mm718

Are these the next heavier tire above the Voyager Hypers in the Vittoria line? I have Hypers right now but I am thinking of putting something a bit more durable and flat resistant on the back for longer tours. Do you think this would be good choice?

mstateglfr 

If you can't get enough traction to safely ride on a road with 38s, something is off.
I have found that too wide a tire starts to float for me, when at a lower pressure.

This is 90% road riding- something wide enough for comfort while still holding road tire characteristics would be, in my view, the best balance. I just don't find something wider that 1.5" to be needed on pavement.

Leebo

I go for the 10%. And staying upright. I'm a mountain biker first, commuting and touring secondary. And the more comfortable ride. At 225 lbs, plus a loaded touring bike, weight for a tire is of little concern. It's the ride comfort I'm after and dirt road and gravel issues as well. Most of my "tours" involve dirt, gravel, crappy New England roads and sometimes singletrack. YRMV. Choices are a great thing. One of my commuters has 35 mm wide rims and 29 x2.3" slicks. Go figure.

mstateglfr 

Right- the OP said 90% pavement, so I based my suggestion on that. Had the OP said most touring would involve dirt, grave, and crappy New England roads and sometimes singletrack, then sure I would have suggested something wider. But they said 90% pavement.

djb

I've ridden a lot on 26x1.5 slicks and 1.5 regular marathons. I've also ridden on 2 in marathon Supremes and I would say that for regular roads, 1.5s are the best mix of pretty good width and cushion, vs speed and how much drag you are dealing with.
I've found 1.5 to work well on gravel dirt roads, and would only go wider for truly horrible roads.

Marathon plus tires are really heavy and stiff, the regular marathons I have regularly ridden on work very well, can be had at a good price, and have a good ride.

Check out my post about a great price on regular marathons through Amazon.ca. $60 for two, delivered. This is a good price for a good tire.

Doug64

Just think what another 5mm might do for performance

DropBarFan

Interesting results but test distance fairly short, often fatigue from bumpy ride only sets in later. OTOH my concept of ideal touring bike includes narrow tires with frames having a bit of polymer suspension. Front suspension now included on even garden-variety MTBs.

mtnroads

Continental top Contact 26 x 1.9 or Vittoria Randonneur 26 x 1.5 would work well.

I have run them both in the 700 x 37, 700 x 35 size and really like the ride, traction, flat resistance and longevity.

Never tried Schwalbe but they seem heavy.

elcruxio

Schwalbe marathons are heavy, but they also give a nice carefree ride. You just don't have to worry about the road surface at all because the tread is so thick and under the tread you have a few mm of puncture protection as well as a really sturdy sidewall.

I've tried a bunch of various tires from slicks to heavier stuff to MTB stuff and I currently have a set of vittoria voyager hypers waiting for better weather. Only the Schwalbe marathon line is able to give me the carefreeness to ride over broken glass with no worries. With the voyagers I'd worry about riding slightly rockier gravel, because the sidewall is really, really thin and the tread isn't all that thick either. Even with MTB knobbies I sometimes get a bit anxious if there's anything sharp on the road since even though the knobbies are thick, the tread under them isn't.

It's a good thing I don't care about bike weight, a few lbs here or there for total carefree is completely fine for me.

djb

26x1.5 marathon plus 870g (model 440)
26x1.5 regular marathon 730g (model 420)

26x1.6 supreme 440gg (model 382)
26x2 supreme 565gg (model 382)

But the costs vary widely for the regular original marathon, the plus and the supreme.
Supreme can be 75 to 90 each
Originals can be had at about 30 to 50 each
Pluses,not sure

All that said, I've toured a lot on 700x28 and 32 tires, and ridden a lot on 26x1.5 {38mm). On good roads narrower and lighter needs less effort, but the 1.5s are not bad and will be easier on dirt to an extent and more comfortable on rough roads.
1.25 s I guess could be a middle ground.

djb

here we get into the whole issue of how often one actually gets flats, the places you ride, and or your ranking of importance of thinking you will never ever get a flat vs how a tire feels riding it (weight, stiffness etc).

lots and lots of variables and lots and lots of views of what is acceptable. For someone riding to work everyday, in the dark, in the rain, having a tire that is waaaaay more protected against flats can make sense, you just dont want to deal with a flat when time is at hand. Touring through areas where road debris is really bad, glass, thorns or whatever, a marathon plus type tire can make sense also.
That said, in all the touring I have done, N America rural roads, European towns and rural roads, and a bit in Latin America (rural roads) the debris situation was perfectly acceptable and over the years, going back about 25 years, I never had a flat on tour (touch wood) so the good tires I had (in good shape, and with a certain amount of flat protection, kevlar layer with the early ones) did a perfectly good job for me--for where I rode.

