Fairy resistant commuter tyres - do I need 28's really?

daniel_b

Morning all,

preparing things for my 20 mile commute that will start next year now, as the move has been delayed.

I was going to sell my Carbon Synapse, but I'm now thinking this could be bought into service as a luxury commuter wagon.
I've just ordered some SKS XL Raceblades I think they are, and don't need a pannier, so can get away with one of those backloader bags - I have a 10 litre one.

My goto winter\commuter tyre has always been the 25mm Durano Plus, which serves me REALLY well.
I run Marathon pluses on the two short commute\child carrying bikes, but don't want something that heavy for this distance.

I'm pretty light, and still have a road bike wearing 23's front and rear - I know the current rage is all for wider and wider tyres, less pressure etc, and the Synapse could take 28's, but the Durano Plus folding is not available in 28mm AND folding, so is wire bead and even heavier, for what is not a light tyre to start with, so that is not a 28 option for me.

So - should I just stick with what I know, or is there a good 28mm folding fairy resistant tyre out there that would do me proud for 60 odd miles a week (3 days in the office) without too much drama.

Thanks

Dan

lemonenema

I commute on Schwalbe durano 28c (non plus, folding) and dont have any issues but if I wanted something a little tougher in a 28c Id think about Continental Gatorskin

rhodrich

It depends on the roads you go on, but I find that fairy resistant tyres don't make much difference to fairy occurrences. Standard Durano should do you fine, and they're available in 28mm folding. I ran them for about 2 years on my 17 mile each way commute for a couple of years, and had a puncture about 2-3 times a year.

Currently on 28mm Continental Grand Prix tyres, which are not supposed to be particularly fairy resistant, and went through the whole of 2018 without a puncture. Have had 2 so far this year, but one of those was a rim tape failure, and the other was a snakebite, so neither were anything to do with the puncture resistance of the tyres.

Definitely worth going to 28's for comfort on a commute either way.....

joe_totale-2

Regular Duranos aren't too expensive and are folding. I use 28's on my commuter bike and fingers crossed have never had a puncture from the fairy. On a day like today the extra width is worth it for all the rain and Duranos have excellent wet grip unlike Gatorskins.

Otherwise I'd suggest the Michelin Pro 4 Endurance. They roll incredibly well for puncture resistant tyres and I used them throughout winter on my road bike before I went tubeless without any incident. Only issue is that they blow up big, the 25mm one is actually nearly 28mm so I imagine the 28 would actually be closer to 30mm. If clearance is an issue I'd stick with the 25mm for the Michelins.

daniel_b

Cheers chaps, lots of replies :-)

Sounds like 28s are the way forward then.

I'll do a bit more research on the Duranos, as there is a mind boggling range from the plus downwards, there seems to be about 4 different toughness levels. I did find a link once that clearly explained it, I'll have to see if I can find it again.

What kind of pressures do you tend to run your 28s at for commuting, same as you run for a weekend run, or a bit lower?

I suspect the weight of me, my bike, plus water and 'luggage' will be in the region of 75-80kg.

My alloy synapse, which comes with factory thin (PDW I suspect) mudguards, already has 25mm Durano pluses fitted, and I couldn't go wider and still have functioning mudguards, so will leave that as is for the really dire weather - I also have some studded tyres I could fit as well, if I wanted to take on the ice.

joe_totale-2

I'm about the same weight as you and run about 70-75 at the front and 75-80 at the rear.

gabriel959

I use 32c Continental 4 Seasons in the winter, they roll fairly well and are fairly resistant, although not as tough as Durano Pluses or the tougher Conti tyres.

frogonabike

+1 on the regular durano's. Particularly the wet grip, they seem the same/similar compound to the pro ones. Also probably about 1-3 punctures per year (about 3k miles on the commuter) and these mostly come towards the end of their life

-1 on the gators. Stiff sidewalls and not so great in the wet (IMO)

Think I'm about 10kg's heavier and run 80 rear, 75 front

Can always put a bit of sealant in your tubes for a bit of ghetto tubed tubelessness

anonymousblackfg

Rubino Pros. Cheap and they work, I am just annoyed they don't come in 32's for my set up.

slowbike

TBH - I just ride my road bikes - currently got a 25 on the back of my wet bike and 23 on the rest of the wheels - if it's really grotty I could switch to my CX with 32mm tyres and full guards & rack.
Punctures really depend on where you're riding - my commutes are pretty much all country A road (especially if it's damp) - so less crap on the road because the MVs have cleared it. Doesn't entirely prevent the fairy from visiting, but (IME) she normally frequents the quieter roads ...

perfectmark

After trying a load of various tyres over the years, I have found the below combination to be best:

Winter:
Front - GP 4Seasons 28 (the tread starts to break up after a year, so don't use on the rear anymore, but never had a puncture with them)
Rear - GatorSkins 28 (doesn't have a lot of grip in the wet, but as long as you are aware of how it behaves, I am OK with them.)

Summer
Front - GP4000 28 (had a blowout on a rear when going through a industrial park, so only use them on the front now, but a good tyre and the last one lasted me 3 years on the front).
Rear - GP GT 28 (similar to the GP4000, but with more puncture protection, so in-between the GP4000 and GP4S).

Also had a Michelin Pro 4 Endurance previously for about a year, but it would puncture every few weeks so stopped using it, even though it probably plenty of life let in it.

veronese68

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Rubino Pros. Cheap and they work, I am just annoyed they don't come in 32's for my set up.

