carlos danger

the centripetal forces you mean right?

carlos danger

"Best" tires in the general purpose category imo is the schwalbe marathon supreme. they last longer than gp4k's but both are very very puncture proof. Both use the best rubber possible and then some kind of vectran/kevlar weave. The contis are usually the best from 28mm and below and the supremes 32 and above.

a 32 supreme will be 2mm bigger on rim. and a 25mm gp4k will be 27-28 usually on rim. this is pretty much the best **** both makers make allover.

daoswald

GP4000s are great tires but puncture proof commuters they are not. Just riding them for fitness training 100 to 140 miles a week last year I was flatting a couple times a month, usually from goatheads.

This year my commuter/hybrid is sporting GP4 season tires, which haven't flatted yet this year, and on my road bike, a GP5000 in back and GP4000 in front until it wears out.

But these aren't ideal commute tires if flat protection trumps speed and feel. If my hybrid seemed more prone to flats along my commute I would move to Gatorskin Hard Shells.

The OP seems to want more of a mixed surface tire. If that were my need I would probably go with Top Contact II in a 38mm width. Heavier, slower, but durable and capable of dealing with a pretty wide variety of surfaces acceptably.

carlos danger

Yeah me too i would also go more HD for bad commuting.

that being said i have no trouble with my gp4ks nor the marathon supremes. and i ride some distances that are gravel with them. so for me they work.

If going lets say 35mm or up then the supremes are nice imo but one might need beefier stuff. i dont though. top contacts seem very similar to supremes in build.

last resort would be "plus" tires imo.

trailmix

Well, whatever you call it, the extremely high weight of the tire created noticeable forces when cornering at speed. Better?

RubeRad

Here's my similar post, if it helps. There are probably 2x as many 'marathon' tires as back then. I think they should not put Marathon in the name, but make it a technology designator, like tubeless ready, or snakeskin, etc.

So many Marathons!

Quote:

hoping to find a tire that can support my weight, be comfortable for 45 min trips, and not be ridiculously heavy (the commute is hilly and has about 25% gravel). It also needs to be as flat resistant as possible

Problem is, you want all the things. You probably want it to be cheap too, right? You can't have all the things.

Marathon Supreme is the most comfortable and lightweight and expensive. It is quite flat-resistant, but not 'as flat resistant as possible'. I think Marathon Plus is 'as flat resistant as possible', and also one of the least expensive, but also reputed to be the heaviest and least comfortable.

I invested in a pair of Marathon Supremes (700x50), and they lasted me well over 10,000 miles. I weigh about 235 nowadays.

I thought they looked frumpy though, so I got myself a pair of Mondials 700x42? x46? I was quite disappointed that the rear tire wore away all the 'scallops' in about a year. Doesn't seem very 'Marathon'.

HardyWeinberg

Where I can most chime in here is as follows: my winter bike is a cyclocross frame running Marathon Extremes, which I think have evolved into the Mondial. The Extremes are identical to the Marathon Winters but minus the studs. So when it is black ice season I swap in the MWs. I use 35mm for both, the largest 700c tires I have. The tread of the extremes does a good job w/ the deep leaf mulch I need to ride through so much of. Decent with slush and the Winters' studs really nail the bike to the ground when it gets that much more slippery.

I have tried 700c 40mm marathon supremes but didn't like them. I love supremes at 32, I have a steel fendered roadbike with those.