Fixie tire survey:
 

I need a new set of tires for my street-track bike, and would like to try something new. Please give me your opinion via the following survey:

Where do you live?
How many miles do you ride per day?
Do you skid/skip to stop?
What tires have offered you the best puncture resistance?
What tires have offered you the best ride (speed/comfort)?

-i live in berkeley.

-i ride about 7 miles round trip to work, but i used to ride a whole lot more when i lived in boston.

-yes.

-so far, specialized armadillos, and panaracer pasela tourguard. i got a couple flats on the dillos, none so far on the panaracer. had the armadillos on for about 1.5 years, about the same for the panaracer. the sidewall finally blew out on the armadillos.

-Kenda Kaliente road tires have felt the absolute best. but i'd never put them on a fixie. too expensive and not durable enough to skid. conti gatorskins ride pretty nice, but they're dog**** for flat protection. 3 flats in one day, over the span of about an hour, or rural roads, 2 phantom flats in a week, with no discernable cause (can't find the glass or whatever the hell it is in the tire, and my rims and rimtape are both fine). the paselas ride pretty nice after you break them in a bit. the tread is a little rough, so they feel a little "fuzzy" at first. armadillos rode like bricks...will not use them again.

you didn't ask, but i'm probably going to get some of the panaracer T-serv tires (AKA soma messenger tires) to replace the gatorskins...failing those (QBP says they're discontinued), i'll get some paselas.

once i kill my new 700x28s, i'm never buying another gatorskin ever again.

I use mostly tubulars or Tufos...and I use my brakes.

london, UK
60+
sometimes (no handbrakes)
Conti gatorskins
Michelin Pro Race

- Chicago
- 10 to 20 average
- Recently yes
- Gatorskins
- Vredestein Fortezzas

My long review of both:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...6&postcount=22

Boston, MA/Madrid, Esp.
25-30 (average)
all the time, I do a long skid at least once a day 'cause it's still fun for me.
Armadillos (but they sucked for wet traction and felt heavy and sucked for changing flats
Botranger ????, I'm not sure but they're what I built up the wheels with they had really good wet traction and were really grippy, my only gripe was they wore out in less than 2 months.

Milwaukee
20
sometimes
Michelin Erilium
Michelin Erilium
* They are also always on sale for around $20, and make a neat sound when ya skid

*used to be san francisco, currently oakland/berkeley...
*5-40, depends...
*yes...
*i haven't really had a puncture problem but i've slowly been realizing that i pay more attention to road condition than many people...
*conti top touring 2000- great if you don't skid... took me a month or two to break through the rubber with a lot of skidding (but i have a brake on that bike) but as soon as the threads showed just a little bit it spread like cancer...
vittoria- forget what kind, but they were the only 27 inchers the shop had- sidewall faded and started cracking 2 weeks, saw the threads in 3 weeks or so, blew out skidding in a month or so... threw the front one on the back, looking almost new (except the sidewall), and blew it out skidding in a week or so...
soma- the ones with the hipster on the box... i think the same ones onetinsloth is talking about- i killed the back in about three weeks, tossed the front (the kevlar bead makes it really easy to fold up and stick in the trash)
michellin hi-lite prestige- killed the back in a little over a month, still have the front and it's in great shape...
michellin pro race- only have it in the back, but it's held up to riding brakeless for about three months and still looks damn near new (i haven't been able to ride in a couple months)... plus it's almost entirely colored which i thought was pretty keen...

i like to ride high pressure on all my tires, and all of these have felt real firm except for the contis... always felt a little squishy/bouncy to me...

Raleigh NC, college town, lots of busted glass by the curbing.
Couple of times a week, 15-25 miles.
Brake skipping, no long skidding
Best puncture resistance ever, Specialized Armidillo, Conti Gatorskins, pretty good to and they ride much better.
Best ride, Vredstein Fortezza. They are also resistant to everything but big nails and staples.

SF
15-20
somtimes
so far, armadillos until last night (rain flat)



Where do you live?
How many miles do you ride per day?
Do you skid/skip to stop?
What tires have offered you the best puncture resistance?
What tires have offered you the best ride (speed/comfort)

has anyone tried the new micheling pro2 tires? they're available on biketiresdirect, they look nice, the price is decent...will they survive the skid? perhaps i'll have to be the one to bring this information to the board.

I live in Bend, Oregon.
We have lots of bike lanes and some people tell me we have very clean streets, and other people complain about the broken glass and cinders (volcanic gravel).

I ride 15-30 miles per day.

I don't skid/skip, and I try to plan my stops and sometimes use my front brake.

I have recently started riding on 23mm Armadillos.
I find them smoother and more comfortable than the reviews led me to expect.
I like them.
Previously, I have ridden on 35mm Panaracer Tserv's, and never had a flat with the Panaracers.
I can't imagine a better tire than the Panaracer Tserv, and I only went with the Armadillos because of the overwhelming recommendation of folks on this forum and my lbs.
So far so good.

