Choosing tyres for summer...

[Simon Brooke]

I'm just thinking about what tyres I'm going to buy for the summer. I have
three sets of wheels which will be used on my two road bikes, my commuting
wheels which aren't at all special, my Ksyriums, and my new home-made
beauties which will probably be mainly used for audaxes and other big
rides.

I had planned to get a pair of Schwalbe Marathons for the commuting wheels,
and two pairs of Schwalbe Stelvio Evolutions for the other two pairs. I've
used Stelvio Evolutions for two years now, and find they combine very good
grip and low rolling resistance with a quite remarkable resistance to....
psst! you know what I'm talking about.

However, neither of the places I first looked for the Stelvio Evolutions had
them, and I started to see other interesting things which I don't know much
about.

Pete Biggs - whose judgement I trust - keeps recommending Vittorias, which I
have no experience of. And Parker International have Veloflex tyres,
described as 'hand made in Italy' (http://www.veloflex.it/) which I hadn't
heard of before but which claim to be amazingly light. Does anyone have
suggestions for other tyres I should consider?

What I'm looking for is

* lots of grip, especially in the wet
* very low rolling resistance
* on the weight front, less is more.

I used to ride everywhere on 700x20s, but now use 700x23 most of the time. I
don't think I'll go bigger than that. I don't want too many visits from you
know who, but the occasional road-side inner tube change is not a big deal;
and durability isn't a particularly big deal - I'm not likely to do more
than 2,500 miles on any individual set this year.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; when in the ****, the wise man plants courgettes

 

[Pete Biggs]

Simon Brooke wrote:
> I'm just thinking about what tyres I'm going to buy for the summer. I
> have three sets of wheels which will be used on my two road bikes, my
> commuting wheels which aren't at all special, my Ksyriums, and my new
> home-made beauties which will probably be mainly used for audaxes and
> other big rides.
>
> I had planned to get a pair of Schwalbe Marathons for the commuting
> wheels, and two pairs of Schwalbe Stelvio Evolutions for the other
> two pairs. I've used Stelvio Evolutions for two years now, and find
> they combine very good grip and low rolling resistance with a quite
> remarkable resistance to.... psst! you know what I'm talking about.
>
> However, neither of the places I first looked for the Stelvio
> Evolutions had them, and I started to see other interesting things
> which I don't know much about.
>
> Pete Biggs - whose judgement I trust - keeps recommending Vittorias,
> which I have no experience of. And Parker International have Veloflex
> tyres, described as 'hand made in Italy' (http://www.veloflex.it/)
> which I hadn't heard of before but which claim to be amazingly light.
> Does anyone have suggestions for other tyres I should consider?

Hi Simon,

I'm a fan of Vittoria Open Corsa CX EVO - as they're fast and light, yet
just about practical enough for general summer use. Also nice and easy to
fit.

There are some slightly lighter tyres (perhaps with lighter casing material
or thinner sidewalls) that may now be just as good in every way.

The *much* lighter tyres, though, I would worry about being too delicate or
puncture prone. There's only so much so little material can do!

> * lots of grip, especially in the wet

No bicycle tyre will have /lots/ of grip in the wet, really. Jobst Brandt
claims that it helps to have carbon in the tread compound. Michelin have
some models with carbon.

~PB

 

[David Martin]

Michelin ProRace 3 are supposed to be even better than the Pro2 (and
the grip is excellent in winter).

...d

 

[Mark T]

Simon Brooke writtificated

> Does anyone have suggestions for other tyres I should consider?
>
> What I'm looking for is
>
> * lots of grip, especially in the wet
> * very low rolling resistance
> * on the weight front, less is more.

Michelin Pro 2 Race (think they've got slightly-better Pro 3 race coming
soon/out now, so might be worth holding off if you want the best/bargain
Pro2's) gets recommended a lot.

They're a wheely light tyre with incredibly low rolling resistance and
meaningful puncture protection. Came top, by a good amount, in a recent
Cycling Plus tyre test.

Downsides are that they're not as hard wearing as others, nor have as much
puncture resistance as others. Then again, the others are either heavier
and don't roll nearly as well, or just don't roll nearly as well.

Michelin also do the Pro2 Grip, designed for wet riding. More grip but
less durable, less puncture resistance and more expensive. If you want
crazy-fast there's the Pro2 Light, but IMO that doesn't have enough
puncture resistance.

Continental's Black Chilli compound looks interesting. Some peeps have
claimed that Conti tyres have a high rolling resistence, but the only data
I could find was years out of date.

A bit of bumpf on the Pro2's here:

<http://two-wheels.michelin.com/2w/front/index.jsp?codeRubrique=
2092004115326&codePage=2092004115326_10092004141805&lang=EN>

 

[David Martin]

On Feb 9, 6:45 pm, Mark T
<pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com.invalid>
wrote:
> Michelin also do the Pro2 Grip, designed for wet riding. More grip but
> less durable, less puncture resistance and more expensive. If you want
> crazy-fast there's the Pro2 Light, but IMO that doesn't have enough
> puncture resistance.

I've been riding the Pro2 Grip this winter. Excellent grip, seem fast
enough and I have only had one puncture.

Not cheap, but definitely worth the money, and the Pro3 are supposed
to be even better. Hard to get hold of though.

...d

 

[Andrew Price]

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008 17:00:01 +0000, Simon Brooke
<[email protected]> wrote:

[---]

>Pete Biggs - whose judgement I trust - keeps recommending Vittorias, which I
>have no experience of.

I've currently got about 5,000km on a set of Vittoria Zafiro 700x23c
and they show no sign of giving up the ghost in the near future; no
indication of undue wear, no recurrent flats.