Good Hybrid Tyres

Greetings

I posted on here last year after taking a tumble on my MTB in the wet, which had the standard
knobbly tyres, asking for a decent replacement for them. see here for thread http://tinyurl.com/9dcm
. After some excellent advice on here I purchased a set of Schwalbe City Jets from Wiggle.co.uk,
which were just great.

I have since changed the MTB for a Hybrid with Aluminium frame & front shocks, which is more
suitable for my commuting needs. Again this has come with the dreaded knobbly tyres albeit in the
700x35 size. These do feel distinctly unstable in the wet.

So same question, any advice on decent tyres for commuting to & from work, mainly on tarmac.

Cheers

CD.

 

"CD" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Greetings
>
> I posted on here last year after taking a tumble on my MTB in the wet, which had the standard
> knobbly tyres, asking for a decent replacement for them. see here for thread
> http://tinyurl.com/9dcm . After some excellent advice on here I purchased a set of Schwalbe City
> Jets from Wiggle.co.uk, which were just great.
>
> I have since changed the MTB for a Hybrid with Aluminium frame & front shocks, which is more
> suitable for my commuting needs. Again this has come with the dreaded knobbly tyres albeit in the
> 700x35 size. These do feel distinctly unstable in the wet.
>
> So same question, any advice on decent tyres for commuting to & from work, mainly on tarmac.

Currently using Continental Contact (700 C X 37) on front wheel with Schwalbe Marathon on rear. No
punctures yet in 3 months.

--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

 

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 11:29:38 +0100, CD <[email protected]> wrote:

>I posted on here last year after taking a tumble on my MTB in the wet, which had the standard
>knobbly tyres, asking for a decent replacement for them. see here for thread
>http://tinyurl.com/9dcm . After some excellent advice on here I purchased a set of Schwalbe City
>Jets from Wiggle.co.uk, which were just great.
>
>I have since changed the MTB for a Hybrid with Aluminium frame & front shocks, which is more
>suitable for my commuting needs. Again this has come with the dreaded knobbly tyres albeit in the
>700x35 size. These do feel distinctly unstable in the wet.
>
>So same question, any advice on decent tyres for commuting to & from work, mainly on tarmac.

If you've been happy with the City Jets how about trying City Marathons? They come in 700c size and
Gearshift are selling them at 20 quid a pair (28 or 32mm available):

http://www.gearshift.co.uk/acatalog/Gearshift_Offers___Clearance_80.html

I've not used them myself but Marathons seem very well regarded.

For a commuting tyre I'd personally go with an entirely slick design, but you've said *mainly*
tarmac, so it depends how often you're planning to go on the softer stuff?

Bob
--
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Jets from
> >Wiggle.co.uk, which were just great.
> >
> >I have since changed the MTB for a Hybrid with Aluminium frame & front shocks, which is more
> >suitable for my commuting needs.

I have 37mm Vredstein Spiders on my hybrid. They have little knobs at the side and a smooth centre
tread. I am a bit more careful on corners at speed, but otherwise they are good for most surfaces .
Much better than the cheap generics which suffered sidewall failure after perhaps 2000 miles. One of
them actually burst with a bang that brought out the security guard at the shops.

terry J

 

"Call me Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> If you've been happy with the City Jets how about trying City Marathons? They come in 700c size
> and Gearshift are selling them at 20 quid a pair (28 or 32mm available):
>
> http://www.gearshift.co.uk/acatalog/Gearshift_Offers___Clearance_80.html
>
> I've not used them myself but Marathons seem very well regarded.
>
> For a commuting tyre I'd personally go with an entirely slick design, but you've said *mainly*
> tarmac, so it depends how often you're planning to go on the softer stuff?

No softer stuff as such, just a mile long stretch along the side of a river which is a hard surface
of sorts. How are the full on slicks in the wet? I don't want to be taking another tumble!

Cheers

CD

 

CD wrote:

> No softer stuff as such, just a mile long stretch along the side of a river which is a hard
> surface of sorts. How are the full on slicks in the wet? I don't want to be taking another tumble!

I've got Marathons on the 'bent tourer and the Brompton, both of which have occasional forays on all
sorts of comedy cycling surfaces. I've been very pleased with them and found no reason to change to
another flavour of tyre. Good stuff!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:52:28 +0100, "CD" <[email protected]> wrote:

>> For a commuting tyre I'd personally go with an entirely slick design, but you've said *mainly*
>> tarmac, so it depends how often you're planning to go on the softer stuff?
>
>No softer stuff as such, just a mile long stretch along the side of a river which is a hard surface
>of sorts. How are the full on slicks in the wet? I don't want to be taking another tumble!

Slicks are just fine in the wet. On hard surfaces (tarmac, concrete etc) slicks will give you better
grip than treaded tyres, this is true in wet or dry conditions. Leave the hard stuff though and
you'll have to be very careful on slicks, but, adjust your speed accordingly and you can get by. I
was out exploring at the weekend and because of a closed towpath I ended up riding a rigid bike
through a load of fields on slicks pumped to 100psi. That was entertaining )

What I would say though is that slicks for 700c wheels tend to be of the more "racey" variety and
therefore perhaps won't last as long as other more rugged tyres if asked to cope with everyday
commuting. My commuting slicks seem to be lasting fine in terms of wear, but have been cut up in
places by all the nasty sharp crap that lurks in the dark on our roads. For this reason, when my
current ones are shot, I'm going to try Marathon Slicks.

