afrowheels

I've noticed that you seem to have a particularly, er, different view to me about such matters. Please feel free not to reply to any of my posts 😁

afrowheels

Alternative view: posting the first link you come across to prove OP is wrong without actually checking the details looks like a rather shallow attempt at point scoring. Didn't realise that was the purpose of these forums...but if I get to the point of thinking the majority think otherwise I will definitely stop posting. Certainly a few too many such replies across multiple threads here that have me thinking that may well be the case. In which case I'll be happy to let those currently in their armchairs rather than on the road yank each others' chains all day long 😂 Ain't got time for that myself.

afrowheels

Thanks for eliminating that.

I hope to eventually put up a post re what I found in Bogota that would be useful for cycle tourists. I visited 3 Decathlon stores and they have a lot of useful stuff but I did not see touring-grade tyres.

Will try to check out the other site - looks promising at first glance. Agree re folding but those are even harder to get hold of.
Help would be great, which is why I followed up every link that was posted. Unfortunately 10-15min*7 links that don't help is...not helpful. Like I said, I appreciate the intention but yeah if you don't have time to check if something actually solves a problem don't post it as a solution!

I'm happy with any relatively puncture-proof/puncture-resistant touring tyre 26" and 1.75-2.1.Schwalbe preferred because of quality. So feel free to send or post the details ;P

Yeah, sure. If I have to try and work around 3 weeks I will do my best. But re my original point: I could get 700CCs delivered within a week.

'Currently unavailable'

phughes

Shows available for me.

afrowheels

I think that's partly a matter of different philosophies. I lost 4 hours to a double puncture that I had to (unsuccessfully) fix in 45C heat on a day when I had planned other important things to do. The 3-4 hours included walking 4km into a grimy town. Wasn't much fun. On my last tour I managed to get through without a single puncture and that was absolutely great. Of course I'll use a local tyre if I have to (checked out the one option available in a small town today) but I have not intention of touring any long distance on those because I know the consequences if they fail in the middle of a long day on bad road in bad conditions. I've done some fairly brutal days already here and adding 3-4 hours to one of those could spell potential trouble that I prefer to avoid. Others do indeed seem to take a different attitude. E.g. met a guy recently with a bike he said he'd taken out of the trash - but then he was also taking buses because he couldn't handle the hill climbs...

Yes, good idea that also occurred to me today. Unfortunately most who could receive for me are in a country that is also not the easiest to ship to. But I have some connections in the UK who might be able to help.

I'll take a look.

It occurred to me many times. My departure was rushed (see separate threads re getting the bike partially rebuilt while passing through the States). I asked both bike shops that serviced or partly rebuilt the bike and they both said the tyres were fine. I nevertheless looked for a new pair but could not get hold of any in time. I managed to buy the folding spare en route. But yeah, in hindsight I definitely should have (ignored the notional experts) gone with the conservative option and prioritised getting new ones shipped at the beginning of the trip.

People had been doing well with 'Colombia' on previous threads 😂

afrowheels

Thanks, I put in an order with deporvillage - they use DHL so hoping that will be fairly reliable and have sent it to one of my later accommodation bookings. Hoping it will arrive early. Got the beaded not the folding tyres so also hoping they'll arrive undamaged. A lot of hoping but we'll see.

Decided to go with the Marathon Plus Tour version (404) at 1.75 rather than the originals (440) at 2.0 since the claim is that the former have better offroad grip and that's the one area I found the current ones to be struggling a bit.

njkayaker

Complaining about people trying to help you is your problem.

You could have done that to the posts you whinged about.

afrowheels

Someone who actually wants to help will reflect on the unhelpfulness of their offered solutions rather than expecting gratitude. As for attitude problems, you seem to have more than enough to deal with yourself to be prescribing; not the first time I've noticed it.

I started the thread so I reckon you should rather not post on it 😃

MarcusT

As with any forum, half want to help, half want to judge and the other half are snarky or don't post at all, usually better the latter.
Let the half of us know how it turns out

gauvins

afrowheels well, posts like this one won't earn many brownie points. Future posts may well be ignored by members of this community who wouldn't want you to waste more time.

njkayaker

He complained about people who wanted to help.

ThermionicScott 

Sometimes we get responses we don't like, the best way to get more of them is to keep arguing. Welcome to the Internet.

mstateglfr 

Since you ordered tires and all is resolved from this debacle, I have a question- why that tire specifically? Why not literally any other tire that is 26"? The tire you want just got a gash in it, so it isnt beloved for being indestructible. It isnt exactly the fastest rolling tire around either. So then there is what?

phughes

Seriously? Here is what the OP wrote: "Got a puncture today (my first on these Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires in 7000km

First puncture on a Schwalbe Marathon Plus in 7000km. Puncture, not gash. Also, 7000km.

The OP may have worn out his welcome in regards to getting help here, but I won't question his affinity for the Schwalbe Marathon Plus given the service he has gotten out of them.

afrowheels

Do you know of any high quality touring tyres that are easily available in Colombia in 26" and 1.75 or above? If yes, tell us what they are. If not, I don't see what the purpose of this question is.

afrowheels

What's interesting is that people want to snark and post unhelpful 'counters' to a concern ('You're wrong, this website that doesn't have 26" in stock and doesn't ship to Colombia has them'...) but then want to get sensitive when I point out that these are unhelpful or that maybe they could think for more than 3 seconds before posting. I'm definitely not here to earn brownie points so, er, maybe that's the problem. And if people can't see the problem then it won't do me much harm if they don't do the same thing in future.

There are a few on these forums with serious attitude problems and if you're looking for someone to pander to those then I am not your guy. (And yeah, as ThermionicScott said: this is standard on the internet, but that doesn't mean it needs to be normalised).

