[QUOTE=ThermionicScott;19120377]That Vittoria Randonneur sounds like a pretty awful tire to ride: [url=https://www.bicyclerollingresista[/QUOTE]


That tire has higher rolling resistance than most of the knobby MTB tires tested!

With that much rolling resistance, flat protection is a downside. It removes your excuse to bin the tire and get something better!

I like 35mm schwalbe marathon extremes which I am pretty sure they don't make any more. I run them at ~65 PSI. For 24 mile roundtrip I might prefer something more slick. At the time I got them, they were the same tire as their marathon winter (but minus the studs), which I also use on the same bike.

I've had one flat in about 1500 miles on the Voyager Hypers in a 38mm size. It was a nail that went straight through. The truth is that I could have ridden that tire another 2 miles because of all the air in the tire and the puncture was leaking slowly. The nail was nasty, though.

I ride in NY City. There's no shortage of glass and debris. The Voyager Hypers do pretty well.

Any time you hear people describe the ride of a tire, you have to consider what they're comparing it to. The Gatorskins is generally used by people who want a fast road tire but also want puncture protection. So the way it feels is generally compared to tires like the Conti GP 4000S and compared to those it's not so great. On the other hand, if you compare it to most beefy touring/city tires, it's pretty nice.

But 23's at 130 psi? Yeah, that's going to be harsh.

I commute on 700x32 Marathon Supremes. They're a great tire and I like the ride, but compared to a road tire like the GP 4000S they're pretty stiff. I haven't used Gatorskins wider than 25, but I would expect the ride or the wider ones to be similar to the Marathon Supremes as the weight and number of threads per inch is similar.

Next time my tires wear out I'm going to try something like the Compass Barlow Pass. With wide, supple tires like this, the flexibility of the tire provides a natural resistance to punctures and by all accounts these rolls extremely well.

I guess I wish I had more experience with different types of tires. I'm honestly curious which would be more comfortable...28mm 4000s or 32mm Gatorskins. I don't know how much of a difference construction makes on comfort.

I like Kenda Kwest K193 for my 10-12 mile one way commute. The have a hard tread and thin flexible sidewalls. They are more responsive the Schwalbe Marathons. I run 28-622 on the front and 35-622 on the rear, both on Dyad (18mm inside width) rims.

I've been riding a couple of years and am thinking of my next set of tires. I've only had 3 variations of tire/wheel combinations and my total mileage is probably around 3K, so I don't have the depth of experience to have figured out much about what is my next best move and I've been reading and listening to podcasts on the subject--but it's obviously a huge amount of information to absorb and also a very subjective analysis in the end. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge and experience demonstrated in this thread so I thought I'd attempt to hitchhike onto the thread with my own situation.

Bike: 2015 Trek Domane 4.3, size 58 cm. My second road bike and although I've been tempted to "upgrade" I think it's probably a fine bike for me.

Riding: I do 3-4 groups rides with a local (ABQ, NM) each week and 1 or 2 supervised sessions on a Computrainer. While I'm proud of what I've accomplished at my age (71!) in a couple of years, I'm definitely not really fast and not a great bike handler either, but I like training and improving and I can now hang with some of the faster guys on the rides. "Mid-pack" is probably a good description. ABQ has a lot of bike lanes and MUP's which range from excellent to fair (IMO) as far as condition goes.

Wheels/tires tried:

Stock Bontrager wheels and tires that came with the bike-25mm.

A set of Fulcrum "2.5's" (which are supposed to be an OEM version of the Fulcrum Racing 3's). "2-way" rims with no interior spoke holes. I bought them from a forum (Paceline) member and they came with 23 mm Schwalbe One tires.

The Schwalbe One's wore out really quickly for whatever reason and I then had an LBS install a pair of Specialized "Roubaix" (IIRC) tubeless tires--really pricey @ $90/each. I have those tires on the bike now and overall they seem "OK" but early on I had a big puncture on the rear tire that required a plug to seal up. Then that plug heated up on the Computrainer and came out. I've put a tube in now and that seems to be working OK, but I am pretty disappointed in the tubeless experience. Ran them at 90 F 95 rear and the comfort factor seemed mildly noticeable. The flats with sealant are a mess and I'm ready to just go back to tubes.