You can view the full Marathon range at the Schwalbe web site:

http://www.schwalbe.com/index.pl?lang=e_

Bob
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"Call me Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> If you've been happy with the City Jets how about trying City Marathons? They come in 700c size
> and Gearshift are selling them at 20 quid a pair (28 or 32mm available):
>
> http://www.gearshift.co.uk/acatalog/Gearshift_Offers___Clearance_80.html

Just taken delivery of a pair of these from gearshift, I'll stick 'em on tonight & report back in
due course. It says 95 PSI max, should I creep above that or stick with it?

Cheers

CD

 

CD wrote:

> Just taken delivery of a pair of these from gearshift, I'll stick 'em on tonight & report back in
> due course. It says 95 PSI max, should I creep above that or stick with it?

Not really any point going past their stated maximum before you've even decided it isn't enough. Put
them at 95 and see how you get on. I'd imagine that'll be plenty hard enough.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 11:51:31 +0100, "CD" <[email protected]> wrote:

>> http://www.gearshift.co.uk/acatalog/Gearshift_Offers___Clearance_80.html
>
>Just taken delivery of a pair of these from gearshift, I'll stick 'em on tonight & report back in
>due course.

Please do, I'd be interested to know how you find them.

>It says 95 PSI max, should I creep above that or stick with it?

I'm sure they'd be safe above 95psi, Schwalbe make good tyres and the quoted max is often, I
understand, set cautiously low. As Peter has said though, 95 will probably be plenty for you. Give
it a try and see how they feel.

Bob
--
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On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 20:36:11 +0100, Call me Bob <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 11:51:31 +0100, "CD" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> http://www.gearshift.co.uk/acatalog/Gearshift_Offers___Clearance_80.html
>>
>>Just taken delivery of a pair of these from gearshift, I'll stick 'em on tonight & report back in
>>due course.
>
>Please do, I'd be interested to know how you find them.

Just had the first run out on them today, I've been suffering from toothache which isn't help by the
cold wind, hence the delay.

Bought one of those stand up pumps from Decathlon, which had 'em up to
6.5 bar in no time, I wish I'd bought on of these earlier, the most I've got from a petrol Station
is 65psi. This being my first departure from 26" wheels & I soon found out that I need tyre
levers! Many many years ago I worked in Raleigh's long since demolished Wheel shop as a tyre
fitter, when I changed jobs I trousered my 2 levers that were handmade by someone in the factory,
complete with plastic coated handles (Raleigh did absolutely everything in those days, shame to
see the demise of what's left of the factory this year). I turned the shed upside down but
couldn't find the bastards, so I made do with a couple of spoons.

Anyway, a lot better than the cheapo tyres that came with the bike, I feel a lot more confident
banking around corners, I also seem to go an extra 2 or 3 mph faster with no additional effort. They
were also fine on the non tarmac stretch of my journey. All in all an excellent purchase. Get some
before they're gone.

Cheers

CD.

 

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 15:33:46 +0100, CD <[email protected]> wrote:

>Anyway, a lot better than the cheapo tyres that came with the bike, I feel a lot more confident
>banking around corners, I also seem to go an extra 2 or 3 mph faster with no additional effort.
>They were also fine on the non tarmac stretch of my journey. All in all an excellent purchase. Get
>some before they're gone.

Good, glad you like 'em. Incidently, you'll have to be careful not to damage your rims if you are
using spoons as tyre levers. They'll quite easily damage alu rims if you give em any kind of welly.

Dyasons sell sets of three fibreglass/nylon levers for a quid and they work very well.

http://www.mwdyason.ltd.uk/shop.asp?no_category=23&text_company=TOOLS

Bob
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On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 20:26:52 +0100, Call me Bob <[email protected]> wrote:

>Good, glad you like 'em. Incidently, you'll have to be careful not to damage your rims if you are
>using spoons as tyre levers. They'll quite easily damage alu rims if you give em any kind of welly.

Actually, having just posted that I'm worried that it sounds as if I'm trying to teach granny how to
suck eggs, what with you having been a tyre fitter at Raleigh )

I just thought as it was years ago, you may have been more used to steel rims which won't object to
spoons half as much as modern alu ones will.

I'll shut up now.

Bob
--
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On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 20:43:33 +0100, Call me Bob <[email protected]> wrote:

>Actually, having just posted that I'm worried that it sounds as if I'm trying to teach granny how
>to suck eggs, what with you having been a tyre fitter at Raleigh )

Although I was a tyre fitter, the levers were seldom used, you had a jig which you adjusted
according to wheel size. The axle went in a hole & the tyre was fitted by a couple of nylon rollers,
one horizontal & one vertical, you then dropped the wheel onto the air line while you fitted the
next one (you were on piece work & had to get a move on). A very useful piece of kit. My only regret
is that I didn't learn to true a wheel while I was there. The working day was often punctuated by a
poorly fitted tyre exploding somewhere, initially it would scare the sh*t out of you, but after a
few weeks you didn't bat an eyelid.

>I just thought as it was years ago, you may have been more used to steel rims which won't object to
>spoons half as much as modern alu ones will.

Even though it was nearly 20 years ago, the demise had set in with imported rims coming in. After
the wheel shop I moved to the assembly shop, the building still stands on Triumph Rd in Nottm. but
will soon be gone. The skills I learned there have stood me in good stead ever since.

>I'll shut up now.

Not a problem & I shall be getting a set of those nylon levers

CD