What Tyre

[ian emmerson]

Hi, I ride a hybrid which is used regularly for my commute to work. My tyres are the ones which came with the bike which i bought last summer , 700 x 37C. During my commute i ride along loose gravel and ash footpaths and public footpaths for the most part. My question is , now that i need to consider replacing the tyres what would the benefit be ( if any ) in fitting 700 x 42 size tyres ?.
I have recently had to have my rear wheel trued for the second time after snapping spokes and am wondering if the gravel and sometimes pot holed surfaces are causing damage.
Also would a cyclocross tyre be more beneficial to me ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[MacB]

Ian, my first concern would be the broken spokes and constant retruing. Unless you're hitting really bad potholes, very hard, this shouldn't be happening. Some stock wheels aren't great and it could be worth investing in a new handbuilt wheel, some very good deals at Spa:-

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s179p0

just need to know the width of your rear dropouts(should be 130 or 135mm). As for tyres, tread is of no use on tarmac but does help on looser surfaces, it's a case of finding the right balance for you. I only have experience of Schwalbe tyres but run the Marathon + at 622x37 on both my commuter and general bike. No punctures in several thousand miles and the bikes have handbuilt 36 spoke wheels, they have needed no attention, despite my 17 stone of bulk. The downside to these tyres is also the benefit, the puncture protection comes at a hefty weight price, they're 1kg each.

But for ideas on different types of tyres the Schwalbe US site give good descriptions:-

http://www.schwalbetires.com/

Final thing to be aware of are tyre pressures, if you don't have one then a track pump with pressure gage is a very good investment. The Joe Blow II is very popular.

 

[HJ]

Personally I ride with 700 x 28 Conti GatorSkins and have ridden on off road paths and forestry fire roads without problems (apart from a long wait for the rest of the CC ride to catch up with me on that stretch). I can't see that changing to a 700 x 42 from a 700 x 37 is going to make any difference...

 

[PpPete]

Got to agree with MacB ....
Broken spokes are more a wheel problem than a tyre problem.

Personally I don't find anything above 700x32 helpful.
Generally ride 700x25 Stelvios on "best" road bike, 700x28 M+ on the hack. I've got a pair of Schwalbe CX Pro 700x30 that are absolutely fine even on rough off-road and that's on narrow rims (Open Pro 36 spoke 3X ... handbuilt) Never broken a spoke, and only minor re-trueing needed even after a trip down the South Downs Way, which is usually considered MTB territory.