Best Tyres?

[oldroadman]

Enough of all this negative stuff - informative though it is - what about the best tyres you have used?
I'll start the ball rolling with a memory from a zillion years back when I was young and God was a boy.
The received wisdom at the time for us competitive types was train on Pirelli Gran Premio (a 14oz tubular "hosepipe" that went on and on), OKish for grip and rarely punctured. A couple of spares strapped behind the saddle that maybe got used twice through a season.
Race wise depending on the likely surfaces and weather conditions we has Pirelli Leggero or Leggero/L
which came in at about 10 and 8.5oz respectively. All weights in old money as back then everything was in UK. Decent resistance, nice rolling at about 6-7 bar, and used by lots of people. Plus well priced if you couldn't manage a scrounge from anyone.
Right now with open tyres it's whatever I fancy but Conti or Schwalbe seem OK.

Nowadays when playing with the moto it's either Bridgestone or Michelin, with a test going on now of some new Avon, as yet to see what they are like in 'orrible (i.e. wet) conditions..

 

[DCLane]

Current tyre: Conti GP4000S II - great for pretty much anything, Vittoria Rubino for commuting.

However my 12 year old thinks I'm stupid and prefers Continental Competition tubs. Which at £75 RRP a pop makes them pricey imo.

As for the car I'm running Goodyear F1's (on a Saab Aero vert)

 

[mjr]

Schwalbe Delta Cruisers for general-purpose use. The mainly-road cousin of the half-and-half Land Cruisers that seem to get a lot of love on here. Less armoured than Marathon but its kevlar still stops most things. It's lighter, fairly supple and the compound grips and lasts pretty well for me. I think it's getting a bit long in the tooth now, but I'll stick with it until Marathon Supreme or One fall in price a bit. Edit: available in widths from 28mm to 37mm in 622s, so can do most road or hybrid bikes, plus the old 26x1⅜ and 28x1½ if you still have them. The HS-159 is similar for 630s but a different tread pattern.

Vittoria Rubino seems a pretty good road bike tyre but I've yet to try it myself for more than a test ride. Reports are very very good, though.

Schwalbe seem to have the proper winter tyre market cornered with Snow Stud and Marathon Winter.

 

[Crackle]

Mtn bike - WTB Velociraptors, never slid, terrible on the road though I use Schwalbe Nobby Nik's now
Road Bike - Plain old Schwalbe Blizzard on at the mo

 

[User33236]

My 'best' tyres ante generally what I have tried and tested over recent years for my current riding and depends on the bike in question.

Schwalbe Duranos with raceguard for my road bike (although I'm trying out the Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Slicks that came with my latest road bike and so far so good).

GP 4 seasons on my commuter

and

Vittoria Open Corsa CX iii on my TT bike.

 

[dim]

Conti GP4000S II for my fast bike ... 700Cx25 (but they tend to cut easily)

Schwalbe Durano plus (700cx25) for winter tyres (bombproof, roll ok and have a Schwalbe puncture resistance rating of 6 which is the same as Marathon Plus

Schwalbe Marathon Supreme (26x1,6) for my Surly Long Haul Trucker (my daily winter commuting bike)

 

[russellchapman]

Schwalbe One, came with my bike and see no reason to change, they have proven to be excellent tyres

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Vittoria Open Corsa CX 25mm. I like them hard, about 115-120psi

 

[the_mikey]

Continental Grand Prix: I simply love these tyres, an abundance of grip that I've not experienced with any another brand, good P protection and reasonably priced.

 

[smutchin]

Of all the tyres I've ever used, the two that stand out in my mind are Conti GP4000S II and Schwalbe Marathon Supreme.

Currently using Michelin Pro4 Endurance on two bikes because they were a great price on Chain Reaction, and I've been very pleased with them so far.

 

[helston90]

Currently using Michelin Pro4 Endurance on two bikes because they were a great price on Chain Reaction

This is how I choose my tyres every single time!

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Continental Grand Prix: I simply love these tyres, an abundance of grip that I've not experienced with any another brand, good P protection and reasonably priced.

How did you experience that grip and how did you compare it to other tyres?

 

[User169]

Challenge Paris-Roubaix Open Tubulars because they look nice.

 

[smutchin]

How did you experience that grip and how did you compare it to other tyres?

