This topic gets beaten to death on BF in multiple locations. I commute with a cross bike and was looking for tires with better puncture protection After intergoogling and reading reviews I went with Continental Country Plus tires. Good ness gracious these things a pigs. Felt like I was pulling a trailer the whole way. Uphill. Against the wind. Look elsewhere for puncture protection.
That is all.

Yeah, they look heavy.

Puncture protection weighs more?
Huh.

IMO, I am starting to think that Conti. tires is shlling, giving their stuff great reviews.

Try Travel Contact - they're 2/3 of the weight, bulletproof and I LOVE them on my MTB.

Agreed.
Also,
The country plus do seem to weigh close to 1K.
But they are very resistant to goat heads.
And that counts for a lot, depending on where you ride......

I've just googled 'goat heads' - EEK! They look viscious .

I have to disagree, I had multiple punctures with Conti Contacts, switched to Marathon Dureme.

Marc

It's not the tire weight that makes it so slow. It's the tire composition that causes rolling resistance. If someone could make a heavy tire that was puncture resistant but had low rolling resistance, that would be the holy grail of commuting/touring tires.

Conti Contacts are different than Country Plus

[h=1]Country Plus[/h]
Carefree riding on country paths & lanes.


• the reliable choice for use on unsurfaced paths or asphalt roads
• wide central tread and grippy shoulder knobs make it one of the most versatile tyres on the market
• extra strong PlusBreaker lining fends off thorns and stones
• reflective strips



Please note! Some sizes and versions are not available in all countries.

Schwalbe Marathon. Roll fast and are puncture resistant. However, they are a bit like wood - too hard. I'm thinking of switching back to not that puncture resistant tyres, but softer AND fast rolling.

I ride Panaracer Pasela tires which are not all that sturdy, but I like the way they ride. I hear the Pasela TG (tourguard) are good at preventing punctures. Some say they ride differently from the regular Paselas, and some say they ride the same. I haven't tried them. I should, though.

You should know that I lean far to the side of ride quality, and I willingly sacrifice puncture protection for that.

same here

they weigh less in 406 20" than those 29er sizes.

yeah, they're heavy and slow. They also are pretty flat proof though, and seem to last forever. I've got 2k miles or so on the set I've got, and the rear is just starting to look less than brand new. Compared to the Nokians I use in the winter, they're light...

Funny, reactions to tires like this vary from:

"Rides like crap but resists punctures really well"

to

"Resists punctures really well but rides like crap"

My Schwalbe Marathon Supremes are very flat resistant(zero flats,and have picked much FOD out of them) and still ride good. I have them on my all alloy Pt Reyes and they ride very well.

I don't think they ride like crap. They're heavy, and so they're slow, but they have good traction wet and dry. I run them with about 40 psi front, 50 rear, and they soak up urban potholes and so on pretty well. I've had one flat, a snake bite caused by neglecting the checking the tire pressure (the non flat rear was at 20 psi...) for a bit too long. I'm actually pretty happy with them. I don't know if I'll buy another set, but I'm not replacing them early either.

OK, but my comment was hyperbolic.

Um a big hunk o heavy, on the on the outside of the rims is gonna be a big hung o heavy in the worst possible spot for rotating weight. So yeah, the weight will make it slower. Plus it may ride crummier than the average tire.

Um... It's the total mass of the wheels, bike, and rider that matter. When accelerating, you count the mass of the tires twice, but this is still only a couple percent.

If it were the mass of the the that mattered, then it would be hard to get up to speed, but easier to maintain it, and yet we never hear anybody describe this benefit of heavy tires.


The composition of a tire makes a huge difference. Weight, not so much.

There are none so blind as those who will not see

Spirited discussion, wonderful! However, I did have to google 'hyperbolic' and that means my BA in English was a waste of my fathers money.

But you've heard of "hyperbole", right?

Hmm, OP has Country PLUS, I have Country RIDEs and I like them OK (and I have Mr Tuffys in there too). But I think I'm not very sensitive to light/heavy wheels.

Is the PLUS just a RIDE with extra flat protection?