Originally Posted by
sstorkel
I haven't experienced any sidewall tears with the Hyper. As I recall, Vittoria's original marketing materials for the Hyper claimed that it was specifically designed to resist tears. Puncture protection is decent, but punctures can happen. As much as I love the Hyper, I've switched to the Vittoria Randonneur Pro. It's slightly heavier, but seems to have better puncture protection as a result. I also found the Hyper to wear pretty quickly. You can get 3,000 miles out of them but probably not a whole lot more. The Randonneur Pro seems to be wearing well, but I only have 1500 miles on them so far so the jury is still out.
I only run 26", but I swear by the Vittoria Rando Pros. Seem to last forever, not very heavy, decent ride, excellent flat resistance. One of the few flats I've had in them was due to a goat head, but I don't think you'll stop goat heads with anything less than a Mr Tuffy tire liner or a prohibitively thick and heavy tire. I run Rando Pros fore and aft on my tourer and as a rear tire on my commuter. Up front I've got a Panaracer T-Serv Protex, which IIRC comes in 700c as well. Also a great tire, less stiff sidewall, and higher rubber content makes it a little more cushy, but I don't think it is as durable as the Rando Pro, despite having about equal flat protection.