Tyres & Tips for Devon C2C

Cristian

I'm cycling from Ilfracombe to Plymouth in a few weeks and looking for some advice on tyres and general tips.

I have a Boardman Performance Hybrid bike and have recently swapped the tyres for Marathon Plus 700c 35's. Whilst these are great for training & puncture protection, I find them a bit heavy.

Thinking of Conti Gatorskin 700c 28's or something with a bit more tread. But not sure if the Gatorskins will be ok for the old railway routes such as the Granite Way.

Any advice would be welcome.

CiderMartin

You will be fine. The Granite way is very smooth, lots of tarmac. The only really rough section is on the path between Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy; there are alternative routes around the Tavistock area so you can avoid it if you really want --- which is a shame because sitting beside the river Tavy and drinking coffee from a flask is lovely. I did this section in (wet) early April on 700x28 Marathons: it was muddy but perfectly ridable, and, besides it is a very short section and an option is to walk it.

From memory there was a section at the northern end of the Plym trail that was a bit rough but I understand it has been improved/re-routed. I have riden this section with my daughter on a tandem with 25mm tyres! We simply pushed it for 50-odd metres!

People get too hung up about tyres for anything other than tarmac. Just get out there and enjoy it!

Cristian

Thanks Martin.

I was thinking of the alternative route around Mary Tavy, although it would be a shame to pass through the area and not stop there.

I can see your point around tyres as I'm finding myself getting quite hung up on this. The marathon plus tyres I have fitted are really heavy, but I am getting used to them a little more now and beginning to just think about going for it with these.

Never done a trip like this before, so stepping into the unkown, but really looking forward to it.