What's the most indestructible bike tire?
 

Hi all:

I could post this in commuting, but this is where I usually post, and I'm a creature of habit:

On my daily ride into work, I've noticed that someone has been intermittently breaking something made of glass, presumably bottles, in the bike lane on the one freeway overpass that I must take. At first, I thought it must just be an unfortunate coincidence, but it's been frequent enough, and at a strategic enough location, that I've been forced to conclude that it's the work of some idiot with nothing better to do. I have some reasonably sturdy tires (Continental Contact), and usually glass isn't really a problem, but this glass is very sharp, it works its way into tires very effectively, its shards are tiny and hard to see until I'm on top of them, and I've had flats twice in the last three months (I usually get a flat maybe once every 2-3 years). Even worse, if you don't spend a lot of time locating the tiny piece of glass that gave you your flat, it will gift you with a new flat within 30 minutes of repair. I will of course try to avoid this glass whenever I can, and woe to this person if ever I see them in the act, but in the meantime: what tires do you recommend for preventing flats? I've used Schwalbe Marathon before, but have found that those tires, while certainly very sturdy, are so stiff that they don't have very good traction on wet road surfaces...

My Schwalbe Supremes haven't gone flat on me yet, (almost 5,000 miles) and have good wet or frosty road traction. They cost as much as my motorcycle tires, but I guess the wear is just about as good too.

I've used Marathons and Marathon Pluses as my commuting tire. I do notice that they are a different on wet surfaces, particularly when it's cool and wet. But I haven't found anything better. I do ride Paselas and Contis on some of my "fair weather" bikes but having a wider tire is kind of nice for a commute.

There are all kinds of tires sold as "cyclo-cross" and you might start there. Perhaps you could sacrifice a little flat protection for better ride quality.

I've not had any problems with the Contis until all the extra glass turned up recently. I'm pretty sure even Marathons wouldn't help much in this situation, and I like the Contis overall, so I'll probably stick with them. I'm beginning to believe that this isn't about tires as much as the behavior of some of my neighbors.

Yeah, I have a set of Conti Gatorskins on one bike and the ride quality is much better.

However, I know they aren't as durable as the Marathons and that's a consideration. The last time I bought Schwalbes I down-sized from 32mm Pluses to 28mm regular Marathons. Those seemed adequate for commuting a pretty flat-proof.

But sounds to me like you'd be happier with Gatorskins, or Pasela Tourguard or something similar.

Actually, I think they would. I've ridden through broken glass with the Marathon Pluses and the Supremes. Those tires, combined with thorn resistant tubes, are about as bullet proof a solution as you will be able to find.

This combination may not be such a bad idea. I am kind of hesitant about the Marathon Plus, though; the last time I owned a pair they were a real pain to get on and off the rims. With most tires, I can put them on with just my hands; with the Marathons, it was two tire levers, a sweaty brow, and a good amount of swearing.

All tires are a trade-off between comfort and durability. The best trade-off will vary from one individual to another. I assume you're not really looking for the most "indestructible" tire, as the thread title indicicates. That would probably be a non-inflatable tire. You would never get a flat tire again, as long as you live.

But other things like your butt and your rims might suffer.

Two things

Marthon tires and tire wipers they will help pull the glass BEFORE it has a chance to get fully embedded in the tire. Used them for years on my road bikes prior to the invention of kevlar belts.

Aaron :)

The Black Knight bike uses Continental Touring Plus and used to use Continental SportCONTACT. My last flat (city riding and commuting, about 2000 miles per year↑↓) was in 2006 and I ride in the goathead capitol of the world :lol:

The SportCONTACT tires are faster but the Touring Plus are a little more comfy.

I had those on my bike back in the 1970s. :50: Had no idea they were still around.

My first step in getting anything is to draw up a performance specification. The one for tires was "matches performance of my car tires in terms of miles between flats and lifetime in miles." Marathon Plus with Mr. Tuffy meets or exceeds this specification, at about 20,000 miles for both metrics. There may be more durable tires. but the Marathon Plus meets my expectations -- after all, I've always considered my car tires to be adequate.

Captive Air... a foam plastic tire .. a bit less than solid rubber ,, the sort that you may have on a Shop Floor Bike or Trike where Metal chips are present..

Garden Carts and such ..


But back to Pneumatic tires ,, for reliability,I go with marathon Plus , and thorn resistant inner tubes..

the TR tubes do let you know when they are under inflated .. rolling resistance is notably More..

I did a 10 month British Isles tour puncture free with TR tubes.. topped them up every couple days ..

This observation I really don't understand.
My marathon (front) and marathon plus (rear) are amazing on the wet.
Best I've had even on those damned metal plates even when there wet.
If the tire is too stiff, perhaps your pressure is too high.

I got admit mounting can be rough on many rims, on my chukkers they're easy to mount by hand.

I had 2 scrap yards on the way route to work. Lots and lots of crud on the way. Wires, screws, random rusted bits of metal. Heck even saw a few of those razor blades that go on floor scrapers to remove tile.

Far too much crap to dodge, glass the least of it.

Anything that I'd go over with a car tire, I'll go over it with the marathons...

Only had 1 flat in 5k miles. A construction staple, flipped up and worked it's way through.



There are (or were) foam rubber tubes. But likely overkill.

I have been using Continental Touring Plus on one of my bikes for many years and I like them a lot. They have this thick yellow puncture protection belt which is very effective and they are really nice riding tires.

This is pretty funny; it seems worthy of gentle mockery, but I've been there, and can totally sympathize...

Why does one need to top off TR tires every few days? Are they unusually porous?

I'll check them out: thank you for mentioning them... :)

I'm not sure why it would be worthy of mockery, but that technique made it much easier for me to fit my MP the one time I had to do it. The only problem for me with these tire is that they're so puncture resistant that I get very little practice changing them.

I thought it was funny because even this guy, a bike maintenance guru, had a bit of a hard time changing the tire...

All tubes are porous to some extent.. some more, some less. I was carrying a load, all day, for months . I felt the difference a few less psi made..


Do as you wish.

I routinely top off my tubes every two or three days. They usually just need a couple psi. But if you let it go a while, you're doing yourself no favors... especially if you're a heavy rider and/or carry heavy loads.

One result can be shearing the Stem out of the Tube , Tire creeps around the rim carrying the tube with it , hole and stem dont move ,

unpatchable leak happens as tube is pulled away from stem.

Tires hard to mount? Get this, Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack:

http://www.treefortbikes.com/images/raw/TF-TL4022-1.jpg

I like Schwalbe Marathons for being bulletproof. I also like the way they perform -- fairly supple, and I've never had issues with traction or wet weather handling.

That said, they are heavy. For my current commuter, I ride Pasela RiBMo tires and like them as a compromise between lightweight but not quite as puncture proof as I'd prefer Pasela T-Serv, and the heavier Marathons.

However the new Marathon Plus tires, with which I have no experience, have the same kind of extra rubber layer that tires like the Conti Tour Plus have. Continental Gator Skins have never been the easiest tire to mount, either, seems like most flat protection tires fall into this category. I'd assume the Marathon Plus tires are as bombproof as the Tour Plus, both being heavier and overkill for my commute, but maybe perfect for one with glass like in the OP.

Otherwise, especially for the small slivers of glass which work their way in over time, it might also be time to consider running tubeless tires with sealant built in...