Anti-Puncture Tyres At-a-glance

The original Halo Courier tyres have been roundly berated on here. No-one should buy them. It seems as though you may not have read any of this thread, and therefore might not have been aware of its extremely well-known and truly shit reputation.

Your right, i was just browsing aimlessly without a care in the world, it never crossed my mind to scroll back and read over a 1000 posts! interesting that in your review you gave them 8/10 for handling and 9/10 for durabiliy. Surly on your 400 miles a week you should have noticed that you had trouble when riding over cracks.

Fair play for putting the list together but i don't understand why you didn't do a skid rating, im just guessing that more than most enjoy a little skid now and again?

...interesting that in your review you gave them 8/10 for handling and 9/10 for durabiliy....

Handling - 1/10, then 8/10 after wearing in period

I clearly stated that the initial handling was treacherous, and gave it a 1-out-of-10 to begin with, but an 8-out-of-10 once worn in. If you cherry-pick the bits you wish to read, then your interpretation is then unsurprising.

It is not the thicker rubber but the tread that gives the lateral movements. The Twin Rail design is asking for trouble.

I have used Continental Travel Contacts for the last year and they are fine (smooth contact patch but knobbly sides as I ride 60/40 off/on road with them)

Put mine back on after winter. Calculated the exact PSI I needed frant and back, and realised they actually do ride well on tarmac. The pattern seems to be useless for any off-road surface, too hard for the central slick section to sink into though. Wet grass is a bit too much fun with them.

Still they do ride well for such a multi purpose, well protected tyre.

They don't give traction due to the lack of centre tread but the small side knobs are better than nothing when cornering (I used Rando's before which were definitely more sketchy on cornering off road).
The Travel Contact is perfect for my riding of 50/50 on/off road where the off road bit are mainly smooth singletrack and fireroads.
No punctures in a year and the fireroads have given previous tyres grief due to small flinty pieces that find their way through the tyre.

I'm through with my Durano Plus. They suck monkey balls. Had at least 6 punctures in the last 5 months due to glass. They simply do not seem to protect anything!

Due to a shitty set of conti's - I'm in the market for some new puncture resistant tyres - Schwalbe preferably as I've never had a problem with them. 25 or 28c.

Anyone know of any good (i.e.* cheap*) deals on at the moment?

I've been running a Schwalbe Marathon Plus 25 on the back of my Kinesis for many months now. Heavy and slow but they're stupidly durable. I have a 28 on the Condor - it's a bit overkill. Old Rubino Pros are on my TT bike.

Due to a shitty set of conti's - I'm in the market for some new puncture resistant tyres - Schwalbe preferably as I've never had a problem with them. 25 or 28c.

Anyone know of any good (i.e.* cheap*) deals on at the moment?

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b6s142p31

Michelin Speedum tyres are £6 at crc at the mo. I've no experience of them but reviews sound ok. I might give them a go as a cheap back tyre on my fixieskidder.

Still really impressed with Vittoria Randonneurs. Both as a 28c back tyre, and 35c Trail version on my 29er. They have so much rubber they last and last. They roll as just as well as Panaracer Paselas IMO, don't puncture and are cheap.

Michelin Pro 3s on my road bike have developed cuts afterbeing ridden through the winter. They've been great, a puncture every 1000 miles average isn't bad for a tyre that quick. Should I go back to Rubino Pros or try Vreddestein Quattros as a nice training tyre?

I highly recommend the Vittoria Randonneur 28c. Been running them since end of february and no punctures even going through glass laden streets of Dalston and Brixton on a daily basis. Also just going through their first colour change as I'm wearing away the first layer with some skid stops. Loads of life left in them still

It is not the thicker rubber but the tread that gives the lateral movements. The Twin Rail design is asking for trouble....

I've thought about this a lot, and for a long time. kerley is right. The ridges of rubber, are going to deform, giving unpredictable handling, and the pronounced curse of tramlining.

I wondered why would Halo design such a poor feature into a tyre. Well there are two or three reasons I can think of.

The ridges/twin-rails when new, make the tyre faster (on flat roads, not round corners), due to reduced road contact.

In slush, or mild winter snow, they do grip really well. Its the little pockets next to the ridges that do the work.

Useful as an early tyre wear indicator. But this is hardly beneficial to be honest.

In all, I think the pockets next to the rails are what make the tyre more of an all-season tyre. If it was truly designed for couriers, then light snow would have to be a factor in the end design result. A smooth tyre may be good in the wet, though buggered in greasy conditions, but it is also near useless in snow.

