Tyres (again)?

sarajoy

OK, so it looks like I'll be spending my voucher on tyres!

Two punctures on the rear within a week, the tyre itself has lots of nooks and cuts in it now, I've not even had the bike 6 months and don't even manage to ride daily. Ah well, it's all that bombing around town with broken glass in the road, I guess...

I know Marathon+ tyres are highly recommended - but are they really that heavy? I've been told by a couple of people that they definitely have some inertia and means getting up to speed is rather slow. However if it's the best trade-off, I'll just get them anyway.

I'm after 700C tyres and I like the 28mm width but might have a go at 25mm if a tyre is worth it and not available wider.

alfablue

Specialized All Conditions Pro's - light and puncture free for many years, 3 bikes, at least 6000 miles. I use 700x23, 700x25 and 26x1 on my different bikes.

sarajoy

The one I'm about to ditch is apparently a Specialized All Condition Sport tyre - I wonder what the difference is...

alfablue

ooh...dunno :?

All I can say is the Pro's have been the best I have ever tried, and I ride on all surfaces with them, even unsurfaced rocky paths at times. Tyre pressure is important, I check weekly and keep them fairly high. Stuff just seems to bounce off these tyres, very few cuts even on my oldest set.

I have tried 2 sorts of continentals (many punctures) and Hutchinson (better, but not as good as spesh), Kenda (cheap rubbish), Bontrager, better than conti, not as good as spesh, Schwalbe City Jets, good, robust, cheap, heavy.

Your tyres may be an OEM version, if supplied with the bike, they are sometimes of a lower quality.

I have used Schwalbe Marathons (not plus) for touring, they were fine, but noticeably heavier, but less than the plusses. Never punctured with these either, but I have done only a fraction of the mileage on them. I only used them because I wanted a higher volume for the tour.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Panaracer Pasella Tourguards are really good. They roll nicely, are a hell of a lot lighter than Marathons, and (in my experience) are very tough.

I have worn out several sets of these tyres without a visit from that special fairy. The only time I DID puncture them was when I ran over a 6 inch shard of glass.

Tyre pressure is important though as others have suggested: get yourself a track pump if you haven't got one already. A better way to avoid punctures than all the armoured tyres in existance I reckon!

roger_merriman

what you've got is a trade off, at one end you have 150g TT tires that puncture if you look at them but go like stink, on the other are stuff like the M+'s which are heavy and you do notice it away from the lights etc, but you can roll though broken glass etc with total distane, if you do fun riding i'd shy away from the M+'s as much as they are truely impressive. they do detract from the fun of riding.

Which is fine for me as my big hybrid is just the workhorse low distance all weathers etc. i have others for fun etc.

sarajoy

Aye aye, I try to keep my tyres at about 100 PSI - though the punctures seem to have happened a day or two after I've just given them a good pumping, which is interesting. Maybe anything that's wormed its way in just gets pushed that little bit further when the tyres are at their hardest.

A lot of this depends what the shop has or can order in for me (as the voucher coming will be for a shop in particular) but it'd be good to have some names to go on. Cheers!

biondino

Stelvio Pluses are fast road tyres with puncture protection. And I'll say it again - Ultremos aren't cheap but they're light as all hell and they DON'T PUNCTURE EVER.

bluecow

alfablue wrote:

Specialized All Conditions Pro's - light and puncture free for many years, 3 bikes, at least 6000 miles. I use 700x23, 700x25 and 26x1 on my different bikes.

Seconded. Not very grippy in the wet but then i dont tend to go screaming round corners anyway. Bombproof and 25mm is a good compromise i've found.

secretsam

I've got Contis on both bikes - Gatorskins on one and I've-no-idea-what on the other - both sets are fine.

Have used a Marathon plus, and they are a tough as old boots, but very heavy and they really seem to be hard work to pedal - one option might be to go for a slightly narrower size than normal? I used to have a 32mm one and it was like a tractor tyre!!! Seem to be totally bulletproof, however, so if you're after ultimate reliability, I'd go for them. But they are a total horror to fit...

fossyant

Gators are supposed to be a bit rubbish in the wet.

Conti Grand Prix 4 Seasons here - great, grippy in all conditions, seem cut proof so far, and fairly light 220g with 'p' protection.

