Tyresome talk - All things tyres

topcat77

xckjoo wrote: »

You guys have me debating this now . I got a GoPro like camera for the bike before but never find myself using it. I guess this form factor would work better and the integrated light would be good. Might re-purpose the other one for a rear facing camera

Edit: Anyone got any recommendation for puncture resistant tyres for a commuter bike? Might as well order them too

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/wtb-thickslick-flat-guard-tyre-2018/rp-prod151680

great feel to them on the road.

fat bloke

topcat77 wrote: »

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/wtb-thickslick-flat-guard-tyre-2018/rp-prod151680

great feel to them on the road.

How are they in wet weather though (being slicks)?

TychoCaine

fat bloke wrote: »

How are they in wet weather though (being slicks)?

There's no benefit to a tread on a road tyre, even in the rain. Unlike car tyres, they're narrow enough to displace water any without a tread. A slick tyre has more rubber in contact with the road meaning more grip, not less.

fat bloke

TychoCaine wrote: »

There's no benefit to a tread on a road tyre, even in the rain. Unlike car tyres, they're narrow enough to displace water any without a tread. A slick tyre has more rubber in contact with the road meaning more grip, not less.

Eeeshk. Yeah, I wouldn't completely agree with that from my own experience. I used to run "fatboy" slicks on a mountain bike and they were fantastic in the dry but dodgy enough in the wet. Still have the twinge in my knee from when I came a cropper.

Apart from that I did love them and that's 15 years ago so it wouldn't necessarily put me off trying new rubber.

topcat77

i used to run Schwalbe Marathon Plus Road Tyre on my commuter. I never had a puncture but it killed the feel of the bike. I've been running the WTB Thickslick for about a year an a half and love them. Great feel, good grip in all conditions, no punctures and they look fecking great.

TychoCaine

fat bloke wrote: »

Eeeshk. Yeah, I wouldn't completely agree with that from my own experience. I used to run "fatboy" slicks on a mountain bike and they were fantastic in the dry but dodgy enough in the wet. Still have the twinge in my knee from when I came a cropper.

Apart from that I did love them and that's 15 years ago so it wouldn't necessarily put me off trying new rubber.

That would be more down to the rubber compound than the pattern, and also, I'm specifically talking about skinny road tyres on tarmac. Off-road on fat tyres is a totally different story

Macy0161

Was holding off on posting on the bargain alerts thread, but now it has it's own thread...

For purely commuting, it's hard to beat the marathon plus for piece of mind. Although, if they did puncture, I wouldn't relish a tube change with in cold and wet. However, I tried them on a few weekend spins and it was a horrible experience - sucked all the joy out of the ride.

I've recently gone to using my winter bike as my commuter too. That did have GP 4 seasons on, which were great rolling resistance wise, but I didn't feel they were robust enough for the commute.

I've switched to vittoria randonneur Pro II. I haven't done long enough to comment fully on the puncture resistance, but definitely beefed up compared to the GP 4 Seasons, without too much of a weight or ride penalty. Admittedly, I've also gone from 25mm to 32mm, so any ride harshness could be offset. Similarly, haven't done enough in the wet, but seem to handle ok - better than the marathon plus anyway.

Alek

20km daily commuting through Dublin city centre, GP4000 tyres, a puncture every couple of months, quite often from a pinch flat. Mind, I run low pressures (50-60psi on 28mm rubber) and this seems to prevent cuts quite effectively.

What do you go through guys to require a Marathon Plus or similar? Local glass works backyard?

steamsey

Rode Marathon Plus's on the commuter years ago when I used to cycle down N11 cycle lane - needed puncture protection at the time as there was always glass, poor cycle lane surface. They did the job but as others say - did not make for a fun cycle.

On GP4000's now - 28mm front, 25mm rear - very happy with them - grip, no punctures and they still grip in the wet unlike the Gatorskins that preceeded them. I try to keep the GP4000's up at 100psi.

Plastik

Commuting 46km per day, year round. The odd puncture. Actually I puncutured going home on Friday evening. It took me 6 minutes to be back on my way again, and that included pumping the tube twice because it wasn't sitting right. I'll take that every now and again over hating every other minute on the bike because of Marathon's, or other heavy slow POS puncture proof tyre.

Using Michelin Lithion II 23's at the moment and theyve been absolutely fine for the daily grind. I've also used Conti UltraSport/II 25's and 28's, and GP4000/II 23's and 25's have all been fine too. The worst I've ever used commuting were Mavic Yksion's which just punctured constantly, and I took it too far by trying to commute into D1 on Vittoria Corsa's. They looked mega, but just weren't suitable.

I find thread does not equal wet weather grip. Compound is king.

Macy0161

Alek wrote: »

What do you go through guys to require a Marathon Plus or similar? Local glass works backyard?

Sometimes it feels like it! Although they have gone over and through broken beer bottles and out the otherside when it was that or under a bus!

For me, it's not so much I had issues without them, I'm just under time pressure to collect the children in the evening, so it's the peace of mind knowing you very very very unlikely to puncture with them. I do tend to use the beater/ commuter to go across town for meetings too, so while a puncture on the commute wouldn't be the worst, when I'm somewhat suited and booted...

CramCycle

Would never go back to the marathon pluses. Great tyre and bought some earlier in the year for the commuter but realised, life is too short to deal with that level of uncomfortableness. Use GP4000S all the time with a spare tyre at home and in the office, so when they do go, I can change out straight away.

