JWK

I've got a GT Grade I'm doing a lot of riding on now. Still have the heavy, stiff 28 tires on it and want to get a better pair of 32s for more comfortable riding. Quite a few here have told me Panaracer Paselas are decent riding tires for the money, so I looked into it.

I'm wondering if anyone knows the difference in ride between the three tires. The roads around here are really rough, lots of broken pavement but very little debris. In the past two years I've only had one flat on a worn out continental contact (700x37 on my Surly), so I don't have to worry overly much about flats.

So we have day rides of 30 - 50 miles, rough roads with some dirt and gravel roads thrown in (a mile or two stretch here and there to connect me to another road), but mostly pavement riding. Which one would you go for?

DrIsotope

Of those, the only one I have experience with is the non-PT Pasela, and they are fantastic. Supremely comfortable and downright cheap. My riding appears to be similar to yours-- primarily poor condition pavement with some light off road mixed in. I don't hesitate to recommend the Paselas. I've heard nothing but good things about the non-SK Gravelkings, but can't speak to them personally.

FrontRanger

The plain Paselas (i.e. ones w/o extra puncture protection) are good, inexpensive tires. The sidewalls aren't the toughest, but they ride very nicely when inflated to sensible pressures. Gravelkings are more durable and flat-resistant, IME, but still ride nicely. I much prefer the non-SK Gravelking as the SKs' side knobs are a bit sketchy when cornering on pavement.

jefnvk

I've got the regular Paselas on two of my 27" bikes (~32mm width). I like them, they handle most surfaces competently, and feel quite comfortable. They don't roll as well as my Conti Ultra Sports, though.

I take the Paselas when I go to Detroit proper, which is nothing but destroyed pavement and potholes and debris. They get ridden on my after work ride, which is an 8 mile combination of limestone, gravel, good pavement and wretched pavement.

JWK

I see the SK are also made in size 32. I should have specified I'm only looking at the plain, or "nearly slick" version, not the SK.

JWK

I'd like to hear more about the conti ultra sports. I didn't look into them yet. Would you say the plain paselas are tougher, but the ultra sports roll better? How would you say the longevity compares? I don't need the toughest tires, but I would like to see at least 2k miles with good maintenance. I got that out of my continental contacts which came on my Surly. I don't think those are supposed to be especially tough or flat resistant tires, are they?

jefnvk

To be honest, I don't ride the bike that the UltraSports are on much, I pretty much save that bike for faster rides on nicer pavement. They're the 27x1-1/8 variant (~28mm). I can say the Contis roll FAR better. Toughness, I can't really judge, I've had one flat in the Paselas between both bikes in far more miles of riding, and again in far rougher terrain than the Contis (which have never given me issue).

I've taken the Contis out a little bit on the limestone and clay trails that I regularly ride the Paselas on, for those trails I vastly prefer the Paselas. For the areas I ride the Contis, I vastly prefer the Contis. TO me, they're simply different tires for different purposes.

I think unless you are extremely hard on tires, either would last 2000 miles without issue.

JWK

OK, would it be fair to say, in your experience, that the conti roll better if only used on pavement, even if that pavement is pretty rough in places?

jefnvk

Roll better? Absolutely, even on the dirt. Give me a section of smooth hard dirt road, those Contis are beautiful.

I guess the best way to say it is if rough roads and gravel are the norm for the tires, I'd personally take the more comfortable Paselas over the better rolling Contis, though. Also, the second you hit mud, those Contis become less than useless.

john_mct

A bit more expensive but I'd throw the soma branded panaracer made tires into this group for consideration

JWK

OK, thanks jefnvk!

JWK

Where do you get them and what do you like about them?

79pmooney

Another Pasela fan here. I but the cheapest on offer at the size I want. (I run them all from 25c to35c for different bikes and usages. 32 and 35 for off road stuff. 28s are my workhorse rain and city tires. 25s for the rain on good fix gear. I run the Vittoria Opens for good tires and they are a big step up, but at ~$70/tire, they ought to be.

