Thanks fellas, but I must confess I did put a couple of small nicks in the front rim but are more or less covered by the tyre anyway. After all it is an off road bike so will get a few marks on it here & there eventually. The bicycle tyre off cuts did work well but are only good for one tyre change.
I have put about 40k's on them now & wow what a difference. I suppose the best way to sum them up is its as if someone has taken the training wheels off compared to the original Tourances. The bike actually goes to the point where you are looking and much more sure footed with no squirming. Even on a 180 degree bend with 6 railway lines running across didn't perturb them. So far so good !!