Questions like this are why I'm reluctant to qualify my recommendation for particular tyres with reasons! My personal experience is that GP4000S II are indeed very grippy, but not having any means of measuring such things scientifically, I'm aware that this is an entirely subjective assessment.

Actually, it's something that I was considering on my way home from the club ride yesterday after bottling out of taking a tight corner at speed (on the aforementioned Michelins) - I came to the conclusion that my own confidence was far more of a limiting factor than the level of grip offered by the tyres. Perhaps there is a placebo effect at work - if you're riding a tyre like the GP4000, which every review on the internet will tell you is extremely grippy, it will give you more confidence on a subconscious level and therefore you're more likely to push them closer to their limits. Though since most of us are not pro racers, I doubt we ever actually get that close to their limits.

I did have a fall a couple of months ago when I hit a slippery patch on a bend while riding on Schwalbe Ones. I don't know if it was entirely the fault of the tyres, or just bad luck or maybe even my own fault for the way I was riding, but I do know that it has dented my confidence in Schwalbe One tyres and I won't ride with them again.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Questions like this are why I'm reluctant to qualify my recommendation for particular tyres with reasons! My personal experience is that GP4000S II are indeed very grippy, but not having any means of measuring such things scientifically, I'm aware that this is an entirely subjective assessment.

You are contradictory with that statement. On the one hand you say your experiences tells you this but on the other you admit it is subjective. Which is it?

Actually, it's something that I was considering on my way home from the club ride yesterday after bottling out of taking a tight corner at speed (on the aforementioned Michelins) - I came to the conclusion that my own confidence was far more of a limiting factor than the level of grip offered by the tyres. Perhaps there is a placebo effect at work - if you're riding a tyre like the GP4000, which every review on the internet will tell you is extremely grippy, it will give you more confidence on a subconscious level and therefore you're more likely to push them closer to their limits. Though since most of us are not pro racers, I doubt we ever actually get that close to their limits.

Placebo is very powerful in cycling. Just look at the number of people who can actually see the effect of their new wheels right there on their Strava data. You and I have discussed "reviewers" before but it is worth killing that one before it goes any further. Even if it is for the second time.

Reviews are useless unless the data is supplied by scientists. I'm not talking about reviews of bandanas or socks which are meant to be subjective. I'm talking about "reviewers" who claim this tyre is more grippy than that one.

As far as tyres goes, here's why reviewers talk nonsense.

Braking.
1) On the front wheel you have more traction than you can use. We know this because you cannot skid a front wheel. The bike will overturn before the wheel locks. Therefore you cannot test "grip" by applying the front brake.
2) On the rear wheel you have zero traction at high decelleration. We know this because the rear wheel lifts when you brake hard. A wheel that's in the air is not utilising it's "grip". Therefore you cannot test "grip" by applying the rear brake.

Cornering.
None of us are very keen to test a tyre's grip around a corner, and for good reason. Most of us don't have the confidence to lean within the 45 degree region where break-away happens. Not even PRO cyclists or gonzo reviewers. Further, as long as you can corner without sliding, the tyre's grip limits have not been achieved. Therefore to say this tyre is grippier than that one is nonsense.
On a bicycle (not on cars or motorcycles) the slide is precipitous and irrecoverable. Yes I know you've once had a rear wheel slide away on a white line and recovered. That's because the entire surface was smooth and the tyre slid just a little bit before it had good grip again. However, if that slide was a few cm further, your angle would have been beyond recoverable and you would have fallen. What I'm saying is that a bicycle tyre gives you no warning and once it slides, it cannot be recovered. This is not true for car tyres and motorcycle tyres. Both for different reasons which I won't go into here. Any example from that category is not valid here.

To test bicycle tyre cornering break-away angles in situ is impossible.
Any reviewer that says this tyre is grippier than that tyre is talking nonsense. Yet they do it all the time and people believe them and make decisions based on that.

The simple fact is that most tyres have far more grip than we have balls.

I did have a fall a couple of months ago when I hit a slippery patch on a bend while riding on Schwalbe Ones. I don't know if it was entirely the fault of the tyres, or just bad luck or maybe even my own fault for the way I was riding, but I do know that it has dented my confidence in Schwalbe One tyres and I won't ride with them again.

It wasn't the tyre's fault. Conditions overwhelmed the traction.

The best advice I can offer any cyclist is to not read reviews and not do what the PRO's say or do. Neither category of sage has any more insight than Joe Average.