The Paselas are a compromise. Not perfect, but one of the best compromise tires I have ridden when you consider the price.

Ben

john_mct

Soma sells them, also on amazon. Haven't personally used them but they are on my watch list along with those listed in the OP for the same reasons...light, larger road tires that can handle dirt and mileage while having high enough tpi to be compliant

ecnewell 

Not exactly what you're looking for, but there is a pair of Soma Shikoro 28s for sale in the C&V marketplace (not mine) that might suit your needs.

FrontRanger

FWIW, I tried the Shikoros and found that they had a very "dead" feel.

mulveyr 

FWIW, I put some 28mm on Gravelkings on my Secteur last year, and I tore the sidewall on literally the second ride I took on them by brushing up a fairly smooth babyhead on a dirt road. It would be an understatement to say I was annoyed. Could have been just dumb luck, but I've ridden the same road many, many times before with other tires without an issue.

JWK

I had to look up "babyhead" in the urban dictionary. But then, I'm not a mtb person and never have been.

Yes, that's a tough one. It's impossible to know if it was just bad luck or if the sidewalls are just a *little* too fragile. Now that gave me pause. I was about to go with the gravelkings. They get some really good reviews on pavement and of course I have the dirt road span on almost every ride. Hmm, maybe I'll just flip a coin.

Thanks for your input.

Mr IGH

If you're looking for a smooth ride on 32mm tyres, consider Hutchinson Sector set up tubeless. I'm running the 28mm version and they ride so much nicer than my 32mm Pasalas. I don't think I'll be able to wear out my Pasalas now, I need a 32mm tubeless wheelset. Might try the Maxxis ReFuse 32mm next. If you want smooth, flat free ride tubeless covers it very well. I live in goathead land, if tubeless was bad, the goatheads would kill it.

Phil_gretz

^+1. Paselas have a nice supple sidewall and give a decent ride feel. Their trade-off is durability, as the sidewall is fragile to cutting. I've had this happen more than once, even on a for sale bike that buyer discovered this sidewall cut on a fairly new tire. I was unaware of the cut, and I had to replace it on the spot with a new Pasela, which made him happy but left me a bit, um, deflated... [heh]


The will flat occasionally, too, as the tread is pretty soft. Again, the ride is nicer than average for an inexpensive tire.

FrontRanger

The Maxxis won't ride as nicely as the Sector, but the Re-Fuse may be less costly and easier to source.

browngw 

Incredibly pleased with the Pasela PTs. I just installed a pair of 27X1/14 on my '58 Sun Cresta after the good riding characteristics and flat protection experienced on my '76 SuperCycle Excalibur. I just purchased a pair of folding 700c 38mm Pasela PTs for my 2014 Salsa Vaya. While on vacation in Fla. I picked up a set of 26X1.5 folding which I installed on a rigid MTB to gravel bike conversion. Compared to a lot of 26" tires they are a revelation to ride.

DrIsotope

I have ~13,000 miles on ReFuse TR 700x32s... and two fresh replacements on the bench waiting for the current pair to wear out. I have nothing bad to say about them. I have logged a grand total of 1 puncture that required me to stop and add air, and it was a pretty good glass cut that had a tough time sealing because it was kinda pouring rain at the time-- aaaand the tire had about 2,500 miles on it at that point.

Haven't even considered the Hutchinsons, in part due to reading repeated complaints about durability, and mostly due to a simply inexcusable pricepoint.

Dirt Farmer

I just installed two ProTite 27x 1/8 on my Falcon today. What a b*itch! The skin was literally scraped off the inside of my thumbs trying to get them on. I had to take it to the shop. (Go ahead, color me wimpy). I'm used to mountain bike tires, which I can mount easily.

JWK

Well, I can't go tubeless right now. A new wheelset just isn't going to happen in the immediate future. BUT, this is very good info. I hadn't thought of this before, but it seems like the most comfortable ride I can get on these horrible roads is to go with tubeless. Good to know. I'm planning on my next bike and I think tubeless is going to have to be part of the build.

Thanks!