Changing tyres on new tourer (and a few other bits!)

[jay clock]

I am buying a new Jamis Aurora Elite.

It comes with Clement Xplor USH 35mm tyres which are getting good online reviews, but my touring experience has 90% of tourers on Schwalbe Marathons.

On a previous tourer with 700 wheels (Galaxy clone) I managed fine with 28mm tyres. What difference will I notice if I drop to 32 or 28? I would be thinking of either Schwalbe Marathons (or Plus), or COntis, possibly Gator Hardshells

Any comments let me know

Also plan to tinker with are other things like saddle, possibly different mudguards and of course bottle cages

 

[raleighnut]

I too tour on 28s fitted to the Ridgeback.

 

[User66445]

I went for the Vittoria Rubino Pro Control Graphene tyres for the upcoming tours of Vietnam and Thailand. Good prices, good brand, good reviews, plus they're folding. They were also easy to put on the bike, unlike the Marathons.

Unless you're using unsealed trails, the bicycle routes for at least the first part of your journey are top. As you'd be aware, roads in France are good, so I wouldn't see you'd need too much in the way of heavy duty tyres.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I’ll be the first to say, “NOT Marathon +.”

There. Done it. Go for something more responsive and comfy. Normal Marathon Raceguard is fine.

 

[Blue Hills]

My normal day to day tyres are 28s, I like them, but for touring with any sort of load, and with at least slightly varying surfaces, wouldn't you be better with something like 38s?

 

[mjr]

You'll get much lower comfort (able to feel the road much more, in my experience) and a slightly lower weight. I'm not sure why you'd go much narrower than 37s for touring if your bike can take them. Getting the tyre pressures correct is much more important for both speed and comfort.

 

[MichaelW2]

Marathon Plus is a completely different tyre to plain Marathon.
Marathon is a good commuter that you can tour on but has a stiff sidewall so is less flexy and less efficient than specialist touring tyres.
I like 28mm for unladen riding inc light tracks and trails but with any load, 32 mm is my min. For tracks and trails a few more mm is welcome.
I have toured long distance camping on Marathon 32 and if the bike could take 38mm I would have used them.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

I currently have 35 mm fitted but will probably go back to 32 mm when they wear out. For light tracks and moderate loads either 32 mm or 35 mm would be fine.

There will be more difference between tyres from different manufacturers than between 32 mm and 35 mm from the same range.

 

[Prometheus]

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Continental-Cyclocross-Speed-Tyre_35513.htm
V.G.I.T.WET

 

[User66445]

I've toured France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany with 700x23s . Really, it depends on the road surfaces you'll be covering. As I've said, most French roads are pretty good, so I'd see more than 28 being unnecessary in this case.

 

[Dave 123]

I’m going to echo @Heltor Chasca and say avoid M+.
This time last year my rear tyre violently blew on my Spa. The only suitable replacement was an M+. I rode it through the winter but every inch of the way was bumpy and unresponsive. My back tyre felt like is was made of lead. Admittedly I had no punctures, but it was unpleasant.

Marathon race guard are my choice.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

I've got M+ 25c on one bike and fully pumped they feel like riding without tyres lol... I ride them with substantially less air now and they feel much much beter, no pinch flats as yet but i'm more likely to have them now.

I have the original Marathon on another bike and I prefer them, I'm very impressed with them and I'd tour on them.

I'm now running M Mondial on another bike, so far it's quite promising.

I've got gatorskin hardly used in my shed that I wasn't impressed with, despite the weight I'm sold on Marathon tyres, some more than others.
.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I've just fitted original Marathons to my Dawes Jaguar wheels, as the original Hutchison HP22 tyres had less rubber in them than my postman uses to hold his bundles of letters together. Flimsy and skinny isn't the word for them, plus they were totally knackered anyway. I've discovered that Marathons are not at all fun to fit if you try to do it with bare hands and not use tyre levers. I had to struggle with them for ages to get them on. What a pig job.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I listened to an interesting ‘Look Mum No Hands’ podcast where an eminent bike mechanic was guest.

She said that M+ tyres were some of the most short lived tyres that went through her workshop. The reason? Customers found them so hard and uncomfortable, they ran them at low pressures to compensate and eventually shredded the sidewalls.

Interesting. I wonder how much of M+ popularity is down to ‘fashion’?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I suspect that fitting M+ is often a knee jerk reaction to getting one too many nuisance punctures. In tyre terms, it's the Nuclear option.
However, I've fitted original Marathon Greenguard, NOT M+ to my Dawes, because the general consensus of opinion seems to be that original M's are very nearly as puncture-resistant as M+, but are significantly lighter, cheaper, have better "road feel", and are somewhat easier to fit. I really hate punctures, it's a ride spoiler, but I also wanted the best puncture resistance consistent with decent road manners. The Dawes I've fitted them to weighs only 24 lbs, which is 6 lbs lighter than the lightest of my other bikes, so a very heavy and dead-feeling tyre would be far more noticeable than on a heavy tank of a bike. A lot of roadies would be horrified at fitting even original Marathon on any drop bar bike, but to me they are a good compromise. The road surfaces are appalling, with potholes and little squares of car windscreen glass scattered everywhere. I can't be doing with weedy tyres that invite The Fairy to visit too frequently.