Anti-Puncture Tyres At-a-glance

Update: MAXXIS ReFuses do cut up more than Armadillo All Conditions. However the puncture protection is at least the same. It is a far more grippy tyre, and you can confidently go into wet corners at a good speed. The wear is very good to excellent (no skids involved). I also recommmend that the tyre be kept at maximum pressure, or if you're heavy, just a few psi more than that (125psi instead manufacturer's suggested max of 120psi - obviously this is an opinion, not something you should follow with any sense of guarantee). The overall ride is a revelation compared to the Armies, as it is so much more compliant. The punture protection layers are effective enough to hear chips and stones pinging off at all angles as you ride along. Keeping in mind that the rubber is a softer compound, then more care is needed in de-flinting the tyres after a ride, and possibly super-gluing up any cuts.

michelin should stick to race tyres!

Err.. they are race tyres.

how are the older Michelin Pro 2's in the rain? I have a 700c x 20 on my winter front wheel, but i'm not sure how it handles wet city roads.. grip and puncture wise?

A bit iffy in the wet, great in the dry and no probs with p_nct_res for first 4000k.
That's the 23C version. I never used anything else.

gonna be giving one of these a go, if i can squeeze it between my stays (ooo,err!)

You'll squeeze anything between your stays once..

The Schwalbe Ultremo is now being stocked. ***Wiggle has it in all sizes, from 700x18C 700x23 to a super-wide 700x47C ***(wrongly advertised, and untrue)! The weight for the 23C tyre is 195gr. This puts it straight into a head to head with the new Continental Pro 3. The Conti weighs 5 grams more, but comes in loads of colours. The Ultremo is sold at £23 and rises to £34 at Wiggle. Chortle if you must.

2 photos added of the Michelin Pro 3 for comparison.

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1017-schwalbe-tires-ultremo.html

EDIT: haj and adoubletap reports that the Ultremo at Wiggle is only in the 700x23C.

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I don't know how they rate anti-puncture-wise, but there's a folding version of the Continentals Ultra Gatorskin, which weighs 220g (a tad over the GP 4000's 205g).

Seen them at £24-27, but I found them for £17 here:

http://www.slanecycles.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?id=433&subid=285&catid=67

GA2G; Used a Ultremo on my front for about 2 months.
It does get lots and lots of marks and small cuts.. But that said I didn't have any real punctures on it and it felt nice and grippy.

Because of the cuts I changed it to a Open Corsa after I re-trued the Shamal, that had gone a bit out of true after a couple of small "incidents", one involving being hit hard by a car.. the other involving a wheel nut from a ladies bike.

Edit: oh, and wiggle only has it in 700x23..

Ultremo might drop in price now the lighter faster and more puncture resistant Ultremo R is out.

180g and in colours.

Out in the US now, I'll have a look at Ebay.de later tooo

GA2G; Used a Ultremo on my front for about 2 months.
It does get lots and lots of marks and small cuts.. But that said I didn't have any real punctures on it and it felt nice and grippy.

Because of the cuts I changed it to a Open Corsa after I re-trued the Shamal, that had gone a bit out of true after a couple of small "incidents", one involving being hit hard by a car.. the other involving a wheel nut from a ladies bike.

Edit: oh, and wiggle only has it in 700x23..

The grip is pretty amazing on them. I almost gave up learning to skid whilst I had them on front and back. Might put one back on the front for winter.

Uhm, perhaps I should use the cut up one as a rear this winter then.. and the other I have up front ;)

Found the pair of almost unused Ultremo's in a bikeshop dumpster anyway.. (road-bike riders have too much money).

Just added the MICHELIN PRO 3.

This is the tyre that VB, and some of you speed merchants have been waiting for.

Lots of colours. And, virtually impenetrable.....Michelin say.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/id41943.html

I'd remove this one. It's a race tyre, and cuts up easy and wears fast. Once you get a few cuts you'll have punctures out the wazoo

Having a bit of a nightmare puncture wise at the moment, have had three punctures in the last two weeks, one staple and two bits of glass going straight through my tyre....

At the moment I am running a Schwalbe Lugano, want to keep to a fairly tight budget (building a bike for the girlfriend for xmas is more expensive than first planned...) Have seen the Schwalbe Marathon Plus pretty cheap, and was wondering what these are like for puncture resistance? As they are a bit chunkier thought they might be a good option?

If I get another puncture on the Wandsworth road, I am going "Falling Down" on someone

The Schwalbe site itself, rates the Lugano lower than its other tyres in puncture protection. I like the colours, but if you don't want punctures, get Maxxis ReFUSE. Black only for now, but in other colours in other countries. I've communicated with the importers, and its a possibility that the other colours might be available over here also - maybe next year.

Sadly, its Hippyland (fair dinkum) that has all the colours, other countries also of course, but this almost guarantees a comment from old monster-calves himself.

Tap up Scott not Scot to see if he's got any more ReFUSEs.

I ordered two Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x25c to use on my winter wheelset (or perhaps just on the rear)... now I'm just hoping they'll fit my pretty tight trackframe... :)

Marathons offer legendary puncture protection. You won't go wrong with them and bonus if you can get them at a decent price. They also last ages. A good choice!

Just hope there real width isn't more than 2mm wider than a regular 23mm 700c.. because if they are I'll have to move my rear wheel really far back.. ;)

Atm i have like 2-3mm of clearance between tyre and stays.

I ordered two Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x25c to use on my winter wheelset (or perhaps just on the rear)... now I'm just hoping they'll fit my pretty tight trackframe... :)

Thinking of following you there...

Where did you order from? trying to hunt out the cheapest price!

Some shop on ebay.de .. just arrived, I'm not sure they'll fit... perhaps if I pull the wheel all the way back to the end of the drops.. :)
Looks wider than a 25mm racertyre..

edit: the price I payed was 50 euro for 2*622-25 Marathon Plus including shipment to Denmark.

Any idea on the difference between the plain Marathons and the Marathon Plus?

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schwalbe.asp

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schwalbe.asp

Website appears to be down...

Any idea what price they are from there?

They're in the States, so mucho! I posted the link because he gives a good breakdown of the differences in the Marathon range. (plus other Schwalbe tyres - actually the Stelvio Plus sound pretty interesting too).

Cool, I'll have a link when it is working again!

The Cheapskate in me is tempted by either a Vittoria Randonneur or Hutchinson Quartz, anyone had experience of either of these?