SCHWALBE Marathon Plus or Vittoria PAVE for 120KM Sportive?

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Comments

  • Aapje
    Aapje Posts: 77
    Seanos wrote:
    Schwalbe Durano Pluses are my winter/ sportive tyres. Done quite a lot of miles round the lanes of Kent & Surrey this winter and not had a single puncture.

    +1
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    Sounds more like an issue with the wheels. Rim tape moved or damaged poss.
    M.Rushton
  • satanas
    satanas Posts: 1,303
    If you are getting that many punctures something is wrong. Maybe several somethings. I'd check the rimtape is present and covering what it should, and not cracked, dimpled, displaced or non-existent. Velox adhesive tape is more reliable than any of the stretch-to-fit hard plastic options in my experience. Next, I'd consider the inflation pressure, and use a decent gauge.

    After that I'd use decent tyres! The very lightest tyres are fast, but there's less under the tread to keep things out, so they may not be the best choice for longer events. I've had great success with Contis generally, with Michelins and, eons ago, with Specialized K4 tyres. IMO riding the Marathon Plus is cruel and unusual punishment - it's heavy and has all the suppleness of a piece of wood.

    You do actually try to avoid bits of glass and other debris on the road, don't you? If not, you should! If you don't want to watch where you're going I suppose the M+ is a reasonable option, but not one I'd be prepared to accept. FWIW, I've done many randonnees with very few punctures on light tyres, but it helps to be careful and to use something with *some* puncture protection. It doesn't have to be able to stop an AK-47 to give a good result.

    Heavier and/or less careful riders would do well to consider wider tyres, but this will help mainly to ward off rim damage, not flats, except pinch flats. The latter are also curable, albeit with less comfort, by using more PSI in narrower tyres. I'm hoping to do PBP next year, along with some sportives, and am seriously considering the 25mm Hutchinson tubeless tyres as these can theoretically be run with about 20 PSI less than the equivalent tubed tyre, and so should be much more comfy.

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