Alek

so when they do go

I got 8000km out of my last pair... and they have seen more than a regular road tyre does

cdaly_

Vittoria Voyager Hypers for everything. Commute is not into city but I meet broken glass on the S2S cycleway from time to time. Punctures are rare, bike is comfy...

Get In There

Lifeline Prime Armour gets my vote as a solid commuting tyre. I've got them on my winter bike too. Great puncture resistance.

CramCycle

Alek wrote: »

I got 8000km out of my last pair... and they have seen more than a regular road tyre does

I get at least 3/4 to a full year, so typically 10,000km, sometimes more, sometimes less

Dr_Colossus

Plastik wrote: »

The worst I've ever used commuting were Mavic Yksion's which just punctured constantly

Funny you mention these, I commute 28km daily through the city centre and quays so plenty of crappy surfaces and while I didn’t find the Yksion’s terrible in terms of punctures they wore incredibly fast and only got 5k km out of them before they were down to the canvas, very soft compound.

Find the Conti GP4000s very good and like CramCycle below get about 10k km out of them. Had a week old tyre develop a cut on the sidewall a couple of years ago like it was cut with a box cutter when unpacking and Continental sent out a replacement to me when I emailed them photos so good for repeat custom. They are expensive however and could do with buying another pair as I’ve no spare at present so don’t want to be caught short and buy an overpriced generic tyre in a shop here so starting to look at offers, I see CRC have them for €37.50 at present or Bike24 at €32.90 plus postage, anyone seen better for the 700x23c?

CramCycle wrote: »

Would never go back to the marathon pluses. Great tyre and bought some earlier in the year for the commuter but realised, life is too short to deal with that level of uncomfortableness. Use GP4000S all the time with a spare tyre at home and in the office, so when they do go, I can change out straight away.

CramCycle wrote: »

I get at least 3/4 to a full year, so typically 10,000km, sometimes more, sometimes less

C3PO

I find Schwalbe Durano Plus's to be a great compromise on the commuter - not as sluggish as Marathon Plus but (in my experience) bulletproof! Tempting fate, but I've used them for 3 years, 5 days a week, 30kms a day and no punctures to date! Get the best part of a year out of a set. I use 4-Seasons and GP4000s on the good bikes but I really don't want to go back to (even occasionally) fixing a puncture at 5.45am on a wet winter Tuesday! The fact that I commute on a non-QR axle single speed doesn't help tube changing either! :rolleyes:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/schwalbe-durano-plus-folding-tyre-smartguard/rp-prod128939

bingobars

Durano Plus and Gatorskins are great all rounders but once they start getting nicks I lose all faith. Still a safe bet.

Marathon plus are bomb proof but a brutal ride and terrible grip

Running tubeless with hutchinson fusions at the moment, they don’t stop you once pierced within reason. They lose a few psi but you ride on. Not riding them long enough but I know there were potential full flats that I avoided. I’ll reserve full judgement for now. Going ok. I ride a rough commute compared to most. Tubeless has the makings of being the one I’m thinking

jonnybravo

C3PO wrote: »

I find Schwalbe Durano Plus's to be a great compromise on the commuter - not as sluggish as Marathon Plus but (in my experience) bulletproof! Tempting fate, but I've used them for 3 years, 5 days a week, 30kms a day and no punctures to date! Get the best part of a year out of a set. I use 4-Seasons and GP4000s on the good bikes but I really don't want to go back to (even occasionally) fixing a puncture at 5.45am on a wet winter Tuesday! The fact that I commute on a non-QR axle single speed doesn't help tube changing either! :rolleyes:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/schwalbe-durano-plus-folding-tyre-smartguard/rp-prod128939

Would these 700x28 fit on a Fulcrum Racing 77 wheelset? Currently have Schwalbe Kojak Active 35x622 but need to replace them soon.

jonnybravo

Weepsie wrote: »

They are listed as 622 x 17c so should be grand for 28mm tyres.

Cheers

Diemos

Can I get some advice for my commuter?

My bike came with Kenda K1098 700x28C tyres.
And while I've never had a puncture and I think they ride fine, I took a tumble of the bike in the rain last year when the front washed out on a roundabout (I was too fast for the conditions). Since then I've lost all confidence in the front wheel when the road is wet.

I was thinking of picking up some marathon plus but reading peoples review here they seem like a bad choice.

What would be the best wet tyre for me? Cheers

Macy0161

Anything that's puncture resistant tends to be a harder compound, which affects the handling in the wet. fwiw, I never found the marathon plus that bad in the wet, but I did take it easy after reading on here how bad they were (up to then I had no complaints).

I've kinda limited experience, but the best I've used in the wet have been Conti GP 4 Seasons, but they're expensive and as per earlier in the thread, I wasn't personally convinced they were robust enough for me for commuting.

John Hutton

People giving out about the Marathon plus should try the regular marathon touring tire. Lighter, more comfortable, FAR easier to get on and off the rim and almost as puncture proof.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I have Michelin Lithion 2’s on my winter bike and I’m really impressed with them. Great wet grip and low rolling resistance and no punctures so far (approx 1000km on them) and little or no signs of wear on them.

dahat

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I have Michelin Lithion 2’s on my winter bike and I’m really impressed with them. Great wet grip and low rolling resistance and no punctures so far (approx 1000km on them) and little or no signs of wear on them.

I've used these before and was impressed also. They can be bought for pennies and survived the whole winter with no incident.

CramCycle

Not sure if this should go for a separate thread or not but just seen the turbolito tyres that WNT rotor are using. Reviews look really good and bar the price tag they seem like a no lose option for racers. Any opinions?