FyPunK

I would of recommended the Conti City contacts, but the smallest size is 32, used these for years and rock solid. I am currently on their Sports Contact in a 28 and after a few months they have been no trouble, nice to ride on and if they are solid as the City's then they should be good.

secretsam

fossyant wrote:

Gators are supposed to be a bit rubbish in the wet.

Dunno about in wet, but in snow and ice they are hopeless, I came off in both on the Gators... :oops: :evil:

vorsprung

SecretSam wrote:

fossyant wrote:

Gators are supposed to be a bit rubbish in the wet.

Dunno about in wet, but in snow and ice they are hopeless, I came off in both on the Gators... :oops: :evil:

Any slick tyre (gators have almost no tread) are going to be bad in ice and snow!
I agree that gators aren't good in the wet though, I used them for a couple of years.

All tyres are a compromise between weight/durability/speed
Marathon plus are as heavy as people say. They are also as puncture proof as people say

I have two bikes I use for commuting, a single speed and a Orbea racing bike.

The Orbea only comes out to play if it is nice and dry. It has 26mm Panaracer Stratius Pro tyres. The single speed has 28mm marathon+ and is in use all year round.

roger_merriman

SecretSam wrote:

fossyant wrote:

Gators are supposed to be a bit rubbish in the wet.

Dunno about in wet, but in snow and ice they are hopeless, I came off in both on the Gators... :oops: :evil:

unless you have spikes ice is evil on two wheels, fun on four if you know what your doing though!

Specialized Needs

biondino wrote:

Stelvio Pluses are fast road tyres with puncture protection. And I'll say it again - Ultremos aren't cheap but they're light as all hell and they DON'T PUNCTURE EVER.

If I recall correctly, the Stelvio Pluses only come in 700x25 and 700x23 - certainly I think their max width is 25mm. What size are you starting at, Sarajoy? Is it 28mm on a Vita?

I have the Sirrus and found a similar issue with the stock Specialized 28mm tyres - the back tyre (OK, it is lumping 18st + panniers around SE London, and I sit quite far back) went from having a reasonable surface to being cut to shreds over a short period - had 3 punctures in a week after only 1 in 6 months. About 2000 miles out of them, though.

I personally went for the Stelvio Pluses at 25mm, thinner tyres and higher pressure: seem to run nicely. But they've only been on for 10 days, so I can't report back on reliability except that I ran over a huge lump of flint this morning, expecting a 'hissssss', but nothing . They were also OK in the rain yesterday, but I was careful. Was tempted by the Ultremos, but didn't they have an issue with the sidewall? Probably overkill on a hybrid/flat bar commuter, anyhow.

I found it very odd putting folding tyres on for the first time - certainly is a knack! But fine once I'd done one.

Stuart

sarajoy

duncedunce yup 28mm, the Vita series appears to be just a girled-up Sirrus. I've only done about 700-800 miles, though. Ah well.

How does it feel to move to 25mm tyres?

The only thing is I find it hard to physically pump more than 100PSI (with either my Tesco pump or the bloke's Joe Blow, I'm not really tall enough to anchor it with my feet /and/ push down hard enough, I almost have to 'bounce' the last few puffs in) - so getting even more pressure through might be a job!

Runoutofgears

I swapped my 700 x 28 gatorskins for 700 x 25 Marathon pluses earlier this year because I got so fed up with pu**tures and apart from the firm ride I’ve not found the extra weight to be a problem. I have however found that I need to be a bit careful pumping them up as it is possible to blow the tyre off the rim, Im not sure but may be the smaller size is on the limit for the rim.
One thing is for sure the Marathon pluses are very liberating, I don’t really worry about glass any more.
I’ve heard people say that they are difficult to fit, but I didn’t find this to be the case.

biondino

100psi is absolutely fine, Sara, even on 23mm tyres.

Runoutofgears wrote:

I have however found that I need to be a bit careful pumping them up as it is possible to blow the tyre off the rim

I figured out why I was blowing the tyre off the rim after replacing tyres and/or tubes. The issue I was having was that the bit of tube next to the valve is by definition wider than the rest of the tube, so it's easy, when replacing the tyre, to have the bead of the tyre sitting ON this wider bit of tube rather than surrounding/encasing it.

My solution was imply to fit the tyre on, with the tube still fairly flaccid, then hold the valve and push it as far INTO the tyre as I could (within reason - obv don't want to actually lose the valve in the rim!), which has the effect of making sure the whole tube at that point is surrounded by tyre.

