Cheers guys - I much appreciate all the thoughts
I wasn't even aware of Compass and I like the look and promises about ride quality and rolling resistance, however am put off by their apparenty thin-ness and its implications on longevity and puncture protection - how are those of you who use these tyres finding them in these respects? They're probably too rich for my shallow pockets anyway!
I like the look of the Specilized Sawtooth, however they're a bit spendy and those in the link a bit too wide at 42c. Plus I had a very poor experience with the last Spec. tyre I used, so am not falling over myself to try another tbh.
There's certainly a lot of love for the Schwalbes on here! I'll do a bit more digging in terms of spec but don't want to go too far down the "double-hard puncture resistant" route as I don't want to compromise mass or rolling resistance too much. I think the M+ are definitely out on these grounds, but I'll look at the standard version and Racers as well as the Land Cruisers and Mondials as the tread pattern on both looks like it'd do well both on and off road.
I'm quite drawn to the G-One (mainly because of the tubeless compatability and I like the tread / aesthetic) -
@Venod, how do you find their wear resistance? Their fatness is also a bit worrying as my clearance is a little limited; do you know what size rims you're running to give that 40mm width?
Unfortunately I can't find the Clement Xplor anywhere and it appears it's been discontinued; somewhat unsurprising I guess as it was replaced on the CdF by the Riddlers I'm currently running last year or the year before IIRC. Shame as it looks like nice rubber!
I'm liking the look of the Vittoria Revolutions (shiny strip possibly notwithstanding!) and am a fan of the brand based on the Zaffiro Pros that came with my road bike, which has so far given excellent service.
@Spiderweb - how do you find their performance off road? Which size are you running? I fear that 40-622 might be a bit wide, although I've got to do a bit of homework into ETRTO measurements versus the old French convention as I don't want to buy summot that doesn't fit! Defintely one for the shortlist I think
The Voyagers look like a decent bet as a pure-road touring tyre; although again I'm not sure how well that tread would handle off-road excursions.
Looks like the Conti Contacts have now sold out in 37c, although
Planet X currently have Sport Contact IIs on offer at a quite frankly ridiculous £7ea; if these are the same spec as those tested by
Bicycle Rolling Resistance in 2016 they appear to be amongst the best in terms of rolling resistance, however their puncture proofing is doubtless inferior to some of Schwalbe's offerings and I'm not convinced by how well the semi-slick tread would handle off-road excursions. For the price I'm tempted to get a pair just to try; although I suspect they're not tubeless compatable either, which I'd prefer..
Thanks again for all the help; lots of stuff to look into / keep me out of trouble over the coming week of cack weather!
In other news I spent forever fixing yesterday's puncture. The tyre was noticeably tight on the rim but came off without too much of a struggle with some decent tyre levers. The innertube looked cheap but I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover.. it was patched successfully (albeit with a massive blue-edged tyre patch as it was all I had left) and the fun began when I tried to re-seat the tyre.
Perhaps this was such a swine because it's my first experience with tubeless compatable tyres... I re-fitted the one side of they tyre I'd removed and pumped it up to a suitable working pressure; the beads refusing to seat and leaving the tyre all kinds of p*ssed on the rim; high and low spots at its edges, one big radial deflection and snaking from side to side across the rim as the wheel spun.
I tried all manner of manipulation to correct the issues but it remained utterly terrible. In the end I sprayed some rain water onto the beads and pumped the tyre up to silly (25c-ish) pressures; which squared it up to about the same not-perfect-but-acceptable trueness on the rim it had originally. I'm aware of how tubeless tyres are meant to be seated so perhaps this approach needs to be followed when using them with a tube too..? I certainly think that you'd need a high volume dump / tank setup with these Riddlers since even having been fitted and run for several hundred miles with tubes the beads still didn't seem particularly bothered about sitting close to the rims.
Anyway, it's sorted now but I hope the next time I have to take these off is to replace them!