I commute in the city all the time, and usually get about a flat per year, usually riding about 4-5000km per season. Yes there is glass sometimes, but I try as best as I can to always look out for stuff, and if I ride through glass by mistake, I stop and take 1 min to clear both tires, rubbing a glove over the surface in case a bit of glass has gotten picked up.

Having ridden stiff tires before, I do find a more supple tire to be nicer to ride on, yet all in all, there are a lot of good tires with good flat protection that are not super stiff in the sidewall and carcass, or at least have a good balance of this.

*I have never ridden in areas with thorns that are a problem, so I completely understand how that is a diff matter.

I still think a lot of flat avoidance is down to keeping an eye out for debris and not running over it. Riding through a country where there is a ton of broken glass and or really rough, sharp stuff is always going to be a real factor (and or perhaps being really isolated, but then a spare tire is going to be a good idea for that also).

A friend of mine has a touring bike with 700x32 (probably) Marathon Plus tires, and boy does it feel heavy and slow steering compared to my bike with 28 slicks on it. Of course, you add a bunch of stuff on a bike and these diff are felt less, but as I am not a strong guy, I have always looked at how many small things add up to more effect (load weight, tires, etc) and have always strived to make my touring bike as efficient as possible through my gear choices.

Mr Pink57

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2015/...corner-better/
No sure if this was posted but a nice read about tire widths.

I believe Nick Carmen or maybe it was Cass Gilbert said the wider the better. I know these two mainly do off road touring but they still do plenty of it.

fietsbob

Jan has tires to sell you, too ..

djb

want to get back to your original question and your specifics--ie 90% paved and 50-60lbs of stuff. Going from my experience with 26 wheels and tires, if you are on reasonably good roads, even a 1.25in tire (32mm) will do very well, the increase to a 1.5 (38mm) really isnt that big, but as you have ridden on 1.6 tires, you at least have an idea of how they feel for you, so until you ride on narrower tires, you wont really know how they feel compared to the 38 or 40s youve been on already.

Like I said, the main advantage to the 1.5s (ish) vs 1.25 is simply that you can run lower pressures, and so if the road is rough, with lots of joint cracks, or just regular sharp joints and or potholes, a wider tire is going to give you and your bike an easier ride--but my experience with 2in tires is that they are a bit of an overkill for N American roads that we usually ride on (yes, a generalization, but you get the drift).

you are planning this trip for next summer, so you have lots of time to look at bike tires in stores and jot down prices.
I brought up that great deal on a pair of original marathons for $60ca delivered simply because I feel its a very good price/for what you get set of tires.

I personally wouldnt go less than 1.5 for any loaded dirt riding, Ive ridden my 1.5s on dirt loaded and they work fine--but of course, there is "dirt" and there is "dirt"--a huge range of how a dirt road can be, but Ive never had problems with 1.5s on what I have ridden, but then I havent been riding down muddy dirt roads either, which is always going to be a challenge for non mtn bike tires.

Biketouringhobo

I am using Scwalbe Marathon plus tour 26x1.75in 47x559mm in Southern California and when
I start my Bike Touring trip in NY, PA, NJ in 6/2016 I am going to use Continental touring plus
26x1.75in 44x559mm only $26.99 at Bikeman Continental Touring Plus 26 x 1.75 Black Reflex

mrv 

a vote for Conti Touring Plus
Been riding on them since early spring - commuting a couple times a month, 5 day / 380 mile pave tour, short dirt road campouts, lots of dirt road coffee shop runs - no flats, and good times.

DropBarFan

Rode the Conti Touring for a couple of years, 1 flat. Schwalbe Marathons for 2 years, no flats. Current 1.4 Tom Slicks got a flat in 1st week, installed tire liner & no flats in >1 yr. To me it seems worthwhile to push the envelope a bit in going for lighter weight. Tires are one of the few spots on production touring bikes where one can cut weight w/o $$ or big problems.

djb

the conti touring plus tires, or at least the ones I have put on wheels, or friends have, are the stiffest sidewall tires I have ever seen. It is just ridiculous how rigid the sidewall is, and this was certainly reflected in getting it on and off rims--granted, I know that tire/rim difficulties often are due to the specific rim. A friend of mine had a slow leak on a cont touring plus, we got it off to check everything, but holy kajeepers, to get it back on it was very lucky that they had a super super strong set of Pedros plastic extra wide tire levers. If not, my good old levers would have busted and I dont know how we would have got it on--the old trick of tightenig or pushing the tire into the rim and working your way around to gain a few mm just didnt work, Im convinced because of how fricken stiff the sidewalls were.

I did however put one of these on a family bike, and with the rims on that bike, it was not an ordeal, so does show how rim specific it can be.

Doug64

Yeah, I have brand new pair of Marathon Plus's that I got by mistake that I'm putting on Craig's List rather than on a bike. They would make a good anchor.