FIRST PUNCTURE!! New Tyre recommendations please

plys

Hi All,

I did the BTW scheme in February and since then have built myself up to a steady 3 days a week 26km each way commute... and here's the amazing bit - I got my first puncture on the way home yesterday evening!! So that's about 3,000km without a puncture... is this normal??!

Anyway, it lashed rain and as I hadn't got my rain gear on, I stopped to put my phone in my bag (under the flyover bridge at Finglas village, for anyone who knows it). Must have gone over some glass in the process, because when I pulled away the rear tyre was flat as a pancake. Walked up to the nearest Topaz and pumped her up, only to see that there was a gash of about half an inch across the width of the tyre. Had to phone herself for a lift

The casualty is a Schwalbe CX Pro...

My commute takes me from Meath on the old N2 (which has since been bypassed), over the m50 and into St. Stephen's Green. The 'rural' part of the journey is actually quite easy as the road is quite good and reasonably free of potholes etc. And from the m50 in, the road surface is quite good also.

So my initial suspicions which drove me towards a 'hybrid' with nobbly tyres appear to be unfounded. I am currently leaning towards a more road/street tyre such as the Continental Sport Contact or a Schwalbe Durano.

Looking for advice on these or recommendations for other tyres. Or is the very reason I didn't get a puncture for so long down to the fact that I had these knobbly tyres in the first place????

Thanks in advance.

plys

Lumen

Knobbly tyres are not more puncture resistant, in fact they tend to be less so because the pressures are lower. They're also slower, heavier and have less grip.

Get something smooth and tough. Marathon Plus are well regarded but they're overkill for most people. Marathon Supreme or Gatorskin are decent.

I don't personally like Sport Contacts, but others like them.

Wishbone Ash

52km round trip on knobbly tyres is some going!

I'd also recommend Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres - bombproof.

C3PO

Of course, you know that after this post you're going to get 3 punctures in the next week?

plys

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

52km round trip on knobbly tyres is some going!

I'd also recommend Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres - bombproof.

it's not as bad as it sounds, max elevation is about 80m and it's relatively flat, so nothing too chaotic.. Thanks for the recommendation!

C3PO wrote: »

Of course, you know that after this post you're going to get 3 punctures in the next week?

Yep, I was kinda thinking my luck had ran out!!

Civilian_Target

Schwalbe Marathon Plus are super hard, I put one on the back wheel of one of my bikes in 2007, 15,000km later it's still going.

The downside is that they're heavy, and pretty rigid. You'll get a more comfortable ride out of Continental Gatorskins, but they'll only last half as long.

I also like Sport Contact on my front tyre, but on the back they can be liable to pinch flats because they don't have a re-enforced sidewall.

Mycroft H

Panaracer Pasela TourGuard would be a good choice. They make them in 26" sizes too

Seweryn

plys wrote: »

So that's about 3,000km without a puncture... is this normal??!

I am not sure, but since I started cycling (same commuting distance to yours every day) I had one puncture after about 14k km and it was only because I hit a rock and the tube just got a small split.
My first set of tyres was Schwalbe Ultremo R1, which came with the bike and now I use Continental 4000S.