Originally Posted by
FlMTNdude
I am wondering how many of you who commute with your bike also do regular rides? I commute about 60 miles a week, and do another 100 road riding. I currently have been running Bontrager AW1 with a Mr Tuffy liner, which has been overall a good tire. However, I moved since I bought them and now have in my commute about 1/3 of the commute on gravel covered asphalt. My concern is the increased wear I am seeing. I have seen a few tires on this thread and in my shopping. I am looking for lowest rolling resistance possible with the heavier tread.
I have several bikes, I commute on my touring bike, but ride a different bike on the weekends. The lowest rolling resistance with a thick thread will be the Schwalbe Marathon series of tires, these roll surprisingly well for a heavy tire, not as well as my regular road bike with Specialized Roubaix Pro tires but better then my previous touring tires; also the Schwalbe wear like iron and have great traction on dry and wet pavement. The rolling resistance thing was proven in a lab that's been testing tires for that in the last 5 or more years. I did put liners in my Schwalbe tires, not really sure if I needed those however, I guess better safe than sorry, but it's a bit of hassle to fix a flat on the rear with loaded panniers, stuff strapped onto the top of the rack and fenders. I don't foresee ever using a different brand of tire for my touring bike, I think I found the holy grail of tire for that purpose unless someone comes out with something a lot better.