What tyres

calonuk

Ok, last couple of week i have been very unfortunate with the PF.

I am now riding on average about 100+ miles a week and when i took the bike back for its six week service the guys said i should upgrade the tyres.

ATM I have Schwalble road cruisers, they are recomending i use Specialized armadillo tyres, i have also been looking at Marathon plus tyres. My route is road and cycle track.

Just wondering what tyres are better in reality.

thanks in advance for your help.

mudcow007

marathon + are the way forward, i got 28's on ebay for £40

sketchley

Choice of 4 really

Schwalble Marathon Plus - Excellent puncture protection but more a winter than summer tyre

Schwalble Durano Plus - Good puncture protection more a summer than a winter, a bit more race, semi-slick and lighter than marathon plus.

Specialized Armadillo - Good puncture protection only had two visits with PF when I had these on, one was a drawing pin straight through tyre other one was very odd and involved a problem with tyre beading.

Continental Gatorskins - Good puncture protection and cheaper than Schwalble. A very good tyre, since putting these on I've got quicker and only one visit from PF which was a flint getting stuck in tyre then pushing through.

notsoblue

I've used Spesh Armadillos, Continental Gatorskins and Schwalbe Blizzards. The Armadillos and Gatorskins are awesome, you'll wear out the tread before you get a puncture. The Blizzards are in my experience for normal road use quite rubbish. First week of using them I had 3 punctures. :?

For some reason Gatorskin Ultras are cheaper than Vanilla at the moment, might be worth a look: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-ult ... road-tyre/

Edit: To be fair, Blizzards aren't promoted as being puncture resistant.

sketchley

notsoblue wrote:

For some reason Gatorskin Ultras are cheaper than Vanilla at the moment, might be worth a look: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-ult ... road-tyre/

Gatorskin Ultra = Old Branding
Gatorskin = New Branding

Same Tyre though. As it says here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-gat ... road-tyre/

I order 2 x ultra they delivered 3 x Vanilla. I wasn't complaining.

notsoblue

Sketchley wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

For some reason Gatorskin Ultras are cheaper than Vanilla at the moment, might be worth a look: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-ult ... road-tyre/

Gatorskin Ultra = Old Branding
Gatorskin = New Branding

Same Tyre though. As it says here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-gat ... road-tyre/

I order 2 x ultra they delivered 3 x Vanilla. I wasn't complaining.

Ahh, well I was struggling to find a difference between the two myself, but that accounts for the price at least!

Zachariah

I've been rolling on Bontrager race-lites (the cheapo ones) for over a year and about 1500 miles on some very rough roads and paths, with no p*******s. Except when I swapped them over for turbo training and got a pinch flat due to my crappy tyre changing.

EKE_38BPM

+1 for Gatorskins.
I found them a little twitchy for the first few hundred miles, but once the sheen was off them and warmed up they were fine. I likened them to F1 tyres needing to get the sheen from the manufacturing process off and then the drivers weaving around to get some temperature in them before they give their full grip.

Others may see that as a problem, but as an F1 fan (currently watching free practice 2 for the Turkish GP), I kind of liked having to warm them up.

iPete

I didn't/don't have an amazing time with Gatorskins, split 2 and had numerous punctures over winter.

Purchased an armadillo and destroyed that in a week, ripped side.

Now running a Schwalble Durano Plus on the back, very happy so far. In fact I hit a pot hole and destroyed my wheel, the tube/tyre survived!

EKE_38BPM

iPete wrote:

I didn't/don't have an amazing time with Gatorskins, split 2 and had numerous punctures over winter.

Purchased an armadillo and destroyed that in a week, ripped side.

Now running a Schwalble Durano Plus on the back, very happy so far. In fact I hit a pot hole and destroyed my wheel, the tube/tyre survived!

You sound like you are pretty unkind to your tyres/wheels. Do you try to avoid debris/potholes, plough straight through them or just have bad luck?

sketchley

EKE_38BPM wrote:

iPete wrote:

I didn't/don't have an amazing time with Gatorskins, split 2 and had numerous punctures over winter.

Purchased an armadillo and destroyed that in a week, ripped side.

Now running a Schwalble Durano Plus on the back, very happy so far. In fact I hit a pot hole and destroyed my wheel, the tube/tyre survived!

You sound like you are pretty unkind to your tyres/wheels. Do you try to avoid debris/potholes, plough straight through them or just have bad luck?

+1

Also are your tyres inflated enough? I use a track pump with a gauge to get to 110psi (25x700c Gatorskins). I need to do this once a week minimum to maintain correct pressure.
I can't get anywhere near that with hand pump I carry in bike for emergencies. Puncture protection doesn't work unless you inflate correctly.

notsoblue

iPete wrote:

I didn't/don't have an amazing time with Gatorskins, split 2 and had numerous punctures over winter.

Purchased an armadillo and destroyed that in a week, ripped side.

Now running a Schwalble Durano Plus on the back, very happy so far. In fact I hit a pot hole and destroyed my wheel, the tube/tyre survived!

Thats a surprise actually. What kind of roads do you commute on?

iPete

Can be pretty harsh but the two split gators were just unfortunate; one whilst on tour, it survived with a patch thankfully.

The Armadillo, not sure, probably caught it on a curb filtering.

The pothole that destroyed my wheel was bad luck, cycling with the flow of traffic behind a bus and simply didn't even see it, was a new one on a regular route.

All the winter punctures were just grrrr, one of those weeks where the PF haunts you, everythings been ok since the sun came out.

Bear in mind all the above is over 10,000 miles. I'll use Gatorskins again if the Durano Plus doesn't work out but so far so good. In fact still have a Gator up front, put it down to bad luck and many miles.

The Rookie

WTB Slickasaurus here, one PF visit (thin needle like pice of glass) in over 1000 miles, fast rolling and grippy but not as light as Gatorskins (lighter than Marathons though), bought them as used, don't look any more worn now than they did then!

Simon

coopster_the_1st

iPete wrote:

I didn't/don't have an amazing time with Gatorskins, split 2 and had numerous punctures over winter.

Purchased an armadillo and destroyed that in a week, ripped side.

Now running a Schwalble Durano Plus on the back, very happy so far. In fact I hit a pot hole and destroyed my wheel, the tube/tyre survived!

+1 for the Durano +. 3k miles on these tyres and no deflation. The spare tube and saddle bag has just become training weight since last September

Much better than the Marathon + due to being much lighter.

vorsprung

The Beginner wrote:

WTB Slickasaurus here, one PF visit (thin needle like pice of glass) in over 1000 miles, fast rolling and grippy but not as light as Gatorskins (lighter than Marathons though), bought them as used, don't look any more worn now than they did then!

Simon

I can beat that
Marathon Plus, one puncture in 10,000 miles

Gatorskins last about 3 or 4 thousand miles then the casing is worn and they will puncture quite often. Also they have poor wet grip

calonuk

Thank you all for your responses.... I think i will go with the Marathons as the gators look a bit slick for my liking. hopefully keep the PF at bay for a little while.

rick_chasey

Which tyres, surely?