I don't trust my tyres
gerroffandmilkit
Posts: 160
Out for a ride last night and got caught out in a heavy downpour.
My Giant Defy Advanced 2 is a brand spanker and last night was the first time it had seen wet weather.
Now obviously I was keen to avoid manholes etc to prevent slippage, however, the rear end did feel incredibly light and at times slippery in the rain.
I'm running the standard rims and tyres which are very slick like.
Not a racer or weight concerned cyclist but wondered if the stock Giant tyres required changing for something a lot more grippier especially during our British summer of sunshine and rain.
If so, which would be a good tyre to buy for virtually all round use please?
My Giant Defy Advanced 2 is a brand spanker and last night was the first time it had seen wet weather.
Now obviously I was keen to avoid manholes etc to prevent slippage, however, the rear end did feel incredibly light and at times slippery in the rain.
I'm running the standard rims and tyres which are very slick like.
Not a racer or weight concerned cyclist but wondered if the stock Giant tyres required changing for something a lot more grippier especially during our British summer of sunshine and rain.
If so, which would be a good tyre to buy for virtually all round use please?
0
Posts
fwiw i use conti gp4000s on my commute bike, the compound is good in the wet, reasonable puncture protection, decent rolling resistance
whatever you choose, consider fitting 25mm, you can run slightly lower pressure and have the benefit of a comfier ride with better traction, but on wet ironwork or a bit of oil any tyre can slip
They're standard 25's.
I was considering Contis. Seems they may be one of the best all round tyres.
I had some utterly shocking Vittoria Zaffiro's on a new bike few years ago, after they nearly killed me a few times they went in the bin.
Slick is not a problem, its the compound.
With 25mm tyres be careful that there is sufficient clearance to the frame - particularly top of front tyre potentially rubbing against underside of forks (that was a problem I encountered with a Colnago).
Peter
Cheap.
As chips.
By the way, they are a great all round tyre and last well. You can trust them in the wet, and yes you have found experience of the fact that some tyres are pretty censored in it.
Otherwise the best clinchers clinchers are conti GP4000s or for a more durable tyre the Schwable durano.
Some batches of tyres are worse than others but I've had some Conti's where it's been so thick that you could scrape it off in big chunks with your fingernails. It's not really noticeable in the dry, but using tyres that are still covered with this stuff in the wet is absolutely lethal because, as you can imagine, waxy substance + water doesn't exactly provide a grippy interface.
If your tyres still look black and glossy then chances are they're still covered in this censored ; once they look more of a dark-grey matt colour then you're good to go. It'll strip off after a hundred miles or so of riding in dry conditions, but until then I'd be disinclined to use them in the wet and if you do, take care when braking or cornering at speed. Some people mention scrubbing or even sanding the tyres down but IMO it's far easier to just get a couple of decent dry rides in on them, rotating the back and front tyres if necessary.