Commuter tyre advice

jeawan

ok i started cycling to work round about 12 mile cycle , now bike i have at the moment is a Kona Cindercone 20" , what tires do you recommend to get at the moment i have offroad tires not to good for road use also any idea were best to buy them i work near eurocycles , but can travel

rubadub

specialised Armadillos, continental gatorskins. As slick and as decent puncture protection as you can manage/afford.
I prefer a narrow one on the front, and wider on the back

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/CategoryProducts.aspx?categoryName=Tyres%20-%20MTB%20Road&cat=cycle

Civilian_Target

Continental Gatorskins / Specialised Armadillos / Schwalbe Marathon Plus
I've never tried Gatorskins, but on paper they look the best and people here recommend them. I'm on Marathons which seem to be indistinguishable from Armadillos.

They're all bombproof, roll quite well but are heavy and a little slippy in the rain.

milod

Yeah, what they said. Only thing I can add is that I had better results with Armadillos rather than gatorskins. Over the last few years with hybrids on tyres in the 23c - 35c range, the armadillos punctured less and gripped slightly better in the wet. Gatorskins feel lighter and more pliable but I haven't noticed any real difference on the road tbh.

randomname2005

Ive used Specialized Nimbus, Schwalbe Cityjets and am back to the Specialized because they last longer and have better puncture protection than the CityJets.
I do know people that use the Marathons and have nothing but good things to say about them.

(Any chance we could make one of these tyre threads a sticky? )
R

jeawan

how do you find these tires in the winter ? as this will be my first winter cycling at work

blorg

Specialised Armadillos are bomb proof, perfect for commuting. 9,000km between punctures. Changed to wider Schwalbe Marathons to do the Camino de Santiago as we were off road in places and these were good although we did get one puncture between us (bit of glass, probably would have punctured anything.) The Armadillos can be a bit slippery in the rain but nothing chronic.

daymobrew

I've been looking around for sources for Armadillos. It seems that Armadillo is a puncture protection technology rather than tyre model.
Where are you guys getting your Armadillo tyres? How much? What PSI do they take?

My rear Continental Ultra Gatorskin tyre 26x1.25 is taking a beating these days - it has a few deep gashes which are resulting in more punctures, so I think it's time to dump it, despite only being 6 months old.
The Specialized Nimbus Armadillo 26x1.5 sounds good, from earlier posts. I might give these a try. Used to have Continental SportContact but they were very difficult to put on the rim (though the sidewalls of my new rim are shorter).

Civilian_Target

9000km - that's seriously good going. My last one sank after 5000km, although it was around town in London...
I got my Armadillos from Cycleways, cost €28 IIRC, 700c x 32 and went to 95PSI.

blorg

My Armadillo is certainly a bit tricky to put onto the rim, OK if you use tyre irons. Can't do it by hand. I think this depends on the size to an extent, I can do my Marathon 700x35s by hand no problem. Fortunately I have not had cause to remove the tyre that often ;-) PSI will depend on the size, I think my 700x25 is 115-125.