Utility Cycling - What Tires Do You Use?

Brand & model
Diameter & Width
Would you recommend them?

Bamboo: Schwalbe Big Apples--700c x 2 inch--yes
La Raza: Ritchey Tom Slicks--700c x 23mm--yes
XtraLite: Michelin Transworld City--26 x 1.5--yes
VooDoo Wanga: Sweetskniz Scorch--26 x 2.125--no
No name beach cruiser: No name balloons--26 x 1.95--meh

700 x 37c. Currently I have National Tire Co., made in Japan. They're road tires for a decent-quality steel-framed hybrid. Not super fast of course. But they do well on questionable pavement, which, in Seattle, is pretty common on side roads and low-speed arterials. (Don't get me started on our embarrassing infrastructure...) They're pretty good on gravel and dirt roads, too. They have the added advantage of having a very low incidence of flats. In four years of riding every day, 60-100 mi/week, in all kinds of weather, I've had exactly one flat. Off-road, they're not quite useless, but almost.

Ritchey Innovader 2.0 - 26x2 (no longer on the Ritchey website, maybe discontinued? The new ones are 2.1 inches instead, and slightly different looking. Should basically be the same tire)

Good all-around tire. Not recommended for anything specialized, but if you're using your bike for both street and trail in one day, this works well.

Schwalbe Ice Spiker - 26x2.1

Excellent winter tire. Very good grip, very durable.

Anything with a Kevlar belt, and reflective sidewalls...

Current rolling stock:
Michelin City K 700x40
Forte Gotham 26x1.75
Kenda 26x1-3/8
Bell 26x1-3/8
Those are the ones I can recall off the top of my head.

Aaron:)

love the 26x2.0 big apples.

Commuter: 700x38 Schwalbe Silentio
Touring/Cargo: 700x28 Panaracer Pasela
Audax: 700x25 Continental Ultra 2000
Road: 700x23 IRC Paperlight Aqua

26x2.1" Conti Town and Country on my Surly Instigator+Xtracycle. They roll pretty fast, haven't given me flats and are cushy, even with 340lbs on a typical ride (friend taxi'ing). Maybe my review will change after this weekend, as I'm doing a particularly long ride with a passenger.

Thanks!

Brand & model
Diameter & Width
Would you recommend them?
Bike #1 (city/commuter bike) - Schwalbe Marathon Plus 1.75"/559 front and rear (RANS Fusion)
Bike #2 (recreational/long-distance) Schwalbe Big Apple 2"/2.35" 406 F/559 R (Cycle Genius Falcon)

Note #1--the Marathon Plus is pretty thick, I have pulled a couple metal slivers and screws out of it because they were making noise as the tire rolled, but the innertube was untouched. The manufacturer claims that these tires have no increase in rolling resistance from the much-thicker carcass, but they seem to drag more to me, and I would not put them on my long-distance bike.

Note #2--the 2.3" Big Apple gets some tire/chain rub on the granny ring/big cog gear combo, and no fenders I've found leave much room around it. If I somehow shredded the 2.3", I would buy a 2" wide to replace it instead.

Both these tires are fairly heavy, but then, I don't race or live near mountains.
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Both my bikes have wider rims put on too. Both came with rims around 1" wide (outside width), and now Bike #1 has rims about 1-3/8" wide, and bike #2 has rims about 1-1/4". The handling improved considerably, even with the same tires, and even with those tires inflated to only about 2/3 the previous pressures.

There's a note on the Sheldon Brown site that talks about rims and the current trendy {lack of** width among MTB companies. For a normal bike (with a rider but no extra load) a 2"+ wide tire shouldn't ever need to be inflated to more than about 40 PSI, and even that would be for a massive, 250-lb rider. For a bike that will always run fat tires, you want rims that are at least 1.25" wide, and 1.5" wide or more if you can get them. The super-narrow 1" rims that MTB's come with now are junk, and 60-70-80 PSI is ridiculously high pressure for a fat bicycle tire, even if the sidewall says it can take that much.
~

Add a new one:

20x1.5 Marathon Racer

Blisteringly fast. Seriously, these tires just roll. Don't know much about how strong they are yet, but they're easily the easiest rolling tires i've used.

Schwalbe Big Apples in 26 and 29er size. Both are 2.35", both are highly recommended. I use them on my Xtracycle and my Redline Monocog 29er, respectively.

Panaracer Crosstown 700x32
Puncture resistant and reflective sidewall

Bell Tread Alert slicks. 26x1.95. They were $4 on clearance at Academy sports. For the price, I'd recommend them. So far 300 miles and they are working for the grocery runs, and longer rides for fun.

- RANS Rocket: 20 x 1.5 Primo Comets. Nice high pressure tyres that roll nicely in the dry. Skittish in the wet and on loose surfaces. The rear tyre is now getting prone to glass punctures after 4,000km. I will put Marathon Plus tyres on when the stock ones wear out.

- Healing Cruiser fixie: 20 x 1.75 cheap X mart quality tyres low pressure tyres. Heavy and a bit sluggish. Comfy and good in the wet. Thick rubber, so currently reasonably puncture proof. I will also put Marathon Plus tyres on when these wear out (not for a few years yet).

- Humber Sports, Robin Hood Sports, Raleigh 20 Folder, Healing Cruiser: bog standard CST General Style tyres. Heavy and low pressure but match the tread pattern of the original tyres. Good in the wet. High speed performance is not what these bikes are about, although with a four speed on the Humber it can move along at a good clip once you get the great weight rolling.

- Burco: 700c x 32. Front tyre, some type of Schwalbe, back Continential Contact. Both ride nicely in both wet and dry and seem to be reasonably puncture proof. I will put slightly wider Marathon Plus' on when the existing tyres wear out.

I like Marathon Plus' for the puncture resistance and extra workout from the extra mass. They ride reasonably nicely for a heavy tyre and don't have a huge amount of drag when pumped up hard.

Schwalbe Big Apple 26x2.35, on big dummy with Rohloff.

Pumped up to 70psi, they are terrific. Rolling resistance is startlingly low, I've never used street tires this big before and I am delighted.

Rode 85 miles yesterday and I'm very happy. Might have been a shade faster if I'd have been on my 28-year-old Paramount but its been a couple years since I did more than 50 miles, so then again maybe not.

Joel