Long lasting road tyres

vermin

Discovered last night that I have worn my brand new Luganos through to the carcass (and beyond) in just over 2 months, which is disappointing, so I'd like to replace them with something with a bit more staying power. It's only a commuter, so I don't care about weight: the priorities are longevity, grip and low price. Ideally 25mm, but 23 or 24 is fine.

Any recommendations?

rick_chasey

Conti 4 seasons.

leeefm

Luganos are a bit cheap as chips. I had the same issue as you, then went for Duranos. Lasted a lot better for commuting.

roger_merriman

Grip and longevity are within reason mutually exclusive. I suspect within reason you'll need to choose one.

Marathon pluses in 25mm form are heavy and a bit twitchy on white paint etc, but they last and last.

Maybe something like gator skins?

spasypaddy

mine are long lasting as i cant ride my bike

vermin

spasypaddy wrote:

mine are long lasting as i cant ride my bike

Can I have your tyres?

Rick - Aren't 4 seasons all about punture protection, rather than durability? I'm going to encourage the fairy here, but, puntures are a much bigger problem in London than here in the sticks, so it's not a big priority. Also too expensive.

Durano, Marathon, others?

t5nel

Couple of Q's

1)Why do you think you are 'heavy' on tyres? High mileage, road surface, riding style?

2)What is principle objective, lowest cost/mile or least hassle in terms of reshoeing the round bits every 2 months?

For a half decent balance between cost, puncture resistance, grip and endurance I would think 25mm wire bead Vittoria Rubinos would take some beating. Of course if you just want bulletproof rollers then I am sure marathons would be good.

I am not superlight or careful and put 3k miles into a rear before I replaced it as I didn't want to risk it on a sportive (ironically then ran over some ironwork and destroyed a new tyre :roll: )

Tim

ShandyH

Calling iPete. Think he uses Vredesteins but can't remember which ones and I know he does a lot of miles. Personally, I use Vredestein Fortezza Tricomps and think they are superb. Very grippy in the wet. Some reviews...

http://www.merlincycles.com/vredestein- ... 63251.html

dav1

I get silly miles out of schwalbe duranos. They also grip quite nicely and they are not too heavy either.

My current front has done around 6k and has a load of life left. On the back i get at least 6k as well from them.

rick_chasey

vermin wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

mine are long lasting as i cant ride my bike

Can I have your tyres?

Rick - Aren't 4 seasons all about punture protection, rather than durability? I'm going to encourage the fairy here, but, puntures are a much bigger problem in London than here in the sticks, so it's not a big priority. Also too expensive.

Durano, Marathon, others?

I find them more durable than any other tyre I use. This information may be derived from a small dataset.

It's also got enough grip that I never worry about falling off. I have done with any other 'durable' or 'puncture proof' tyre.

vermin

t5nel wrote:

1)Why do you think you are 'heavy' on tyres? High mileage, road surface, riding style?

Highish miles - these tyres have just short of 2000 miles on them now. Schwalbe reckons on 2000-3000km for normal tyres, so my longevity is in accordance with spec. I'm sub 70kg and don't hoon it, so I'm not especially heavy on them, but everyone locks up the back every now and then.

t5nel wrote:

2)What is principle objective, lowest cost/mile or least hassle in terms of reshoeing the round bits every 2 months?

I suspect the two go hand in hand, but the fewer parcels that the other half sees coming through the post, the better.

pollys_bott

Michelin Pro 4 Endurance. The 25s are closer to 27mm and feel as soft as butter, so much so that when I first rode mine at the start of the year I thought they'd be trashed within weeks. 3000+ miles later they're still going strong, got a few nicks in them but nothing major (touch wood). I'm 70kg-ish too and run them 75psi front and 90psi rear.

Ribble will do you a pair for £42.45... http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... ichtyrf224

As I put in another thread somewhere, a poor man's Open Corsa...

UndercoverElephant

I'm 85 Kg, hoon around all the time on pot-hole infested roads and tend not to steer round them too much, yet I get about 4,500 miles from a Rubino Pro, probably 6,000 on the front.

Cheap-ish, light-ish and tough. Grippy-ish too.

cjcp

First, some context: Vermin's knocking out 60 miles a day...

Second: Duranos.

daniel_b

If you had a 10% code for PBK, you could get a pair of those Pro 4 Endurances (Coloured if you wanted) for £40.50, plus 2% cashback through quidco should knock it down to just under £40.

