Which Tyres?

keen to hear how you find them

Yeah I thought they were great! They are a cx race tyre though, I'm sure you can get cheap more grippy tyres for chopping in the woods but these were fast on all surfaces. They are definitely 'tubeless only' tyres in the sense that you only want to mount these fuckers once (of course I'm running them tubed). If/when I get a puncture at a CX race or on a bridleway it will definitely be a volvo ride home /20 minute bleeding thumb extravaganza. Only aspects left outstanding is 1) sidewall suppleness as I was running quite a high pressure and 2) skid grip. I was running my CX bike SS today instead of fixed. It's important to me and The Scene that I run it FGCX but when I want to shred on trails new to me it's just a bit wiser to cheat with a freewheel.

I have the Terreno Zero and am quite pleased with them for summer dry conditions, particularly on the sidewall suppleness at lower pressures, also riding tubed, even below minimum recommended pressure, still pretty good. Might consider the wet for the less kind upcoming season.

Quick question - for winter road riding, how much of a difference does the jump from 25mm to 28mm really make? Assuming the tyres are the same in every other way, will I notice more stability / better grip.... or not so much?

There will be some improvement. I'm not sure you'd notice it though

Should be. It might not be "oh amazing" but I definitely noticed changing from 28s to 25s or 23s on the TT bike after hours training. Banging into potholes and stuff and coming back with bruised arms. Basically, there's a real difference, but how much you notice it depends on how familiar you are with your route and how much attention you're paying. I was doing the same long-ass loops every Sat and Sun so I knew all the rough spots and definitely finished rides with my head less vibrated when running the fatter tyres at lower psi.

Same thing the other week when I went from the 47mm tubeless to the 25mm road tyres. Every fucking bump tried to knock the road bike into the sky.

Thanks both - I definitely noticed when I went from 23mm > 25mm but was just curious.

To explain, it might be the difference between regular drop calipers and long drop, so I'm wondering if it's worth the sacrifice in caliper choice.

Only TPR and VO seem to do decent long drop calipers and both seem kinda heavy in comparison to huge range of choice available with regular drop.

The difference is that you can run lower pressure and not kill the wheel in the first pothole. But not everyone likes to run lower pressures on road, I see a lot of people riding 30c and pumping to max PSI.

Only TPR and VO seem to do decent long drop calipers and both seem kinda heavy in comparison to huge range of choice available with regular drop.

You mean TRP? Same company as Tektro, you're sure they won't offer anything as good with a little less flash?

You can get a set of TRP 957 which are a very very good rim brake (not just a good LD brake) look good, come in any colour you want (as long as it's black) and can be had for about £80-100

I echo this man's sentiment

The VO ones are very nice though. I've got them on my winter trainer.

Sorry, yes I did mean TRP... Sausage fingers McGee here.
The 957s are what I was looking at, good to hear from some satisfied customers. Didn't know TRP where owned by Tektro. They'd be going on a pretty high-end build so I don't mind paying for the extra quality; I've only heard good things about both of those options.

Sounds like it's okay to go with long reach after all, thanks all : )

I think you can get them in silver and grey as well now. Choices choices, eh!

Tektro R559s are ok too. Not amazing. They’re sort of on par with Shimano 5/6/7700 (and earlier) in power. Or SRAM lol.

Guys can you help me out with a tyre choice? Gonna use my Exploro as a DO IT ALL bike and I can't really decide on what tyres to get for them purely road rides. Should be either 28c or 30c. Is 30c too much for road rides, or should I stick to 28c ?

Welcome to the oughts.
30 fer shur.

Although GP 4000+ 28mm will work out to 30-ish on many rims.

30s are slower and will compromise 'chuckability' @BareNecessities

Nah really though 28s are fine

2mm difference in haircut will make more difference.

@miro_o probably... but I've been using 25 till now, so jumping to 30 will be noticeable for sure.

I did back-to-back tests with Schwalbe Pro One 28mm tyres and 30mm S-One (now G-One Speed) tyres. No statistically significant difference in speed (mph per Watts) but the S-Ones felt comfier. If you've got clearance, I'd go for 30mm.

Thanks for the info! There was actually a live Q&A with Gerard Vroomen (the designer of the Exploro) and I asked what is the best tyre size for road use with the Exploro. He basically said that, if I'm not riding on silky smooth roads - 32 is the best option. I find the 32 a bit too big for my taste... so I think a 30c tyre will be the best option.

Can you guys recommend a specific tyre, offered in 30c ?
I'm currently looking at the Vittoria Corsa Graphene 2.0.

Also... is going tubeless worth it - have not tried it yet.

G one speed