Worth changing stock tyres?

[ceejayh]

Having just purchased my first road bike (Trek 1.5) I am wondering whether it would be worth putting some different tyres on it before I start using it? Plus it'll give me some practice taking the wheels / tyres off to deal with the inevitable puncture!! It has the standard Bontrager R1s at the moment - I understand they're probably not everyone's first choice but I was looking at the something like the Michelin Lithion 2 which seem to be a decent all rounder with good puncture resistance. My commute is essentially all road, I don't intend using any tow paths as I've walked a few by where I live and I know what they're like!!! Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Wooliferkins]

Swings and roundabouts. Wallet says wear the R1s out, head says Bont's are a bitch to get on and off, seem unpopular, get rid. Whichever way you go I'd go a bit further up the food chain, Gatorskins, gp4000s or Rubino Pro Techs

 

[Beebo]

My advice would be to keep the stock tyres on until Christmas and see what Santa brings you.. They are bound to last 3 months (yes it's only 3 months until Christmas!!!)

You can always have a practice taking the tyres off anyway. It is good to know how to do this before the inevitable happens.

What ever you do, keep the original ones as emergency back ups. You never know when you'll get a side wall tear or a tyre shredding incident, and having an emergency set of tyres is always useful.

 

[Kies]

Run the stock tyres until they give you problems.

 

[Davidc]

Perfectly good tyres, waste of money not to get a good life out of them, get better next time.

If you change both at once the existing front one will make a good spare.

 

[ceejayh]

Thanks for replies everyone - think I'll ask Father Christmas for some new tyres and other bike bits. My missus is made up I've got the bike because I'm getting harder to buy for every year .

 

[2Loose]

Run them until they puncture frequently, then get those Lithion 2's - great all round tyre for cheap, certainly ride better than Gatorskins and according to the reviews, it isn't only my opinion.

 

[Maz]

If you don't want the stock tyres, I'll have em!

 

[Twelve Spokes]

I'd rather use tyres like Marathons that prevent that escaping air lark.I take it stock tyres are cheap crap?

I don't want a p on the way to work or on the way home,come to that.

 

[Cycling Dan]

I would say just run with stock, there will be nothing wrong with them. Only change them for weather eg snow or if they wear out. I only changed my to get a different colour as I thought it looked better than the stock. I still used stock for 4 months though.

 

[Hip Priest]

Upgrade if you've got the cash. That's what I did. I'll use the stock tyres on the turbo throughout winter, so they won't go to waste.

 

[Boris Bajic]

In the last twenty years or so (maybe ten) cyclists have started to get quite geeky and comparative about equipment. It's sort of like the effect Top Gear has had on motorists.

In the same way that Clarkson has the genitally challenged thinking that they'll get nowhere with 'only 250bhp', so the cycling press have started making absolutes of tiny increments. There is a massive marketing machine out there and its fiercest hard-on fantasy is to create the kind of buyer who feels the need to upgrade at point of purchase. By all means play into their hands, but you will enjoy the bike on the Bontragers!

Almost all tyres (clincher and tub) available today are significantly better than those available a decade or so ago. The tyres on your bicycle are fine. There are better ones, but why throw away a perfectly good tyre before you've ridden on it?

For tarmac, the Bontragers will be fine. Get the pressures right and keep them right.

 

[Chris Norton]

Use em. Get fit on them and then maybe get a better running set once you have worn them out. Boris is so right though. Todays tyres are so much better than when I rode 20 years ago even the cheap ones.

 

[ceejayh]

Some great advice here...thanks everyone. As I said, I'll go with the stock tyres for now and ask Mrs Christmas for some better ones so that'll give me 3 months use while I get a bit fitter. In the meantime I'll use my money to buy other (more necessary) goodies

 

[HorTs]

My missus is made up I've got the bike.

Thats not a sentence you see often.