ALL the center studs on the rear tire had pushed through to the inside of the tire and were causing flats. A couple on the front were starting to do the same.
You can see all the center studs now flush with the tire.
I had about 500 miles on them after three winters, at $70 plus bucks a tire, I thought this was a little short for them to wear out, especially in such a weird way. I emailed Schwalbe with the photos, they thought that I should submit a warranty claim, so I did a quick online form. They promptly emailed me that they considered the rear tire a warranty item and would be sending a replacement immediately.
Two days later I got a package with not one, but two new tires:
And a bonus christmas guardian angel ornament.
Pretty cool. That was some excellent prompt customer service. Thanks Schwalbe.
Now I have to overhaul the murderously grungy raleigh twenty and get it rolling again with fresh studded rubber.
6 comments:
sweet forks. Are those Kogswellian?
Thanks, no, those are some forks that Matt Budd (?) or some other frame builder had made in taiwan for a run of semiproduction folders maybe 7 or 8 years back. The project never happened so he blew em out on the frame builders list for $20 each. I wish I bought more. They have the longest threadless steer tube ever. This page has some pics before I put the canti bosses on:
http://www.tariksaleh.com/bike/twenty/twenty.html
I had margo from Luna cycles braze on some canti bosses. They are actually low rake forks, so high trail, so not only are they not from Kogswell they are not low trail either. The problem with the handling on stock raleigh twenties is the fork has insane rake so really low trail. I am playing with the one I got from you to see if it front loads OK. Signs point to the headset is crappy enough to prevent good handling regardless.
I remember seeing a picture of that crazy head-tubed Raliegh many years ago. The crown on that fork is the same (Long Shen?) crown that Matthew was using on his forks for a while. Alex ended up with a pile of those forks. I've got a couple. Good for playing around with trail/front-loading as you are doing with the mini.
Not surpised on the crapiness of the headset on the Raliegh I sent you-- is it a weirdo size?
Ah, cool. So you have a pile of the low trail 650B and 700c forks then?
The 20 headset is a normal size, but the fork does not really work in anything but the 20 headset. The headset also, usually, has plastic bushing instead of a bearing. I can't remember if I have pulled the fork off the one you gave me yet. I think I did last year and it had the bushing, but I am not sure...Some of them had standard headsets or at least sort of standard, but not many. The stock twenty headset is just plain old really crappy.
that is a cute little treat, I almost went for a refelctive pair when replacing the frenchie's tires, but I stuck with the continental gators. Tuff streets here in SF we have..
=) xxomeli
Meli,
I like the conti's but the sidewalls suffer the altitude here. Schwalbe does have some pretty bombproof tires as well, most with the reflecty sidewalls, although I find them to not last that long under normal commuting and my normal cleaning schedule (never).
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