Kevlar Tires?
 

I'm currently rolling back and forth down Venice Blvd. on a pair of 27" by 1 1/4" crusty Bontrager Sport tires that came with my old road bike. In two weeks I've gotten two flats. The good news is the tires are so old they are really easy to get on and off the rim.

What's the best "value" in Kevlar reinforced tires for commuting and or touring?

Also I'm 5'10" and 202 lbs, do I need a larger tire with lower pressure?

Carbon Fiber? You're probably thinking of kevlar reinforced tires, which is a common puncture-proofing belt material thrown into the design of a tire's casing.

For 27 x 1.25, there's the Continental Ultra Gatorskin. They make a 32-630 size of them, and I'd trust those just fine. I've been riding the 700 x 28 version all year, and only wore out my first one at about 3200 miles; and I'm heavier than you by 40 pounds.

27"?

not a lot of selection in that size.
it's a different story if they're 622mm rims

Never heard of carbon fiber tires. I think you mean kevlar reinforced tires though. Those are common, and very good.

I LOVE Panaracer Pasela TG, but many others prefer Continental gatorskins, or various tires from Michelin, Hutchinson, Vittoria, or vredestein.

For running 27" wheels, look here.

For $11/each you can't beat the price on these, although I have no experience with them so I can't comment on quality.

Not a lot of options when you're stuck with 27 inch. Those Pasela TG in 1 1/4 from rugerben's link look like a real winner for the price.

Those Forte's from Performance have mixed reviews both on their own site and from a thread here but mostly folks don't mind them and they DO reduce the flat occurances. So if you're on a budget then that may be worth a gamble.

But for a little over twice as much for the Pasela's I can personally vouch for how effective they are. I can't remember EVER having a flat with the Pasela TG's I've run and am running now.

woops
 

yeah, I mean kevlar, I had carbon fiber on the brain sorry

Here's a good page with some info on that tire size. I'd probably go with the Panaracer Pasela Tourguard Belted as well. At your weight, you'll probably want the 1 1/4 width.

I am running the Forte GT2/K 27 x 1 1/8 on my commuter. 950 miles and I've had 2 flats. One was a major gash that took out tube and tire while the other was a piece of wire. The bike lanes and commercial areas I commute through are, in my opinion, a good test of what a tire can take and these are holding up well for me. Plus it's hard to beat the price, especially if you have a Performance store closeby.

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/pscpp..._x_1_14/pp.htm

Never used them, but Schwalbe has a good rep. I'd stay away from Forte brand stuff - maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but I've never had good luck with warehouse house-brand parts. I have a set of their road tires, but I only use it on the track where there is absolutely nothing to cause a flat. I don't trust them on the road.

My commute bike is a somewhat modern road bike with 700C wheels. I've been using Continental Gatorskins. It's not like I haven't had flats with that tire, but they seem more durable than my normal road/racing bike tires (Michelin Pro Race 2). EDIT: I see that someone said that the gatorskins come in 32-630 size (which is 27" x 1.25", I believe). I guess I'd recommend the Gatorskins then, since I ride them.

I've got those Forte GT2s with about 500 miles on them with 2 flats thus far. Both flats were from "goatheads" , stupid gigantic thorns. I've had others get stuck and have had to pull them out. The 2nd flat looked like it was a the tip of the thorn that had just worked it's way through after time. They do OK with flat resistance, but I'm not all that impressed so far.

I previously had some Panaracer Pasela's with Tourguard. They really worked quite well, and I didn't have any flats from punctures, but I did get a very nasty pinch flat which tore the sidewall so I ended up replacing them. I ran over something very hard at about 25mph while looking behind me for cars. They were at full pressure at the time. They were replaced at about 1.2k miles with what seemed like a lot of tread left.

I wanted to try the continental gatorskins, but the price on the Forte's was compelling. I'm not sure if the gatorskins would fare much better with the thorns I met (or the Panaracers for that matter), and I had gotten those flats after taking completely different routes than i ever had with the panaracers. The Forte's haven't been punctured on any of the routes I took on the Panaracers so for me they've been about equivalent so far.

I use 700 x 28 Armadillos on my flat bar roadie and cant fault them, semi slick fast rolling and tough. Have done close to 1000miles and no real signs of wear. I'm 6'1" and about 190lbs.

i just got some 27x 1 1/8 Vittoria Zaffiro's from Nashbar. about three weeks (~100 city miles) with no flats so far. but to be fair, i never got a single flat on the cheap nylon belted tires my bike came with, which i rode to the threads over 4 years. plus they were lighter than my new ones.

The zaffiro are "aramid" belted, which is a generic term for kevlar it seems. They were $17 each.

I have the same only 25's instead of 28's. I am 6' and 240 plus about 20# of computer, lunch, cola's... If your commute is not long I would go with the widest possible just for comfort. I bought these at the beginning of the summer and have about 1500 miles on them. No flats, no real wear, but I wish they were a little wider. The lbs talked me into narrow for speed. I had the 28's before these and do not see that much difference but I do feel it.