Tyre advice for relative road newbie

Mr_M
Mr_M Posts: 98
edited September 2010 in Road buying advice
Sorry folks, yet another "what tyre" thread! :oops:

I'm a seasoned MTB'er who's recently started doing more road riding (forced too at first following an injury - but am now really starting to enjoy it :lol: )

Wish list to follow in a minute (I suspect I'm after the unattainable 'holy grail' of tyres), but I really don't have a clue where to start with road tyres so any tips of which to look for / which to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

Wish list (in order of importance to me)...

(1) Grip - in both dry and wet
(2) Comfort (Probably 25mm? - I'm not racing - think mid to long distance sportives)
(3) Puncture resistance
(4) Roll

I'm really not too worried if it's a tyre that wears quickly (as long as it's not stuidly quickly) - I'm willing to accept a grip / wear trade off.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Comments

  • You'll get hundreds of replies to this, each with their own preferences!

    You can't go wrong with most of the well known brands. I've used all of them in the past and now stick with tyres from Schwalbe. They're tough, roll well and wear well and best of all have superb grip (I've found Continental's are slippery in damp conditions).

    Their top end tyre (the Ultremo) is superb, for all year round riding the Durano's or the cheaper Blizzard's are great choices.
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  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Schwalbe Durano.
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  • ... as you don't mention price among the priorities, then Vittoria Pave' is the tyre for you... a bit pricey, though.

    Alternatively Conti Gatorskin 25 would fit the bill for a lot less, but the grip is not exceptional
    left the forum March 2023
  • Mr_M
    Mr_M Posts: 98
    Thanks for the responses so far guys - appreciated.

    Chip - yeah, I was expecting a dozen different versions of "the best tyre is..." but even that can be informative once the same tyre crops up half a dozen tyres. Your comments on schwalbe are noted - I use some of their tyres off road - they don't seem to make a bad tyre.

    Ugo - I deliberately left price out to see what people would come up with :D Interested that you suggested the Vittoria Pave as I'd had those suggested elsewhere too and they were the tyres I was leaning towards before posting this.

    Thanks for the suggestions so far, any others most welcome
  • Evil Laugh
    Evil Laugh Posts: 1,412
    Get the paves, they're awesome. What's £10-20 in the grand scheme of things?
  • 25mm won't necessarily be more comfortable than 23mm. (there is a thread on this somewhere) When replacing my tyres i went from 25mm to 23mm and the 23s were much more comfortable. I assume this is more to do with the quality of rubber compound as the 25s were the cheapies that came with the bike and the 23mm were Conti GP4000S. I've not used decent tyres from other brands so can't really recommend them over anything else, but they are good IMO.
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