UndercoverElephant

You can get four Rubino Pro's for that:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B003KPM ... SX200_QL40

iPete

Vredestein Fortezza Quattro Tricomp are by far my longest lasting tyre. 3,800 miles of London roads and counting, not sure they are made anymore and Ribble aren't selling them for £20 either.

pitchshifter

Avoid 4 seasons. Nice fast tyre but puncture protection isnt up to much. I got just under 3000 miles out of the rear weighing only 70kg. Still using the front but wouldn't buy again. Replaced with Continental Grand Prix GT's cheap and more robust than the 4 seasons.

vermin

Cheers all.

UE - I've used Rubino Pros before and was impressed by grip and speed for the price - didn't realise they could put in the high miles too.

I reckon it's between those and the Duranos. At twice the price, will the Duranos last twice as long?

stuaff

Durano Plus....
For me they've been bombroof. My first set on the Viner did 5,000 miles on the back (much of it underinflated, took the top layer of rubber clean off), 7,000 miles on the front, not one visitation. Second set, and the pair on the Condor, both going well. Heavy but they roll nicely.

voodooman

Durano plus

Used since last September for commuting (about 4,500 miles) and the odd event. Only one visitation (a piece of flint about a 15mm long went straight through), but being a cross bike and with trainers in my rucksack I thought it was a good piece of extra training (and only 3 miles from work). 2 miles of my commute is on the pot holed / flint ridden / deep puddles and overhanging branches hell that is the cycle path from Ashurst to Lyndhurst.

Probably need to change the back soon. I'm now down to 103 kg and av commuting speed about 16.5 mph. Great tyres and the reflective hoops really work.

Initialised

Vredestein Duocomp, Schwalbe Durano or Specialized Espoir Elite.

daddy0

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I'm 85 Kg, hoon around all the time on pot-hole infested roads and tend not to steer round them too much, yet I get about 4,500 miles from a Rubino Pro, probably 6,000 on the front.

Cheap-ish, light-ish and tough. Grippy-ish too.

This.

I currently have 3 front wheels with tyres on. The slowest wheel with the most worn tyre on it is the one with a Rubino Pro on it. It is also the one on my bike. The other two tyres are a GP 4000S and a GP 4 Seasons - I trust the worn Rubino Pro over these two for puncture resistance (bound to have a visitation on my next ride after saying that). Performance wise theres not too much to choose between them. Price wise its half the price of the other two and get probably double the mileage out of them.

fat_tail

I second or third Vredestein choice... I started with the fortezza tricomp on the strength of a recommendation somewhere on bikeradar. I think they have stopped making them and recently I had to get some new ones and went for the fortezza extreme weather ... very happy with them

vermin

Does anyone have experience of, or an opinion on, the:

Specialized Roubaix Armadillo Elite

I'm struggling to get hold of a tyre quickly and this one is to hand!

Initialised

vermin wrote:

Does anyone have experience of, or an opinion on, the:

Specialized Roubaix Armadillo Elite

I'm struggling to get hold of a tyre quickly and this one is to hand!

I got on well with Espoir Sport and Elite, few punctures, 4000 miles or so, the Armadillo should be a lighter, more supple version.

vermin

OK, well that's what I've gone for. Hopefully it'll be ok - I'll report back, hopefully not too soon.

Thanks for all suggestions. Sorry it was all wasted (blame Evans for not stocking much in-store!) Hopefully the thread will be of use to someone in future.

Daim Bar!

ShandyH

BTW looked at Twitter today and there was an article recommending the best winter tyres on Cycling Weekly:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/group-te ... tyres-3139

gabriel959

Durano Plus - Schwalbe reckons you can do 10,000 km on them, if you trash them you will probably do more like 6,000 or so.

daddy0

ShandyH wrote:

BTW looked at Twitter today and there was an article recommending the best winter tyres on Cycling Weekly:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/group-te ... tyres-3139

The issue with that article is that, from what I can tell, they didn't *really* test the tyres? They could've at least ridden over some broken glass of tried pushing something sharp into the tread to see which was most resistant FWIW. They've basically just rewritten the sales spiel...

Having said that - I had been thinking about trying the Durano Plus's based on recommendations, but based on that article I think I'll try the Rubino Pro Techs next.

PBo

I hate duranos...

For a start, to me, they feel like I've wrapped lead round the wheel.

Secondly, I find them hell to get on and off (and I have no problems with any other tyre, I know all the tricks). If they were absolutely 100% bullet proof - and nothing is - this wouldn't matter. But it does matter if you do get a puncture and half an hour later you are still in the cold/wet/dark, with no feeling left in your fingers and a quarter of the tyre still over hanging the rim.....

This is in the wrong thread. Technically, it should be in rants...