I'll shortly be putting up a post on all the useful information I've been able to gather about availability of touring-related stuff in Colombia on my trip so far. And I won't be expecting any gratitude, thanks or brownie points.

veganbikes

You are missing everything. Get a 26" tire the make in this case doesn't matter a huge ton. Yes in perfect conditions I would love to have my favored tire but it looks like here you cannot get it but are adamant you need that tire for some reason when the point of 26" is that you can find tires in different countries more easily or at least could. You are trying to get rolling again and I am sure there is a shop in Columbia selling a decent quality 26" tire that will fit the basic fit requirements and could easily be replaced when you get to a country DHL or another service will ship to.

I do know that different companies will ship stuff to Columbia so I am unsure what the fight is about either you don't have anyone you can call upon in the U.S. to help you out or you are just refusing that as an option like another 26" tire. I am unsure but if I were you I would have already gotten a tire and been off. Or if I were truly in your mindset of having to have a specific tire so desperately, I would have already reached out to a friend or a bike shop I am friendly with and gotten them to ship some tires to me wherever I was or at least where I was going to be.

afrowheels

Interesting that I have all the relevant information but I'm also the one 'missing everything '. There's actually a lot you're missing e.g. I never said I'd stopped cycling, I said I'd switched to a 26x1.6 spare. I also never asked for help but rather expressed concern about what I'd found out about unavailability of 26" gear. I also said that I have clear preferences for not rolling on a crappy local tyre that even the locals don't think much of for shorter distances. But it's really not worth going through it all again so ✌️

Oh but one thing: yeah, not everyone is from the US of A.... Congratulations on having things easier.

veganbikes

But the gear is not unavailable you just aren't willing to get it shipped to you or find the right shop. You have been complaining all thread when people help, instead of just being thankful for help. Yes you might get info that may not be perfect for the only answer you want to hear but you should be grateful people are willing to help.

Curious where you are from because I am pretty sure it is not Columbia and even if so Columbia has had a whole bunch of excellent cyclists come from there so there are going to be some good shops. I am sure Scarab Cycles could help out they make some amazing custom bikes in Antioquia though I have heard of some other shops around the country I just cannot find great info from the U.S. (so much easier not being able to find what I am looking for...LOL) Though petty fighting about what countries is kind of silly, I don't get into all of that.

afrowheels

I've been cycling here 2 months and here you are talking out your ass with 'I'm pretty sure that...' 🤣 Listen to yourself man.

And I never said I was from Colombia (or even Columbia or that I was Christopher Columbus &#128514.

PhilFo 

On my touring bike which is a 26" wheeled bike, the ubiquity of the tire size means that if I had a sidewall tear or whatever that made one of my prized Continental Contact Plus Travel tires non-operational, I would have stopped in whatever bike shop I could, bought a $10 Kenda, stuck a boot in it for extra flat protection then went on riding. That's the point of using near-universal sized gear that can get me out of BFE.
I know that I wouldn't have argued with a bunch of folks on the internet for two days; folks who bothered to even listen, and then offer good faith help. Instead, I would have been riding because literally any serviceable cheap 559 tire would get me down the road.

afrowheels

Better than arguing about something that's irrelevant because you haven't read the original post or even the subsequent ones properly.

veganbikes

Ok Mr. I've been there for two months but haven't found a tire! I guess you are either avoiding all cities and towns or you are just bad at finding stuff? I cannot believe in that country you couldn't get a semi-decent tire somewhere if not something close to the Schwalbe tire you are lusting for. I mean I can understand pandemic related shortages we are still dealing with that globally but to say your only option is a tire nobody likes just doesn't sound plausible in a cycling country.

I never said you were from Columbia, I said I was pretty sure you weren't from Columbia but you acted all high and mighty about US of A as if you were from some country that cannot easily get cycling parts which would be odd on a Surly which is harder to get in countries that don't have QBP.

Also never said you were Christopher Columbus but you are a bit clueless like he was "huh why are there people on the land I just freshly discovered that had already been found previously by other explorers, welp off with their heads"

It is funny how combative you are when people are trying to help you. I mean this isn't an intervention here we are just trying to help you get a tire either the one you really have desired or saying the whole idea of touring on 26" is so you have options good or not so good to keep you rolling in most countries. What the heck do you want people to say? You don't want them to help you but you posted in a forum for discussion so what? If you had just put it into a blog fine but you put it here to discuss and the folks here are generally pretty helpful and sometimes a little snarky but plenty of good help as well especially for the internet.

afrowheels

🤣

Definitely stopping with replies at this point - the fictional narrative is getting too complicated for me.

veganbikes

What fictional narrative? Did you not just say you have been there for 2 months and did you also complain you couldn't find a tire? Was I reading a different forum with someone who also shared your same handle and experience touring Colombia (sorry I did misspell it previously I got your "joke" now my apologies to the people of Colombia)?

I mean they are a cycling rich country heck I think Bogota has over 350 miles of bike paths alone and have put out some quite excellent world tour riders and olympic cyclists and Google a popular search engine lists probably at least 200+different bike shops in Colombia (some of the results are not in Colombia or might not be bicycle shops but most looked like they were). I am just baffled beyond baffled that nobody in the country had a tire that was at least semi decent. Looking through some of those shops either via google images or on their websites I found some quality goods and have no doubt I could find a semi decent or really decent 26" tire.

If my Spanish was decent enough to hold a good solid conversation online I bet I could email a couple shops and get tires but I don't really care to do it. Anyway I could just get a tire and ship it if I really cared but you seem so dead set against help I wouldn't impose.