Since then, I have had no tube extrusions or (bloody loud) explosions.

Specialized Needs

sarajoy wrote:

How does it feel to move to 25mm tyres?

After I started trusting them not to slip, I perceived a difference. Hasn't really made much difference to my times commuting, but for some reason it feels a bit easier (probably just my expectation, though). No lumpier on the road either, which I did expect going to a marginally thinner tyre at 115psi.

I almost have to 'bounce' the last few puffs in!

ahem <cough> :oops:

... anyhow, no problem with my Joe Blow, but as I said I have a much beefier (I wish :roll: ) 18st to put behind it. What I want are inner tubes that retain the pressure better than the Decathlon £2.95 specials I have in there at the moment. With decent tubes the tyres may only need pumping each week or so. I'm sure that if you have decent inner tubes then you can come to some kind of 'arrangement' with your bloke

Stuart

Edit: to make sense ... :roll:

sarajoy

Cheers biondino, and nice tip!

Runoutofgears, I had been thinking about moving to 25mm out of pure curiosity - and a firm ride doesn't bother me so much, there are already pretty rough bits of road on my commute which already meant I put in a suspended seat post!

Thanks guys, lots of names to look at. Hopefully this'll be the last tyre thread from me for a while (still waiting for the woman with the lurid pink/green bike to get back to me)!

sarajoy

duncedunce wrote:

I'm sure you can come to some kind of 'arrangement' with your bloke

You mean we do a swap, he pumps and I, uh... nevermind.

Specialized Needs

biondino wrote:

100psi is absolutely fine, Sara, even on 23mm tyres.

Uh, yes, it probably is as Sara won't be carting the same amount of weight around as my bike does :?

The complaining tadpole

I run 700x28 Marathon Plus on my commuter at 100psi - 3000 miles with no "Incidents"
Just ordered Durano Plus' for my road bike - these have the smartguard layer - though not as thick as in the M+, will see how they go. I used to use the standard Marathons with Kevlar protection- 3 weeks riding - 2 punctures . Now collecting dust in the shed

jjojjas

Got Marathon + on mine at 80psi. Never had a puncture since I put them on over a year ago - ridden daily on road, track and wasteland. I have the fat 38's on mine because the skinnier ones used to sink in the muddy track....not a problem if you don't live at the end of a muddy track though.....
Jas

sarajoy

FyPunK wrote:

I would of recommended the Conti City contacts, but the smallest size is 32, used these for years and rock solid. I am currently on their Sports Contact in a 28 and after a few months they have been no trouble, nice to ride on and if they are solid as the City's then they should be good.

I got one of these in the end (Conti City Contacts)!

They seem to be both "700x32" and "622x28" or something - either way now it's on, it looks no wider than my front 28mm tyre. Also there's a guarantee - if the inner pops or the tyre tears within a year, I get a free replacement of either... Almost worth riding over lots of nasty broken glass in the 11th month!

I think I can feel more of a soft buzz off the tyre as it actually has a tread pattern (as opposed to the harder road buzz felt through the higher pressure slicks) - and I suppose it may be 'slower' due to a lower pressure - but it's all good - think I'll get another of the same for the front when the time comes.

I did go over my remaining front tyre carefully, pulled out several little pieces of glass before squirting a little superglue into each hole left behind.

Jay dubbleU

I use Marathons (not Marathon +) and since I fitted them I December I've had no visits from the PF - I don't find them slow or heavy but they probably feel that way if your used to slicks

Mike400

Just to add my two pence - im running Schwalbe Cityjets on my commuter, albeit in 26"

Grip well, very durable and never puncture (thats my card marked for the run home tonight isn't it.....)

They are a solid choice for commuting, if a bit boring, but I do 100 miles + a week on them and reliability is priority for me

Wallace1492

I have used Schwabe CitiJets for 3 years now on my MTB, use them for on road, off road, and since August last year for commute - 15 miles a day. Don't bother to change to nobblies when going off road, so slight loss of grip, but as I don't do extreme stuff it doesnt matter. Had them on Red Route at Glentress, accross Rannoch Moor, and round Loch Shiel. Never had a puncture and must have done about 3000+miles on them. Recently changed to 1.95 from 2.5, but not really noticed any difference, just old ones were slightly worn.

Would recomend.