-i live in colorado springs, co.
-i ride about 8 miles round trip to work, which is about 40 percent on bike paths, the rest on streets. i can put way more miles on in a week, depending on my after work/weekend riding... and which bikes i choose to ride.
-i skip some, but never really skid. i don't ride with brakes either.
-my longest lasting, best flat resisting, fastest, grippiest tires are vredestein fortezza's. they might be so effective against flats because i run them at 130 to 140 psi. they are by far the best tire i have used.

i also have some continental attack/force tires, which have been great so far. these tires feel like tubulars, are light, roll fast, grip well, but seem easier to skip/skid with. i run these at 110 to 120 psi. they seem to have softer sidewalls, so i imagine low pressure could make them more prone to pinch flats.

brooklyn
right now, less, usually around 12
yes
i may be the only one, but i usually get whatever seems decent for cheap. right now that's a michelin erilium on the back and a conti on the front. i don't get flats too often, really (knocking on wood), just burn through the tires. maybe i shoudl change my ways and buy some armadillos.

Atlanta
10 - 20
YES
I just got some Gatorskins last weekend. So far I like the way they ride. However, I had the stock WTB Camino Altos on my '03 Pista for almost two years. I only had 2 (maybe 3) flats in those two years. One was two weekes ago when I pulled out a large staple from the tire.

-Pittsburgh
-20mile round trip commute 3 days a week or so in spring/summer/fall plus other fixie riding adds up to ~150miles fixed/week.
-Yup. Skids are cool, didn't you hear?
-Panaracer Tserv for both puncture resistance and ride quality. I run a set of 25's on one bike which is nice and fast. Keep them up to 120psi, and very rarely flat. I do have to rotate my tires, as in front to back, back to trash, new on front about 4 times per year as the rear wears on me very quickly. I run a set of 28's on another fixie, and they feel a bit slower. Can't get the rear tire to get that on rails feeling, but thats cool on this particular bike. The 28's seem to wear better, but thats obvious. And I run a set of 38mm Panaracer Paselas on my on/off road fixed CrossCheck when it does have true cross tires on.

-brad

-Atlanta
-24 mile round trip on crappy roads. (lots of potholes and cracks)
-skip and skid a lot
-I ride armadillos on back and conti ultra 2000 on front. I've never had a flat on the front in the 2 yrs I've been riding (not all on the same tire). I've had 3-4 flats on the back but that was before the armadillos. None with those yet.
-For a while I had the ultra 2000's on both wheels and it was nice and fast but I feel better about having the more durable tire on the back b/c I'm more confident when i need to skid, etc... I haven't really noticed the unpleasurable ride that many people think the armadillos give. but I wouldn't ride them on both wheels.

tim

live: Chicago & burbs too
miles: 5mi weekdays, 20+ weekends
skid/stop: skid (i have a front brake)
punture resistence: Armadillos
best ride: Vredstein(sp) Fortezza

Armadillos: best punture resistance, but sidewall protection is a gimmick to me.
also they are $$$ and ride like hell. I bought mine at Village (Satan's LBS) too.

$5 maxxiss: rear lasted 500miles before a glass puncture

?Conti? I found dumpster diving: same as maxiss

Right now I'm riding a Michelin Megamanium(sp) on the rear and it is great. Marcus
claims good (not great) flat protection and they are stickier. I have the Fortezza in
the front and it feels like riding on clouds in a good way.

good luck
jeff

Hijack a little -

I noticed people were running different tires up front. Ideally I was thinking about running my Fortezza up front and the Gatorskin in jhe back - it seems that most people get flats in the rear and not the front. I believe there's some truth to this...

Any insight? Does it even matter?

over two years riding:
front flats - zero
rear flats - 4
I've seen no reason to have a heavy, flat-protected front.

tim

People tend to flat in the rear because the front is steered around debris while the rear is dragged in a straight line behind the front which may end up taking it through stuff.

And because there is a lot more weight on it in general.

I need a new set of tires for my street-track bike, and would like to try something new. Please give me your opinion via the following survey:

Where do you live? Dallas, TX

How many miles do you ride per day? Varies (100-200miles/week)

Do you skid/skip to stop? No

What tires have offered you the best puncture resistance? Tufo Tubular clinchers

What tires have offered you the best ride (speed/comfort)? I'll say Tufos on the track and

5 - 25 miles per day....depends on whether i take the long ways to and from work which depends on the weather....

don't skip/skid to stop, but do so every day just to be able to perform in emergency stops

25 gators'...was going to change over to something else because i had gashed the sidewall during their first week...nasty pothole (sf) but upon closer examination it probably happened during the manufactoring of the tire....

one of the better tires in the wet i have ever riden...only get flats when i don't see the potholes...which have all been in san francisco...makes me wonder why i leave oakland to ride over there to begin with....

no performance info as my for the track bike is still only in my dreams....for now....

- SF
- 15 - 20 per day, everyday
- Yes, almost always
- Toss up between armadillos and gatorskins. Haven't had a flat on either, but I like the way gatorskins ride waaaaay more, much faster and better in the wet.
- Michelin ProRace tires feel soooo nice for dry riding. Very fast, but also they get slippery really quickly when it starts to rain. They seem to hold up to skidding and road debris as well, still haven't gotten on flat on these guys either. These tires are *not* on my daily ride, but I do ride it occasionaly on the weekends in the city or on the track.

Tires I have gotten flats on:
Panaracer/Soma - I will not use these again. Got a flat, on the front, in the middle of an alleycat on my first Soma. Then, after wearing out that set thought I'd give them another shot and after two weeks of riding (yes, I skid alot) the rear tire seperated perpendicular to the tire, like it tore apart from a skid or something.
Vredestein Ricorso - Don't use these as a rear tire, they are not up to skidding. Got a flat after a week of riding, although this was just after I learned how to skid more than a few feet so that may have played a role in the quick demise of this tire.