You want Vittoria Voyager Hypers, 32mm of loveliness. The folding ones, not the wire beaded ones. Unfortunately for Dan I don't think they come in 28mm.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I've just gone back to Conti Grand Sport Races again on the Voodoo for summer commuting, albeit my commute is only ~10 miles per day total and can involve ~0.25 mile of dirt path alongside the River Itchen on the way home.

Last two summers I've ran "28mm" GSRs both ends, but this time I tried fitting a "25mm" at the front for less aero drag and even ended up using one of my latex tubes inside the front tube to test pressure loss in a smaller tyre, after giving up on having a latex tube on my Cube's rear tyre!
Like GP4000S IIs, Grand Sport Races measure big, "25mm" being ~27mm and "28mm" being ~31mm wide.

Total weight for me and Voodoo is roughly ~94Kg, this morning I inflated the 25mm front to ~85PSI and the 28mm rear to ~87PSI.

Recently been running 35mm Randonneur Pro II up front at ~65PSI and 38mm Marathon Cross at ~80PSI. The latter have been solid commuters for the last two years, decent protection belt and roll pretty well on the road, just a bit heavy at ~560g. The Randonneurs are ~10 years old, barely used them, becaus eeach time I do (just like recently) they feel horribly draggy.

shirley_basso

Think of it as a nice 30 mile bike ride. When I did the odd commute from Cambridge to London (60 miles) I'd roll out the best bike with Di2, carbon wheels and Vittoria Open Corsa CX.

Just because it has commute in the title, doesn't mean you should do anything differently unless you are carrying a load of extra weight.

daniel_b

Wow, loads more useful replies, cheers all :-)

I shall investigate the 4 seasons angle.
Rubino Pros and Michelin Pro 4 Endurance, I have tried, but they don't seem to work round these neck of the woods, plenty of bits of flint get spat out on to the road, and they get cut up something rotten :-(

As I have the two bikes available, I'm prepared to go with a less 'winter' tyre on the nicer bike, but I am unable to treat it just like a normal weekend ride for a multitude of reasons.
Firstly, I need to be at work at a certain time, secondly I may have to get back for a school pickup (Though hopefully only once a week), and thirdly there's no girlfriend on the end of a phone (She'll be at work) to come and pick me up should I have a flat I can't fix - appreciate there is nothing I can do in that situation anyway, but will have tubes, pump and CO2 with me, so I would hope I could limp in worst case, and get a lift back if it's not ridable back.
I will be tending to ride the quieter roads, for probably 13 of the 20 mile route, so crap on the road will be a reasonable feature me thinks - especially in the winter.

@Veronese - Used the Voyager hypers in a 35 on the Kona, and they were very good - rear one just started to suffer from punctures, so have replaced it with a Marathon Plus - front to be changed when I get round to it.

@NO - that's some serious aero hunting you are doing sir :-)
Dedicated to the cause.

@Frogonabike -what is this ghetto method you speak of - sounds interesting, could give it a whirl - do you need removable cores........?

lemonenema

id agree on the michelin pro4 - great tyres, still my favourites but they do get cut up fairly easily compared to the Duranos, still theyre what I use on my best wheels.
Pressure pretty much the same as been suggested, im 73kg, 80psi Rear and 65psi Front on 28s
I wont get in to the debate on rim width unless you ask nicely, but that plays an important part too....

my 2p worth - dont bother with putting sealant in innertubes road tyres its not worth the hassle, ive tried it on mtb and its a lot easier to do it properly and go full tubeless. Problem ive had is if you do get a puncture that doesnt seal e.g pinch flat then the sealant stops the repair patches from sticking.
For me at least, current tubeless tyre tech isnt there yet for road use, although I think conti GP5000 TL are probably pretty darn good if you can stomach the price. My rims are tubeless ready but i prefer Michelin pro4 / Conti grand prix, Schwalbe durano for price and performance.

jds_1981

I've been running these tubeless since last year - https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Crosscut ... 115258.htm

Specs show it to be quite heavy, don't really notice it on my commute (20 miles/day).

I've not had a puncture once, when I'd normally expect a few punctures over winter. I've even pulled a couple of pieces of metal out of my tyre which self sealed.

I wouldn't go back to puncture resistent. To me its the difference between not getting many punctures and getting no punctures.

Cheeseface22

I'm a Marathon+ convert. on 25C and 1,500miles of hassle free commute already since I changed (6 months in). And I confidently ride over anything on the road.

Somebody here posted a while ago about Wiggle's (or the usual online bike store) own Marathon+ equivalent for fraction of price. I forgot exactly what they were but I'm planning to use that for the next set.

pangolin

Veronese68 wrote:

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Rubino Pros. Cheap and they work, I am just annoyed they don't come in 32's for my set up.

You want Vittoria Voyager Hypers, 32mm of loveliness. The folding ones, not the wire beaded ones. Unfortunately for Dan I don't think they come in 28mm.

Can you buy these anywhere at the moment?

daniel_b

pangolin wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Rubino Pros. Cheap and they work, I am just annoyed they don't come in 32's for my set up.

You want Vittoria Voyager Hypers, 32mm of loveliness. The folding ones, not the wire beaded ones. Unfortunately for Dan I don't think they come in 28mm.

Can you buy these anywhere at the moment?

Planet X / DFS usually.

mrb123

Specialized Roubaix Pros have been great for me on the winter bike. I have the 32/30 size which have handled plenty of winter miles and some light gravel action and have yet to puncture.

They are available in narrower sizes and a tubeless model (the 2Bliss version).