Best Tyres for Light Tourer Bike?

ForumNewbie

Hi there,

I'm planning to change the tyres on my Dawes Audax light touring bike. The tyres I currently have are cheapish 7000*25 Schwalbe Spezial tyres which give me quite a hard bumpy ride. Accordingly I'm looking for something smoother to give me a fast but also a more comfortable ride and still with some decent puncture protection. I'm thinking of the investing in the the following (the 700*25 version):
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 139c003532

Grateful if anyone can advise me what they think of these or have any other recommendations.

Monty Dog

Look at a Conti GP4 Season in a 28mm - far better puncture resistance than a Gatorskin IME - the roads in these parts are strewn with tiny razor-like flints that shred tyres - Gatorskins often don't survive a single ride, they are too soft.

mercurykev

+1 for Conti GP4 Seasons, although I'd stick with 25s. Fast running and good puncture protection.

Anonymous

Vittoria Open Pave are bloomin ace!

ForumNewbie

Thanks for your replies.

I have had a look at the Continental Tyres website, and the GP4 Season is obviously a great tyre but it is described as a Competition Tyre for all weathers. A bit pricey for me as well and probably more than I need.

The Ultra Gatorskin is desribed as 'Conti‘s sophisticated anti puncture tyre' and 'THE only tyre for your winter / high mileage bike' so I'm really surprised that in Monty Dog's experience they are not very puncture resistant. I like the fact that they look soft and presumably would give a low rolling resistance and a comfortable ride while still protecting me against punctures.

I find my present tyres very hard and give me a bumpy uncomfortable ride. I have tried out my wife's hybrid a few times over the last couple of days. It is a Dawes Sonoran with an alloy frame with much wider standard tyres ( 700 * 38 ) and I have found that to be a lot more comfortable than my bike, which is a more expensive touring bike with a Reynolds steel frame - which in theory should give me a more comfortable ride.

maddog 2

+1 on the GP 4Seasons

I use them in 28mm on my winter wheels and they are a better bet than the gatorskins, IMO. More grip for a start, and they last well. Not had a puncture yet on them in two winters, and they go off road on towpaths/muddy cyclepaths too.

acorn_user

ForumNewbie wrote:

I find my present tyres very hard and give me a bumpy uncomfortable ride. I have tried out my wife's hybrid a few times over the last couple of days. It is a Dawes Sonoran with an alloy frame with much wider standard tyres ( 700 * 38 ) and I have found that to be a lot more comfortable than my bike, which is a more expensive touring bike with a Reynolds steel frame - which in theory should give me a more comfortable ride.

If you had the same tyres/wheels on your wifes bike, your bike might be more comfortable. Tyre volume is really important in determining ride comfort. The downside of having huge tyres, as on a hybrid, is that they can feel pretty slow. The lighter, nippier audax bike you have will feel much faster (I have a Dawes Kalahari and a steel race bike btw).

Wooliferkins

Gatorskins for me. I commute down country lanes in all weathers, club ride and tour light and fully loaded no problems with them at all. OK they were skitty in the snow last winter.

ForumNewbie

acorn_user wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

I find my present tyres very hard and give me a bumpy uncomfortable ride. I have tried out my wife's hybrid a few times over the last couple of days. It is a Dawes Sonoran with an alloy frame with much wider standard tyres ( 700 * 38 ) and I have found that to be a lot more comfortable than my bike, which is a more expensive touring bike with a Reynolds steel frame - which in theory should give me a more comfortable ride.

If you had the same tyres/wheels on your wifes bike, your bike might be more comfortable. Tyre volume is really important in determining ride comfort. The downside of having huge tyres, as on a hybrid, is that they can feel pretty slow. The lighter, nippier audax bike you have will feel much faster (I have a Dawes Kalahari and a steel race bike btw).

The strange is that when I rode my wife's bike I attached my Garmin GPS to see how fast I could go on that sort of hybrid. Over one of my favourite short circuits I managed to nearly equal the best time I achieved on my Audax bike. As the hybrid is lower-geared it seemed to be easier to get up the hilly part of the circuit - and I also managed to get a good speed up on the flat. I assumed my Audax would have been much faster but I was really surprised to find that this wasn't the case.

Wooliferkins

The difference being that your audax bike is designed to be ridden all day in comfort where your hybrid is put together for relatively short distances.