The Domane is described in the marketing hype as a "plush" bike, which I find kind of hilarious when I hit a stretch of road with bad expansion joints.

So I'm looking for a new set of tires that will actually be more "plush" but don't want to give up grip or speed. I have a subscription to Bicylcle Quarterly and Jan H's writing on the Compass brand of tires has me imagining (?) that these might be the Holy Grail....but I kind of doubt it. The only Compass tire that will fit my bike is PROBABLY the Cayuse Pass 26mm (possibly the 28 mm, but risky). The Fulcrum rims are pretty narrow and the clearances on the Domane are enough for 25's, but there have been reports that 28mm is too wide for the back.

The Compass's are pricey @ $75/each, but crikey, those Specialized tubless tires were more than that.

Don't want to hijack this thread, and am willing to move it/start a new one. But this seems like a place where I might get some good recommends. This isn't life or death, and I'm willing to experiment some to figure out what might work best for me.

TIA.

STP



W

What's your weight? I'm ~155lbs and riding 23mm Schwalbe Ones at 65/75 psi. You could potentially drop 15 psi and have a much improved ride.

When I had the Schwalbe Ones I was probably still around 200 lbs or so (6' tall). Riding the Specialized tubeless I trained my way down to 175. Broken arm got me back to 195, now on my way back down and at ~185.

STP

That's a good question. I tend to think it makes a lot of difference. Assuming that by "comfort" you mean the extent to which a tire will absorb rather than transmit minor bumps in the road, there is no question that at the same volume and pressure a more supple tire will be more comfortable. But as you change more variables, things get complicated. A really wide tire at really low pressure will likely be more comfortable than a really skinny tire at really high pressure even if the wide tire is less supple. But the comparison you asked about involves small changes in width and presumably small changes in pressure.

I suspect that in the real world most people (myself included) would have a tendency to overinflate the 28mm tire (because their mental model of it is as a race tire) and that the 32mm Gatorskin would on average be more comfortable. But if you used some mythical ideal inflation for both tires, I think the supple casing of the GP 4000S would give it a slight edge.

I could be wrong though. Air volume goes up pretty fast as tire width increases.

FWIW, I've got 700x28 GP4000S's on one of my bikes and they measure closer to 30mm wide. I don't know about the 700x32 Gatorskins. Also note that the more supple GP4000S's will have less rolling resistance and on relatively smooth surfaces your brain may very well interpret that as comfort.

Probably not the best in the durability department but 2.35" Schwalbe Big One Liteskins at 30psi would make for an amazing ride if your frame has clearance. If you set them up tubeless they have insanely low rolling resistance (as low as 10-11 watts.)

Schwalbe Big One LiteSkin Rolling Resistance Review

Don't you get pinch flats at that pressure? I'm 68kg/150lbs and now run my Vittoria 23s at 90/100 down from 100/110. Tried super low pressures like yours but the ride feels sluggish.

Have the goathead thorns been a problem for you? I lived in ABQ for two years and I eventually switched from nice Pasela TG tires on my bikes to really tough and cheap tires that rode terrible.

When I moved to Northern California, I managed to get my last flat tire from the dreaded goathead on my first ride when I switched back to the pasela tires and the last trapped bits lead to a puncture almost immediately.

Admittedly I didn't know what to be looking for to dodge on the path or road, and also liked to take my 1977 touring bike offroad a bit...

Here in Sweden I have three bikes, one on 28 mm nominal Conti 4-seasons (on my 1967 touring fixed gear, measure 25 mm), one on 35 mm Schwalbe spicers (heavy Finnish city bike), and 32 mm Vittoria Voyager Hypers (1977 touring bike, mounted easily by hand and seem roughly true-to-size). Three years with no punctures, but in goathead land I'd probably go with something ultra-tough.

