Help needed in selecting new tyres

I have a 10 year old TREK 1200 road bike and cycling 60 km, as I did today, is starting to become at least a weekly event. And my tyres need replacing.

My current tyres are 700x28c and I have found these quite comfortable. I have done a bit of a review today of several brands of tyre (maybe I have missed some that are important) and not all make a 700x28c (except for Continental, Michelin and Bontrager).

If I move to 700x25c tyres then my options improve, I can add Vittoria and Vredestein and have a wider choice amongst the other 3 brands.

As I only change tyres (so far) every 10 years then price hardly matters. The more technical tyres seem to offer lighter weight, better puncture resistance, and less rolling resistance (I suppose a 25c is better than a 28c in this regard). And sometimes better adhesion and durability.

So I am (so far) faced with:

Vredestein - Fortezza Road, Ricorso, Volante
Continental - Grand Prix 3000, Grand Prix 4 Season[25c & 28c], Ultra Gatoskin[25c & 28c], Grand Prix, Sport 1000/Ultra Sport[25c & 28c]
Vittoria - Rubino
Michelin - Pro Race, Pro Grip, Pro Light, Carbon, Dynamic [28c]
Bontrager - Race X Lite AC, Race X lite, Race Lite[25c & 28c].

My Questions are: How much discomfort (from increased road shock) will I experience if I change to 25c's? Should I just go for Continentals as they provide me with the greatest choice? Are there other things that I need to consider before selecting my tyres? Will a 100g lighter tyre make a noticeable difference to my cycling experience (especially on my rather ordinary, heavy rims)? At my level of cycling experience is all of the above a waste of time and should I just go for the cheapest 700x28c tyre I can find?

All help much appreciated

The bontrager race x-lite tires are awesome, I love mine.

Admittedly, I'm not an expert at this but......

I did some research on the web, and the preference seems to be for 700 X 23C which is exactly what I have on my TREK 2300 right now. This was the size the manufacturer supplied, although I have changed one of my tires (note the spelling) from the original.

I find the 700 X 23C quite comfortable to ride. I'm looking for new tires...Vittoria is what I'm going to buy soon.

You will feel a difference in road shock going from the 28's to a 25c, but it shouldn't be too hard to adjust. 25c is a great size for those who don't race but are looking for a fast tire that isn't too large & heavy or too narrow & harsh - and if you live in an area that has potholes and rougher pavement. I use 25c as my everyday size in decent weather and 28c cyclocross tires in the winter.

Any of the Vredestein's you mentioned are excellent tires, and seem to ride more comfortably for a given size and PSI than most of the others. The Ricorso is built with a bit thicker tread rubber than the Volante or Fortezza, so you'll get longer mileage from them and probably slightly better puncture resistance for not much added weight. The Volante is a great model as well in its price range.

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I prefer to race/fast ride on the Michelin Pro Races but the Michelin Carbons are a great, durable training tire.

You could even go for 700x23s and still have good levels of comfort with much nicer riding.

Have a look at Vittoria's Open Pro range - Ks, Kx and the like.

Additionally, they make a really great tyre in 24 mm section - The Open Pave CG - it is black and green and you can pick them up for about £50 a pair on ebay.

Cheers,

The 25c tyres should be good for what you're doing. Still comfortable and probably a little better for all of the miles you're doing. I have 23c Vredestein's open corsa (or something like that) and Vredestein tubes and have only had 1 flat in a year. Good wear too. @ $55.00 each US

Hey tf - they're either "Vred's" or "Open Corsa's" (Vittoria).

__________________
"Bush is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

- John Dean, former Counsel to the President (Nixon)

The aim of big corporations is to separate fools from their money all of the time and ordinary folks from their money most of the time. The rest of us must fend for ourselves.

You're right! Vittoria tyres, Vred tubes... Good combo so far.

I ride vittorias and 25c is plenty comfortable. There puncture resistant tires work well. I recommend the diamante pro or tecno pro.

Thank you all very much for your help. I hope you won't be disappointed to read that I have decided on 700x25c Continental Grand Prix 3000's which are a boring black/grey colour.

"Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances!"

__________________
"Bush is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

- John Dean, former Counsel to the President (Nixon)

The aim of big corporations is to separate fools from their money all of the time and ordinary folks from their money most of the time. The rest of us must fend for ourselves.

If you are looking for durability and punture resistance in a quality 25c you really should be steering for something like a continental gatorskin or specialized armadillo.

Wow! You can keep a set of tires alive for 10 years? I'd think they would dry rot before then. Anyway ... you may want to keep in mind that Continentals tend to be undersized a tad. Their 700x28 is more like a 700x25 and their 700x25 is more like a 700x23. I bought a huge lot of Conti Ultra 2000 wire beads online recently for under $9 each with a coupon and they're all undersized. Here's a link to some 700x28 Conti Ultra 3000's on sale for $13 each, which ain't too shabby of a price ...

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

You may also want to look into the Kenda Kwest 700x28 tire. I run a pair of 700x38 kwests on one of my road bikes and they have a pretty generous portion of tread and should last quite a long time. For $8 each you really can't go wrong.

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

If you're going to change tires out infrequently as you suggest, I don't see any reason to get anything too tricked out.

From Performance, right? Mine measured 21mm when I first mounted them, but after a few days they stretched out to 22mm. Still not a half bad tire for that price.