Mismatched tyres

Shadowduck

Yet another flat on the way in to work this morning, this is really beginning to get depressing.

As I always seem to flat on the front, I'm pondering investing in a Continental Ultra Gatorskin tyre for the front and saving the part worn tyre for the back. Can anyone tell me if this would be likely to affect the handling of the bike much? I'd be running a 700x28 Gatorskin on the front and a 700x30 Tioga Comodo on the back.

Failing that, I might have to try a Slime tyre liner and see how much that helps. Anyone any experience with these?

dondare

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres will end all your puncture woes.

Lbaguley

Sorry can't help on the handling query, but ditto Specialized All Conditions (the armadillo ones!) for what dondare said

Shadowduck

I looked at the Schwalbe tyres but I was a bit put off by the weight - 800g each against 280g for the Gatorskins! I can't find weight info for the Armadillos (most of the reviews comment that they're heavy) but they seem to sell for two to three times the price of the Continentals which also puts me off.

I get the impression from the reviews that the Continentals trade a little puncture protection for the light weight (it's only 'very good' instead of 'excellent') but at the price they're still looking quite good to me!

pw1brown

I get around 75% of punctures on the back wheel. It's because I can't see exactly what my back wheel's going over on the road, and because of my weight being mostly on the back wheel. So I would go for AT LEAST as much puncture protection on the rear. But as for handling, I would think a worn tyre would be less of a problem on the rear as on the front.

baudman

I always put new tyre on the front. So if I'm replacing a rear, the rear gets the warn front tyre.

I haven't noticed any real handling issues, but then, I'm not a gun cyclist either...

John Stevenson

I almost always have mismatched tyres, due to just grabbing whatever the shop has that's cheap when I destroy a tyre on my commute bike. It makes no difference to the handling.

Actually I do have matched 25mm Panaracer Extreme Duros at the moment thanks to the generosity of an old friend who works for them; very nice tyres!

twowheeledwriter

This brought to mind a Sheldon Brown note on tire/tyre rotation and why you shouldn't put a worn tyre on the front wheel.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

franklin pierce

john_stevenson wrote:

I almost always have mismatched tyres, due to just grabbing whatever the shop has that's cheap when I destroy a tyre on my commute bike.

A badge of honour among commuters.

Meticulously matched tyres, perfectly clean handlebar tape, tubes with no patches: all signs of a garage queen.

Hairy Jock

I have been using Conti Gatorskin for a couple of years, great tyres. I used to have a wider tyre on the back than the front with no problem, if anything it was better for load carrying.

Then one day I have the bike serviced, the rear tyre was replaced due to side wall damage, when I got it home I found the tyres were both the same size. I couldn't be bothered to go back to get it changed, maybe when they wear out I will get round to doing something about it.