I'm (mostly) running tubeless so that helps, and I ride relatively light on the seat. I currently have a tube in back (repair), I'm waiting for it to wear out before.

I think a large part of the sluggish is tire construction, and having tubes just makes it worse. I previously have Fusion 3's and those felt sluggish below 90psi.

If you're ever in goathead land again, try Michelin Protek Cross Max. Great value in a bulletproof tire for mixed terrain riding in punctureland. Heavy but good riding and great grip on most reasonable terrain, from pavement to moderate off road riding. I've ridden a set of 700x40 (they weigh 1,100 gr each) on my hybrid with suspension fork for a year and just swapped the front and rear tires around to wear evenly. When I inspected the rear tires I found a few bits of glass splinters embedded with cuts down to the 5mm thick puncture shield, but nothing penetrated. Usually goathead burrs just get flattened by these tires.

I had a similar set of Innova 700x35 tires on my Univega mountain bike but switched to the lighter Continental Speed Rides. So far, so good, in the same area that flatted my old tires several times last fall.

100% !!

I've got 1,500 miles on a pair of them -- 700x42 -- on my 1990 Bianchi Volpe, and they're a sweet ride. I put over 8K miles on Bontrager Satellite Elite Hardcase (700x38), and the ride was awful (not to mention that I barely got 2,500 miles out of a rear tire).

I'm heavier than Canklecat (~205lbs), so I ride 'em at 50/55psi (front/rear) -- up it to 60psi rear when I go to the supermarket/greengrocer. Like him, I ride on a mix of surfaces -- all on-road -- and never a flat. The file-tread is very quiet.

After the wire-bead Bontragers, it took some time getting accustomed to the folding beads' suppleness, but it's been a good move. After a month of 20-25 mile daily rides, I bought another two pair "just in-case", since they've been discontinued.

If you can find 'em, I recommend 'em.

Thanks for all the recommendation. I recently came to a conclusion that I should have been asking about TYRES, not TIRES. Took a bit of looking, but found a set of Vittoria Voyager Hypers for 17 bucks a piece.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVIVO...r-folding-tyre

Figure I did pretty well even with shipping. I probably should have bought more than 1 set.

Edit: On a side note.....why is stuff on the British sites so darn cheap? This doesnt seem to be an isolated deal...most things are cheaper over there. I mean some of it I'm sure is the exchange rate dropping in our favor....but I don't think that explains all of the difference.

Edit Edit: Darnit!!!! I just saw them for 12.50 on another site with cheaper shipping to boot. I need to get off the internet....

That is a heckuva deal. I'd heard the exchange rate was great for the US now, but hadn't really looked. What's the other site you found with better prices?

Honestly I forgot. If you just google Vittoria Voyager Hyper it's one of the British sites that pops up in the first page or two. I dont think it was wiggle or chain reaction.

Brexit has sort of destroyed the British economy I believe...stuff may get even cheaper.

Right up until the stores have to restock using depressed pounds.

The upside is that I got a pair of Assos bibs for $140...

I might buy a pair of those. The reviews are good enough, and they're premium tires. They have the skinny flexible armor so their puncture resistance looks about par with decent roadie tires. There are lighter tires (Compass and Soma) but they seem to have less meat and armor.

I'm confused though, if you check through then the part number implies the 35's are 37's and the 38's are 40's.

The gray market works on two things. The Brits prohibit vertical monopoly pricing, and there's a lower limit on price that incurs duties.

OK, just ordered a set of 35-or-37, will report back what I get

I haven't followed Brexit or exchange rates all that closely, but the main reason their stuff is so cheap for us is that they don't have to charge us VAT. Similar deal with German online stores.

I THINK they are accounting for the fact they run small? God knows though...shouldnt be hard for companies to label tires correctly.

I honestly don't know what VAT is...but I'm fairly certain U.S. stores dont chare it either.