for a different kitchen)
Currently A Cenophobe
- but I'm sure something new will come along !!
EMC Etape r2.4, Mongoose Sabrosa Hybrid and a 1985 Gemini World Randonneur - decisions, decisions, decisions !