spectastic

I'm trying to figure out the best tire for my touring situation. Right now, I'm on schwalbe durano s 25, which are wearing a little thin, so I'm probably throwing them away after this tour.

My bike is around 21 lbs, my gear is around 20 lbs, and I'm generally 160-165.

I've been looking at schwalbe marathon supreme, vittoria rubino pros, vittoria zaffiros, gatorskins, marathons... I'm not looking at marathon pluses, because they weigh 2x as much as the rest of the ones I'm looking at

As for width, I'm thinking either 28 or 32, perhaps 28 front 32 rear, because all my luggage is in the back. the 25's I'm on are nice for pavement, but I need to get them up to 100 or more to avoid pinches. I think with a 28 front and 32 rear, I only need to get them up to 90 psi, which I can easily do with my hand pump.

My priorities in decreasing order:
puncture resistance
wear/durability
cost
weight
traction (possible some off road use)


any comprehensive comparison or suggestions would be appreciated,

chriskmurray

My go to tire for riders like yourself is the Panaracer Pasela tour guard, they are very affordable, roll well, still ride nice and last a long time.

https://www.bikewagon.com/panaracer-t...FQgtaQodxS4Omg

Andrew R Stewart 

Tire brand and models are almost like which lubes one uses, very opinionated. The width is less so. For loaded touring go with the widest that you and your bike can be OK with. Andy.

spectastic

on my schwalbe durano rear tire, I'm starting to see tiny patches of blue showing up, meaning the rubber has worn down so thin that the puncture protection is starting to show. I'm in portland headed for SF. Will this last me another 900 miles till the destination plus some change for exploration of the bay area?

If not, I could maybe have them ship the new tires to a wamshowers host somewhere in southern oregon, and go from there. It might set me back a day or two..

NormanF

I just bought a set of very nice Schwalbe Dureme Evolution folding tires for $41.

This was a tire that back in the day was Schwalbe's top of the line touring tire.

One tire used to cost $90, being premium quality. It was discontinued by Schwalbe.

RIP Chainrings

Specializes Armadillos All Condition non-folding wire bead all the way to the bank.

****ing kevlar dude. Hands down the most durable road tire in existence. I've tried em all, the dillos are well worth the weight (i use the 700x23c), add in mr. Tuffy's tire liners and we're talking no flats in several thousand miles w good psi riding even through some of the most apocalyptic road debris

motorapido

11,000 puncture-free miles, debris-strewn city streets, gravel bike paths and dirt tow paths for me, all on Vittoria tires. I was using the Randonneur Hypers quite a bit, which are now named Voyager Hypers. These are the smoothest rolling. But for tours on 100% gravel and dirt, I use Vittoria Randonneur Trail. They have a thicker tread, and the Hypers are essentially slicks. I put a set of Panaracer T-Serve Protex on about 500 miles ago. Kevlar bead. Minimal file-tooth style tread. They roll very nicely. I used them to ride across upper NY state on the Erie Canal Trailway. I will put the Vittoria Trail tires on for my Great Allegheny Passage/C&O Canal tour in a couple weeks, since the C&O has some rough, muddy sections.

fietsbob

like mending punctures in the rain?

FastJake

My personal preference is 32mm Gatorskins but I have not tried any Vittoria or Schwalbe tires. The Gatorskins seem very flat resistant yet feel fast and smooth rolling.

Maybe, but expect more flats when the tire gets that thin.

Shimagnolo

I have 28mm Gatorskins on my summer bike, and 32mm Supremes on the winter bike.
The difference in wet traction between Gatorskins and Supremes is *huge*.
If wet traction is a consideration, go with Supremes.

tarwheel 

I recommend at least 32s for touring, although have ridden loaded tours with 28s (Conti GP 4 Seasons). Lately, I've been using Panaracer Pasela PTs and Vittoria Voyager Hypers, both in 32s. The Paselas have more tread and are better for unpaved roads and trails, but the Hypers roll nicer on the road. Excellent wear and flat resistance with both tires.

