Tire purchases
 

I'm fairly new to cycling and have a couple of basic questions on buying new tires:
- can you buy the same tires for the front and back?
- any advice on durable tires for riding on rugged streets (debris, rocks, etc.)

Sometimes tires will be front and rear specific, with different tread that's optimized for traction, acceleration, stopping ability, etc. Otherwise, you can run the same for either.

Can I get a better description of the terrain you're riding? Does rugged street = fire road? Or do rocks = rock gardens? What kind of bike are we talking about? What size wheels (24", 26", 29", 700c, 650b, 650c, etc)? And what frame (different frames will fit different width tires)?

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm currently riding on streets with quite a bit of rocks, debris and trash from the street. I'm riding on a specialized allez with 700c size wheels.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

Next time you have a tire off of the rim, measure the inside width in mm, and then look at the chart on http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html (down at the bottom) to see how wide of a tire would be suitable (plus, check the fork and stay clearances) for your rims. Many of the more durable (and heavier) tires end up being wider.
Tires sold as "city" or "touring" or "randonneur" are often more debris-resistant. Costs will vary substantially from Kenda to Panaracer to those nice Schwalbes. Michelin's "Dynamic" and "City" are not bad, too.

Panaracer Pasela TourGuard tires. :thumb:

Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy tires:

http://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=10-043