Originally Posted by
CliffordK
I agree, a lot depends on your goals.
I put a 25mm Marathon onto the rear of my bike for this winter.
And, got my first flat within the first 50 miles.
The next flat was on the front with a well used Origin8 Elimin8er.
The Schwalbe will be put into storage this spring, replaced with a Gator Hardshell, or perhaps grinding down the Elimin8ers a bit more.
Did you mention.
On roads?
Off Road/Gravel?
USA?
Loaded? Total Weight (person + cargo) Front/Rear?
Unloaded hotel hopping?
Some of my longest rides were on some pretty questionable quality sewups quite some time ago.
I'm now a big fan of puncture resistant tires, but the list is pretty long.
You make the point well.....the right tire depends on the condition under which it will be used.
I am hoping to do a ride across the U.S. of about 3600 miles. I have not settled the route yet, but I would like to incorporate the Katy Trail, and others like it, so the perfect tire needs to be able to handle some off road conditions. I will riding my Trek 520 with 40 lbs of gear in four panniers. Total weight ( bike, rider , water and old man doing all the work) will be about 275 lbs. I plan to use motels about half the time and camp the rest. I really don't know what the weight distribution, but I would quess 25:75. Is that reasonable?
I have done a lot of week long ultra light tours and have had pretty good luck with 700x32 Panaracer T-Serv folding tires which I routinely inflate at 100 psi. I a considering going up to 35-40 mm due to the extra load I will be carrying.
I hear a lot of good things out there about Gatorskins, but I don' t know they make a folding Gatorskins in the width I am considering.