what tyres?

[hobbygirl]

i am looking for a tyre with high rolling and good puncture resistance preferably slicks.up to £30.

any recommendations please.

 

[wafflycat]

i am looking for a tyre with high rolling and good puncture resistance preferably slicks.up to £30.

any recommendations please.

For a road bike? Racing or general road work? If racing, what type?

 

[hobbygirl]

road bike general riding.

 

[frank9755]

Generally there is a trade-off between resistance to punctures and rolling resistance. The fastest racing tyres are prone to puncturing, and the near-puncture proof ones, such as Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Specialized Armadillo, are not fast.

This is not just the manufacturers being unfair, it's because the properties which make a tyre fast and puncture proof are opposed:
- Fast tyres have a soft compound which doesn't dissipate much energy when the sidewalls deform during use. The soft compound is not good at resisting punctures.
- Puncture proof tyres have a much harder compound, and may be further re-inforced by kevlar belts or similar.

Therefore you do need to decide which is most important to you - speed or avoiding punctures - because you can't have both!

 

[wafflycat]

road bike general riding.

I use Schwalbe Marathons on my road bike, tourer and recumbent trike. Just the normal Marathons, not the Marathon Plus tyres. I find that they've given me years of hassle-free, puncture-free cycling on the potholed, flint-strewn, cruddy surfaces of Norfolk's finest broken-up country lanes as well as onbetter surfaced roads. I've even done a bit of off-roading on them and they've been fine. You should pick them up for about £20

 

[Young Un]

Continental Ultra Gatorskin, in the 25c flavour are pretty robust, and still quick enough to race on at a push! 23c will be a bit quicker but i bit less puncture resistant. Go for 25c at 100psi and forget about em!

 

[hiltz]

Most tyres are reasonably puncture proof these days... But as others have said, there is a bit of a trade off.

Something like the Conti 4000 is good for both rolling fast and having reasonable puncture resistance. Same with the Vitorria EVO's and Pro3's. The Pro 3's and Conti 4000s should come in around that 30 mark as well.

If your going to go crazy and get something like the Vitoria Evo Corsa Lite or Conti Supersonics expect problems really!

Some of the heavier duty tyres like gatorskins are noticeably slower and dont feel very good on the road compared to a good quality tyre. I have Michelon Krylion Carbons as my every day tyres and they seem to do the job very well and roll much better than the gator skins i used to use. But i would still go for the Scwabel Ultremo's on race day (although i ride tubula Evo Corsa CXs most of the time)

 

[AlanW]

Continental 4 Season.

 

[Willo]

After getting through a few inner tubes on the standard slick tyres that came on my Allez, switched to Armadillos and so far so good, with no visits since switching to them. Initially felt a little less sure in terms of handling, but now I've got used to them they feel good. Am sure they're a little slower, but as someone who just does some cycling to keep fit, rather than racing, it's not materially noticeable for me.

 

[nmcgann]

+1 for Michelin Krylion Carbons. Roll well, last well and resist p*nctures well.

 

[Chrisc]

Vittoria Rubino Pro. Just fitted some last week, lovely tyre. Has pu****re protection and very low rolling resisitance. Silky smooth ride as well.

 

[hiltz]

switched to Armadillos and so far so good,

These tyres are actually that good they are dual use...

Can also be used as boat anchors


But in all seriousness if you want the toughest tyre out there you cant go past them... I used them on my bike when I lived in a place with no sealed roads and they were great, but a little costly at the same time.

 

[Kestevan]

+1 (again)for Michelin Krylion Carbons.
Excellent mix of toughness and low rolling resistance, and they seem to last pretty well too.

They can be absolute swines to get on the rim though.

 

[Marbler]

+1 For the Krylions. Agreed they can be tough to get on the rim but they last ages and I haven't had a single puncture in over a year.

 

[515mm]

+1 for Conti GP 4 seasons. The only flat I had was caused by the valve on the inner tube failing. Roll pretty quickly too.

For out and out speed with protection the Conti GP4000S is hard to fault, although one pal swears by Schwalbe Ultremos. But they wear even faster than the 4000s. Grip like you wouldn't believe though, I'm reliably informed!