Tenacious Sloth
Guru
- Location
- Huntingdon, UK
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with M+ tyres.
I have two bikes, a Merida Ride which is used mainly on weekends and a CAADX which is my commuting/touring workhorse. During the summer months both bikes run Michelin Pro 4 Endurance 28c, which to me offer a nice blend of speed, comfort, grip and puncture resistance.
I’m lucky in that my commute to work is approx 13 miles each way, mainly on very quiet country roads.
I don’t suffer a huge number of punctures. This year in over 7500 miles I’ve only had two, both during my LEJOG back in May, so you could deduce that the road surfaces around where I live are generally pretty good.
However, I have a real phobia about suffering a puncture on my commute to work in the winter. The thought of having to fix a puncture at 0630 in the middle of nowhere on a wet, windy, freezing, pitch black January morning fills me with dread. So much so that for the last two winters I’ve switched the CAADX to M+ at the beginning of October when the darker mornings start to set in.
For a start, they are a bit of a nightmare to get onto my Pacenti rims when new, although a lot easier once they have a winter’s commuting miles in them.
How do they ride? Well, they’re very, very heavy, which is noticeable particularly when going up hills. I also reckon they suffer from a lack of grip when it’s really cold. There is also a deadness, or lack of “feel” when compared to the Michelins.
They are also slow. During the summer I generally average between 17-19 mph on my commute. In the winter it’s 14-16 mph. Some of this will be down to temperature and road surface condition, but I reckon most of the reduction in speed is down to the tyres.
Last winter I ran 35c M+. This winter I’ve changed to 28c in a bid to retain a bit more speed, but they are exactly the same. If anything the 35c are slightly more comfortable.
Plus points? Well I like the reflective strip around the sidewalls for winter riding and also the fact that they don’t seem to suffer from knicks and cuts. But mostly l like that I’ve NEVER HAD A PUNCTURE when riding on them. This is worth a lot to me and, for just this reason alone, I’m happy to put up with their down sides during the winter months.
If I ever suffered a puncture with them I think I’d be tempted to try the Tannus solid tyres.
As an aside, since initial Inflation post-installation at the beginning of October about 1000 miles ago, I haven’t had to put any air in them at all. The inner tubes are the same ones used with the Michelins, which generally needed a top-up every couple of weeks. I didn’t appreciate that tyres played such a major role in normal air loss?
Graham
I have two bikes, a Merida Ride which is used mainly on weekends and a CAADX which is my commuting/touring workhorse. During the summer months both bikes run Michelin Pro 4 Endurance 28c, which to me offer a nice blend of speed, comfort, grip and puncture resistance.
I’m lucky in that my commute to work is approx 13 miles each way, mainly on very quiet country roads.
I don’t suffer a huge number of punctures. This year in over 7500 miles I’ve only had two, both during my LEJOG back in May, so you could deduce that the road surfaces around where I live are generally pretty good.
However, I have a real phobia about suffering a puncture on my commute to work in the winter. The thought of having to fix a puncture at 0630 in the middle of nowhere on a wet, windy, freezing, pitch black January morning fills me with dread. So much so that for the last two winters I’ve switched the CAADX to M+ at the beginning of October when the darker mornings start to set in.
For a start, they are a bit of a nightmare to get onto my Pacenti rims when new, although a lot easier once they have a winter’s commuting miles in them.
How do they ride? Well, they’re very, very heavy, which is noticeable particularly when going up hills. I also reckon they suffer from a lack of grip when it’s really cold. There is also a deadness, or lack of “feel” when compared to the Michelins.
They are also slow. During the summer I generally average between 17-19 mph on my commute. In the winter it’s 14-16 mph. Some of this will be down to temperature and road surface condition, but I reckon most of the reduction in speed is down to the tyres.
Last winter I ran 35c M+. This winter I’ve changed to 28c in a bid to retain a bit more speed, but they are exactly the same. If anything the 35c are slightly more comfortable.
Plus points? Well I like the reflective strip around the sidewalls for winter riding and also the fact that they don’t seem to suffer from knicks and cuts. But mostly l like that I’ve NEVER HAD A PUNCTURE when riding on them. This is worth a lot to me and, for just this reason alone, I’m happy to put up with their down sides during the winter months.
If I ever suffered a puncture with them I think I’d be tempted to try the Tannus solid tyres.
As an aside, since initial Inflation post-installation at the beginning of October about 1000 miles ago, I haven’t had to put any air in them at all. The inner tubes are the same ones used with the Michelins, which generally needed a top-up every couple of weeks. I didn’t appreciate that tyres played such a major role in normal air loss?
Graham