Advice on touring tyres..

Planing on riding across Australia in March (Sydney to Perth). Looking for a bit of advice on fast touring/road tyres. I ride a flat bar road bike towing a bob yak trailer and currently running on 700x25c Vittoria Rubino pro slicks. Thinking about Continental Gatorskins 700x28c. Will these be upto the trip. Any other ideas.??
Cheers.

No experience with that type of riding, enjoy you,re adventure. Btw do you have a timetable or will you take it as it comes? Having a rest in Perth or continuing on?

Have 7 weeks off work. I live in Bunbury WA (200 kays south of Perth.). Getting bike and trailer trucked across a week before, then I'll fly over to Sydney and ride back.
Plan on heading out to Dubbo, Broken Hill, Peterborough, Ceduna, Norseman, Kalgoorlie, Perth.

As well as the Conti Ultra Gator skins, have a look at Conti Sport Contact in 700x28. I saw a girl in Perth fit them to her bike, she then rode from the airport in Paris to her home in Switzerland.

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Cheers,
George.

If it were to be nice smooth bitumen all the way, no big pot-holes, no truck debris, no meandering off the track onto gravel to check interesting things out, then your Gatoralmost skins or indeed any other road tyre will do.

But you know that won't be the case. Look at something like Continental Top Tourer or other dedicated touring tyres. They will have more robust sidewalls, deeper tread (to help keep the nasties away from your tube) and more width to deal with a wider range of road surfaces. I am a Conti lover, but there are many good touring tyres on the market. Just don't try and be a weight-weenie!
Check out the various "touring" forums for input from other touring type riders.

Good luck, Graeme

You'll get good mileage and flat protection out of Vittoria Randonneur tyres. You can get them in 700x28 and 700x32. They'll do OK off the seal as well.

I have used them as training tyres on my roadie and got no punctures on one set in 12 months (10,000+km) vs at least 2 a month on normal road slicks which only do about 4,000km at best.

I hear that the wind is better, if you ride from Perth to Sydney (west to east).

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Training Log

I heard the oppsite.... What ever time of year or which way you ride wind is always going to be a problem.. I'll let you know when I get back...

Cheers

I have been using specialized All-condition Pro tyres (700x 23's)and have gone through about 3 tyres on the rear each lasting for 5-7 000 km and only started getting punctures towards the ends of the tyre's life. Have recently been using the Gatorskin and although the tyre is lighter I have had regular punctures and the tyre is slipperier in wet condtions. I have bought a Maxxis Hors Categorie to try out when the Gatorskin wears out.

I would suggest on your trip carrying a lightweight folding tyre that you can use in an emergenty if a tyre is damaged. I always carry one with me now if I am going distances where there are hardly any other cyclists and the road conditions are unknown.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Schwalbe or Nokian these guys specialise in touring stuff moreso than the race-centric brands above.

I've heard the Schwalbe Marathon Plus is a great tyre, a lot better that the Marathon apparently.

Ended up buying a pair of Specialized All Condition Armadillo's 700x28.
Cheers for advice..

Oziedave, are you keeping a blog of the ride? I'm currently devouring these as fast as I can find them (there aren't that many) leading up to my (anti-clocwise) Lap starting at Perth in October. I'm particularly interested in an up to date note of water availability in the Nullabor if you can be bothered to record this, and anything else of interest...

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My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

I would have thought if you were a good enough rider to ride across Aus, you'd have enough experience to know what tyre to use...

Or am I being a ****?

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The answers in your hands mate.

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My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/