new tyres - please help

jamieh5463

Hi
i am looking at a puncture resistant pair of tyres i am not bothered about the weight at all, i would just like a pair of tyres that i will rarely (or maybe never!) get punctures on, each tyre needs to be £25 or less
cheers Jamie

STEFANOS4784

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=20460


These get great reviews on here, i use pro race 3's and continental gp4000 and the only problems i've had is with lack of pressure(my fault). The ones above seem to fit your bill perfectly though

maddog 2

jamieh5463 wrote:

i am not bothered about the weight at all

if this is true then Schwalbe Marathons are widely acknowledged to be virtually unpuncturable, but they definiltely aren't light.

For something less burly (sub 350g) then consider Krylions, Bonty Hard Case, GP4Season.

All depends on weight, width, and burliness and how important you feel these three are. As Keith Bontrager said (paraphrasing I know) you can't have all three...

Crooky

Having tried nearly every tyre: Schwalbe Marathons, City Contact, Paseala, gatorskin etc etc I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt the best tyre is the Vittoria Randoneur. I stumbled on this tyre as they are rarely reviewed, Cycling Plus had their first review ever last month and that was for the slick tyre. I've come to take product reviews with a pinch of salt now. I commute 30 miles a day and that includes road, cycle path, bridleway so I need a tyre that can do everything. The Vittoria is cheap, has the best puncture protection of any tyre I've every used (I've punctured about 4 times in the last five years), wears slowly and isn't too heavy. The other great thing is I run it at 100psi, not recommended but other tyres I've done this with don't last any time at all. I replace them once or twice a year. Just got new ones last week. Parker International have them at a good price, annoyingly, without thinking, I got them from Wiggle though. They are only around 13 quid each so they won't break the bank.

The only downside of the Vittoria is they are very difficult to get off the rim, I've actually broken levers attempting it. However they puncture so rarely it's just a small problem and I have a nice pair of steel levers now.

jamieh5463

I think i'll go for the Schwalbe Marathons, they look extremely tough tyres i doubt i'll ever puncture them (my last tyres were stock Bontrager Race Lite = poop). My last question is will the marathons last long?

Coach H

Crooky,

I personnaly believe that P**c**r*s are as much down to luck and tire pressure but I do know a guy who had Vittoria Randoneurs reccomended by their LBS as virtually puncture proof. Bought them had them fitted in the shop then and there and punctured within 500yds of the shop :oops: The LBS kndly repaired the tube for free but hes never felt confident about them since

passout

Marathon Pluses are very good - Spa Cycles were doing them for £19; the cheapest I could find.

Crooky

Coach sounds like the LBS fitted the tube badly rather than the fault of the tyre. Those randoneurs are a real b%''$h to fit.

I do agree there is a lot of luck involved and my views are purely based on my own experience, having said that I do have a lot of experience. However some tyres which advertise as puncture proof are anything but and you rarely get the truth from the magazine reviews. City Contact tyres come to mind, I was always puncturing with those. Marathons were ok I did puncture more than the Randoneurs but they are still better than some of the rest, problem is if you pump them up hard they don't last long and they feel really heavy when you ride them at factory standard. That was the Marathon not the Plus, the Plus must be really heavy to ride. Paseala (sorry about the spelling on some of these) are really nice to ride but they wear so quickly and aren't cheap.

If they made a Randoneur 28" foldable it could be the best tyre in the world : )

Monty Dog

I've never has a puncture with Marathons in 4 years and that includes plenty of towpaths and offroad excursions.