MileHighMark

Panaracer Gravelking (28mm) or Vittoria Voyager Hyper (32mm).

fietsbob

88& 91 tour I used Michelin HiLite Tour tires a 35 wide, wore out several , folding bead, carried a spare

1997 tire was a Suomi-Nokian A10 utility tire , 40 wide

Finished the tour and after Months , the tread still looked like New..

nfmisso

The most common failure mode (rumour data) of the Armadillo is tread separation. This occurs because the tire was under inflated - read the sidewall carefully, it specifies min and max inflation pressures. The minimum is more important in the case of the Armadillo.

Properly inflated, Armadillos will last thousands of miles with no punctures riding on glass shards. Under inflated, you will be lucky to get to a hundred miles. Of course, they are the heaviest component of your bike - including the frame......

spectastic

bought a pair of marathon supreme 35's. I would've preferred 32 or 28, but these were on sale. now to figure out where to have the vendor ship them..

RubeRad

marathon supreme is worth consideration. I've had a pair of 29x2 (700x50), for about 3500 miles now and I think they still look like new; front and rear the 'nike swoosh' shapes still have sharp edges. Two flats in that time, one was a weird jagged shard of metal that somehow got into the sidewall, and the other was a very heavy-duty construction staple. I take them on trails now and then and they do fine. They do cost quite a bit though.

RubeRad

oopx cross-posted!

If you can't decide where to ship them, you can send them to my address...

mtnbke

I've used Panaracer Paselas, Pasela TourGuard, just about ALL the Continental Touring tires, and now Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires.

My favorite lightweight tire is the Pasela. Super light go fast touring tire. With the very lightweight you lose the durability on the sidewalls. Many people have had sidewall issues on tandems. On a single its not as much of problem. You can't have featherlight and the wear and durability of a tire you'd want to take to a third world country for unsupported touring. Case in point TWO Pasela Tourguard tires of a given size (622-32) are about 200g lighter than just one Schwalbe Marathon Plus. In 622-32 they are less than 400g each.

My favorite touring tyres (that should actually give it away right there) if we are out of the featherweight category, but getting into tires that you need to wear like iron and where you can't afford sidewall issues or tyre failures are the long since retired Continental TopTouring 2000 tyres. Many of the Continental touring tyres are very similar. Based on your needs you can find what you need with the Top Contact II, TouringPlus, or TourRide. I like the Top Contact II, as like the TopTouring 2000 which preceded these are still handmade in Germany. They truly are a connseurs tyre. They are about 580g for a 622-32.

For bombproof I can't afford a tire failure when I'm on the other side of the world, I can't think of any other tire I'd rather have than Marathon Plus. However, they are wider than there given size. For example a 700x35 tire actually has an ISO size of 622-37 (not 35). That thick belting makes them tall/wider than the underlying tire would otherwise leave them to be. If I was going to just get the regular Marathon tires I'd just get Contis instead. Schwalbe makes great tires, but most of their tires are made in Korea and don't have the same quality as Contis in my book.

Panaracer, Conti, and Schwalbe ALL have great support for different tire sizes whether you ride 635, 630, 622, 584 or what have you. However in 622 Conti doesn't make 35mm touring tires. Which is very very strange. They jump from 37s to 32s. They make their Cyclocross tires in 35. I've never figured out that hole in their offering.

In my book, nothing looks as good on a bike as Contis. However, you should probably know I'm biased. Contis on the touring bike, Contis on the front of the tandem, heck Contis on the car!

spectastic

yeah but marathon plus is like twice the weight of other schwalbe's. that, along with the high degree of knobbiness and rolling resistance made me steer away from it, knowing that you can get most of the puncture resistance with a much lighter, well built tire.

spectastic

eeeeeuuuuu WISH

onshi

I just recently replaced the ancient (possibly 1980s-vintage?) Continental tires on my touring bike with Schwalbe Marathon HS 420s in 27 x 1 1/4 and am absolutely thrilled with their performance. I can't really speak to their durability given their freshness, however, but expect to get many miles from them.

They're quite heavy at 660g - much less that the Marathon Plus, which actually doesn't come in a 27" for me to compare to directly, but as you note above it is an extremely heavy tire throughout the line.