Another tyre question.......

bungle73

My bike came with wired Ultra Sport IIs. During the latter part of the winter I swapped to some folding 4 Seasons due to getting multiple punctures (they were fine before that). Now that the winter is behind us, and the roads have cleaned up a bit, I'm wondering if I would see any benefit from swapping back to the Ultra Sports? The Ultra Sports are obviously a lower quality tyre, and they have a wire bead, but they have a better rolling resistance, where as the 4 Seasons are premium quality, are folding, and are lighter, but have a higher rolling resistance. Thoughts?

The Ultra Sports are 25 and the 4 Seasons 28 btw.

bungle73

I could just swap them and see of course, but changing tyres on my wheels is such a MAJOR headache I thought I'd ask for opinions first.

sungod

tbh unless you timetrial, rolling resistance (within reason) isn't something to base selection on, i'd think more about grip, comfort and durability

if swapping is a hassle, may as well stick with what's fitted unless you want to save the 4 seasons for next winter, though with uk weather decent wet grip is always worth having

nightshade18

I'm with Sungod on this one.

I suspect the lower rolling resistance is a function of a harder compound of rubber. There might be marginal rolling gains in the lab, but in the real world you're likely to benefit more from the increased grip of a softer compound on the 4 seasons. If it was me, I'd stick with what's already on.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Personally I would go with the plusher volume 28c tyre, which just happens to have lower rolling resistance in this case, as roads near me are getting increasing worse potholes and less RR means my very average cycling power goes more towards keeping my speed up.

The 29er wheelset on my fatbike could potentially fit 28s, but I'm quite happy on my low RR 38c Marathon Plus.

dj58

As above, if tyre fitting is a major headache leave the better quality 4S on, the folding bead tyre should get easier to remove/fit than the wire bead type Ultra II. You may need to practice your technique and use a VAR tyre jack if you are struggling.

bungle73

sungod wrote:

tbh unless you timetrial, rolling resistance (within reason) isn't something to base selection on, i'd think more about grip, comfort and durability

if swapping is a hassle, may as well stick with what's fitted unless you want to save the 4 seasons for next winter, though with uk weather decent wet grip is always worth having

Thanks, I'll stick with what's on there then.

No, no time trialing, or anything of that ilk. I do attempt the odd Strave segment though.

As matter of fact my original plan was to stick GP4000s on there in the summer, but I got so fed up with constant punctures that I went and ordered the 4 Seasons because the GP4000s would have been no good for the winter. I might still change to those for the summmer, later, though.

nightshade18 wrote:

I'm with Sungod on this one.

I suspect the lower rolling resistance is a function of a harder compound of rubber. There might be marginal rolling gains in the lab, but in the real world you're likely to benefit more from the increased grip of a softer compound on the 4 seasons. If it was me, I'd stick with what's already on.

Isn't it more because the puncture protection makes the tread thicker, and therefore it doesn't deform and reform as easily when it hits the road surface. The Ultra Sports basically have no protection at all.

There is quite a big difference between the three tyres based on the results that http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ published.

NitrousOxide wrote:

Personally I would go with the plusher volume 28c tyre, which just happens to have lower rolling resistance in this case, as roads near me are getting increasing worse potholes and less RR means my very average cycling power goes more towards keeping my speed up.

The 29er wheelset on my fatbike could potentially fit 28s, but I'm quite happy on my low RR 38c Marathon Plus.

It's the 25s, the Ultra Sports, that have the least resistance. Technically a wider tyre has less, but really that would only be valid when comparing with the same model of tyre

DJ58 wrote:

As above, if tyre fitting is a major headache leave the better quality 4S on, the folding bead tyre should get easier to remove/fit than the wire bead type Ultra II. You may need to practice your technique and use a VAR tyre jack if you are struggling.

I've got one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1 which does the job getting them back on, but they're still a pain.

svetty

If tyre fitting is a 'major pain' you really do need to practice and improve your technique. It shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes for both wheels!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Svetty wrote:

If tyre fitting is a 'major pain' you really do need to practice and improve your technique. It shouldn't take more than 4 minutes for both wheels!

FTFY.

I was shocked when I fitted my Marathon Cross tyres to my 29er FatNotFat wheels for the first time, from getting the tyres out of the packaging and having the wheels out of the bike, it took less than one minute to fit each tyre by hand without levers! :shock:

I remember having fun and games trying to fit 25c Marathon Plus to an old set of wheels for the best part of an hour ~10 years ago!