Originally Posted by
mcallaghan
I've ridden on my Marathon Plus tires in Ireland and for the last few years. But they are slow and heavy...a brief look at weight comparison seems to show that they are about twice as heavy as most other touring tires.
But there seem to be so many other options, half of which all seem about the same. I can't really tell what the difference is between any of them and each have their group of loyal followers who promote them. I think my Marathon Plus tires are overkill...especially when I think I rode on Gatorskins from London to Rome back in the day with only a single flat (which was due to a torn nipple).
Does anyone have a recommendation? I will be riding mostly paved roads with some gravel sections. 700x32 is my preferred tire size too.
I don't think which tire makes a whole lot of difference...other than anything that Continental makes. Continental and I have a very poor history and they have, literally, left me flat on too many occasions. I have used Panaracer RibMo on my most recent tour in the eastern US which included many miles of dirt roads and unpaved towpaths. The C&O Canal is more mountian bike trail than bike trail and the RibMos did quite well. I've also been using Vittoria Randonneurs as my commuter tires for about 4 or 5 years now and they are an incredibly good tire. I recently picked up a set of Vittoria Hypers for my commuter and they seem to be a good tire as well. They are wider than "normal" tires...the 35 is actually a 37mm tire...but they ride really nicely.
I have yet to try any of the Schwalbe for various reasons. The main on is that they just haven't been available when I needed tires but when I look at the weight of the tire, they all seem much heavier than other tires I've used. That's one of the reasons I picked up the Hypers.