JWK

I've worn out the Continental Contacts that came on my Surly LHT and now need new tires. I've done a lot of research and am ready to rip my hair out. The problem is I'm a little budget restricted. I have two sets of tires to buy for two different bikes and a lot of other misc. stuff I've been putting off for a couple of years. So I think $50 is my max. The plain old contacts go for about $35 IIRC.

I'm looking for just a noticeable upgrade. If I can't find anything else, I'll just buy the same thing again for now. They lasted about 2k miles with one flat last year on the back tire. The roads around here are extremely rough. Lots of broken asphalt, frost heaves, etc. The good news is not a lot of puncture stuff. Just really bad, rough roads. I've lived here almost 2 years now and have never seen such bad roads overall. I do almost all road riding with an occasional dirt/gravel road for two or three miles that connects me with another road. I'm not usually loaded with anything, just take longish rides of 30 - 50 miles. This summer we want to increase this to include a few centuries and increase our weekend ride to 50 - 70. I'm not looking for the longest lasting or puncture resistant. I want to put emphasis on comfort and easier rolling. I weigh 220 lbs. right now and my bike weighs 30+lbs.

Right now I'm looking at Continental Gatorskins in 32mm folding. They weigh a lot less than my present tires, will probably last longer, but I don't know if they will ride any better, especially since I will be moving a size smaller and lose some of the cushion against all the broken pavement.

So I'm looking for suggestions for moderately priced tire that will be an improvement in speed or comfort, or both from the low end Continental Contacts.

supton

How bad is your front tire? I'm wondering if you can keep that and shave a bit of cost that way. I know my rear tire wears faster. Buy one tire, try it out, buy more as necessary.

Couldn't help you otherwise, sorry.

GerryinHouston

Schwalbe Marathon (not he Plus). Faster than the Plus or the Gatorskin and good puncture protection.

Just over $30

indyfabz

Contact II is a better tire. I have toured fully loaded on 32c, including the GAP. Currently riding the Contact II 37c because I have been adding more "dirt" to my tours, and some of it has been rough.

Recycle

Or maybe look at a set of Continental Travel Contacts? (semi-slick with side knobs) This was the first source that came up in a google search.
Continental Travel Contact Duraskin Tire > Components > Tires > Pavement Tires | Jenson USA

From Conti: continental bicycle Travel CONTACT

I got 10,500 mi from a set of 26 x 1.75 Conti Travel Contacts on my LHT. That was typically riding 2,500 to 3,500 miles a year including 500 to 1,000 miles of lightly loaded touring. There are 3,500 mi on the set on there now, and they're still looking good . one flat on this set.

canklecat

Check out Michelin Urban and Protek tires. Michelin city/touring tires are underrated values and often discounted to half the price of comparable Schwalbes. Check Bike Tires Direct, Nashbar, Jenson, all the usual suspects for bargains.

I've been riding Michelin's heavy duty shoes, Protek Cross Max, 700x40 (nominal, actually closer to 45 wide) for 18 months on bombed out pavement, chip seal, gravel, you name it, with sharp pokey stuff everywhere. No puncture flats, although I've pulled bits of glass, staples, metal shards, goat heads and grass burrs out of the tires after some rides. Even when glass has slashed through the thick tread down to the yellow Aramid fiber belt nothing has punctured. But these are heavy tires, 1,100 g each -- fine for my heavy comfort hybrid errand bike, but not the model I'd choose for a lighter, faster bike.

The "Cross" designates thicker chevron pattern tread, and the "Max" is their thickest 5mm Aramid shield. Those will be heavy, but comfortable at the right inflation -- I run 'em around 50 psi (I weigh around 160, give or take depending on beer consumption).

The regular Protek and Urban tires have thinner tread and puncture shields, weigh less and should roll just fine.

And if you don't mind going wider Jenson has Continental Speed Rides on sale for about $15 each. These are fantastic bargains. I bought a set last fall and have put over 1,100 miles on 'em. Great all terrain tires with just enough shallow diamond file tread and a few side knobbies to grip grass, loose sandy patches on turns, gravel, etc. But they roll smoothly and quietly on pavement and hold up to our local bombed out pavement and chip seal. They're nominally 700x42 but actually closer to 38 wide. Max pressure is 85 psi but I don't get anywhere near that. I prefer 'em around 40-50 psi front, 50-60 psi rear, adjusted to suit the terrain. I'll let out a bit of air for the gravel trails and grassy levees, then add air later for the ride home on pavement. They do have a thin puncture shield that helps a bit, but I had a rash of half a dozen flats back in December, mostly from riding off road in grass burr hell. Only one flat on pavement, a tiny razor thin shard of glass I picked up riding through a patch of that loose sandy debris that accumulates on some country road intersection turns where vehicle traffic sorta squeegees debris into little piles. I try to avoid those.

BlazingPedals

If Contacts are anything like Sport Contacts, then anything would be an improvement. The Sport Contacts I had were heavy, harsh-riding, and slow. To make matters worse I bought a batch of them and all but one of them had the sidewall blow out. The remaining one had the tread delaminate from the carcass.

Chain Reaction sells Conti Gatorskins in wire bead for $35 each. You can also look at Schwalbe Durano.

therealjoeblow

Continental SpeedRide 700x42 (measures 38mm inflated) is an *outstanding* all-round tire for hybrid or touring bikes. Folding version is only 430g, and it is faaaast on pavement, but with a ton of grip on gravel and dirt. I'm using them on my Giant Roam - the reviews at just about every forum, blog and vendor's site are extremely positive across the board on these. They were only $14.99 each at JensonUSA a few weeks ago (showing out of stock right now...)

If you don't want to go quite as wide, Continental Cyclocross Speed is the 700x35 version, which gets equally good reviews.

If comfort is one of your objectives, I would go with the 42's - they have the extra volume you need to run at a slightly lower pressure to give you some tire suspension, and in my and many others' experience, these do not present any speed or rolling resistance penalty.

Just all around awesome tires IMO.

Cheers
TRJB

Timequake

Panaracer Pasela! Good puncture protection, super comfortable ride, very low rolling resistance, super cheap.

09box

I had these Lifeline Commuter tires in 700x32:

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-commuter-road-tyre/

They were good on tarmac, gravel and in the woods short of Mud. I paid $23 shipped for a pair. Can't beat that.