Sporty, cheap, puncture resistant tyres?

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nickAKA

Über Member
Location
Manchester
Yeah I know, it doesn't quite work like that :laugh:

For my bike over in Spain which is currently being ridden by the brother in law; I took the semi-knobbly adventure road tyres off in the spring and put 32mm gatorskins on purely for puncture protection. He's hit a cats eye today and managed to get some of it embedded in the tyre so it looks like a write-off to me. Therefore I either buy a replacement gatorskin or a pair of something better rolling; I'm drawn to the latter but struggling to find exactly what I think I'd like.

Now he's a big lad (but getting smaller due to the road mileage) so it will need to be resilient: 700c; ideally 28mm plus width, a smaller section would probably look a bit weird... any suggestions?
 

the_mikey

Legendary Member
It seems an unusual incident, maybe your brother needs to be better at spotting stuff on the road, as the tyres are pretty tough as road tyres go, maybe you need "touring" tyres instead?

"Continental Gatorskin" is about as tough as I go with tyres, I have them on my winter/audax bike and they've served me well, anything stronger will be heavier and will probably have greater rolling resistance, maybe you need touring tyres instead?


My other bikes have Continental Grand Prix and Continental GP4000, which are lighter and have less puncture resistance, but they have loads of grip and roll really well.
 
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nickAKA

nickAKA

Über Member
Location
Manchester
It seems an unusual incident, maybe your brother needs to be better at spotting stuff on the road, as the tyres are pretty tough as road tyres go, maybe you need "touring" tyres instead?

"Continental Gatorskin" is about as tough as I go with tyres, I have them on my winter/audax bike and they've served me well, anything stronger will be heavier and will probably have greater rolling resistance, maybe you need touring tyres instead?


My other bikes have Continental Grand Prix and Continental GP4000, which are lighter and have less puncture resistance, but they have loads of grip and roll really well.

I have GP4000s on my road bike, love them and they've been faultless. Tempted to go with that but struggling to find them in the bigger widths. In an ideal world I'd get them from wiggle cos they'll ship direct over to Spain for free but not sure if they have them...
 

sleuthey

Legendary Member
Aren’t they more of a touring tyre, rather than sporty road bike?
Guess they are a city Tyre, certainly not a racing Tyre.
Screenshot_20190806-093713.png
 
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I've given up on Conti and now use only Schwalbe - better made, much better priced. I'm running 32m Schwalbe Marathon Supreme which are excellent and were 5/5 highly recommended in https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com. 3000 miles and no punctures or sign of wear over crappy country lanes and gravel tracks. I also use Schwalbe Durano Raceguard in a 28mm in the winter with mudguards - a bit lighter but no less durable. Spa Cycles sell Schwalbe at ridiculously cheap money.
 
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nickAKA

nickAKA

Über Member
Location
Manchester
Gave up eventually and just ordered another gatorskin in 32mm... I've got Durano on the winter wheels (28mm) so I'll have a look at spa and plan the future upgrade, cheers all...
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
My experience of GP4000s is not as good as with Gators, I've had 3 punctures this year with the 4000s but then I didn't buy them to be more resistant so no problem for me.
I have Marathons on my ebike...christ they're heavy but no doubt really really puncture resistant.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Schwalbe Durano what ever is the best they do now...

I commuted on load of tyres, but having to use a 'shared' path, nothing lasted like the Schwalbe Durano Plus. Yes it was slower then my lovely Continental 4 Seasons, but it cost half the price....
 
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