I'm looking for some 26'' tyres for a rigid mtb, for use on road through the winter (Birmingham, so lots of rain) 1.5 - 1.95 ideally, with decent grip and puncture proofness, nothing to heavy. I've got a pair of knobblies for when it gets snowy, so they won't need to deal with that.

I'm looking at schwalbe city jet's, but have heard bad thing about the performance in wet - any other suggestions?

I liked my 1.5 Specialized Nimbus Armadillos (non Armadillo variations also available). Got Bontrager 1.5 H2 Hard Cases at the moment, which seem slower, and less comfortable.

I will soon be able to comment on the durability of the (DON'T LOOK HIPPY!!!) Continental Supersport Plus tyres. I just bought a pair to test, and I thoroughly expect to regret the purchase. The standard that they have to reach is that set by my hallowed Halo Courier Berlin tyres. I have used these exclusively for ages now, and they have only punctured very, very, very rarely. Kerley's criticism of their handling foibles is spot on - they tramline and the twin rail design feature is hard to understand (until faced with slush or mild snow).

I won't be buying the Schwalbe Durano Plus tyres, mostly because they are too expensive (at approximately £30 each) and the brief report by C:V, just further up this page.

I fully expect the Continentals to be far better at cornering, and maybe even faster, but for puncture protection......I have severe doubts. I hope to be proved wrong.

Anyone else been using the Continental Supersport Plus tyres? Fancy giving us some feedback?

These are the tyres that have the inner ([B]yellow[/B]) hard rubber insert within the tyre carcass.

Continental Supersport Plus - report coming
Halo Courier Berlin - I've tested these to death. Less than perfect handling, but superb puncture protection.
Schwalbe Durano Plus - untested.
Schwalbe Marathon Plus - way too heavy, and smallest size is 700x25.

i love the supersport plusses, before schwalbes and *eeeew halo courier berlin

it is the cheapest tire that i get acceptabpe use out of, though i wish they'd actually had scrapped the puncture belt and instead used the same tread rubber throughout and make the tire nice an thick like a soma everwear, but it's me skidding off topic.

i have not used randos as i feel they are too heavy and impossible to source in even 25c.
the supersports in foldable feel almost as fast as the gp4000 - almost.

punctures i had none when they had still all around black rubber on it, but when the yellow shows and it coincides with rain, i did have my innertube deflated by an unwanted penetration of a foreign object.

but to put it into perspective, i am not a heavy rider with 70kg and the circa 4 or 5 times total over a period of 15 monthes that these puctures happened where i used these almost exclusively, i always skidded trough most of the tread and i was kinda asking for a puncture.

fazit: fast rolling, well cornering/gripping tires that deliver real good puncture protection in 23c sizes. also the weak conti sidewall is not an issue, it is fully covered in rubber.

I highly recommend the Vittoria Randonneur 28c. Been running them since end of february and no punctures even going through glass laden streets of Dalston and Brixton on a daily basis. Also just going through their first colour change as I'm wearing away the first layer with some skid stops. Loads of life left in them still

Yeah I have Randonneur 28cs, they are grippy and seem very tough. However, they are pretty narrow for 28cs (not noticeably wider than the 25c Schwalbes I had on before although they do come up about 1mm wider when measured) which is disappointing, and also the tread pattern has introduced some new road buzz compared with slicks.

When this pair wears out I might go for the 32c version, but technically 28c is the widest tyre I can fit on my rims.

i have not used randos as i feel they are too heavy and impossible to source in even 25c.

reeen, the rando's are about 25mm wide, but 28mm deep. they will probably fit in your stays, not all that heavy.

Got my 1st puncture in my Maxxis refuse in 18 months the other day. They have been so good I have even considered dropping the spare tube/pump from my bag. Luckily I did not.

the longer you go without puncture does not make the pump/tube useless, you did find a use for them for such scenario.

my tyres is still holding up fine, not going to says the name since it barely make much difference.

Only had one puncture in my Conti gatorskins in 4yrs.

Quite my point.

I always carry tubes because there's always some nodder thinking that he's got the best tyres in the world so won't ever get a puncture.

reeen, the rando's are about 25mm wide, but 28mm deep. they will probably fit in your stays, not all that heavy.

hey murts, i vaguely remember you mentioned it to me once. you know what, i'll try them out sometime soon.

but then the legend of the refuse seems still on as well.

I don't want to tempt fate with my experience of the refuse, but I've been regularly tweezering out bits of glass for over a year now with no p******es. Same goes for the Rando's I guess, but I much prefer the feel of the refuse out of the two. Can't fault them, great tyres for the money.

My rear rando popped today for the first time. I've been riding them for 7 months now and the threads are starting to show! They do look like 25c which is good for me cos my crappy otp rims don't take smaller tyres.

Just ordered some re-fuse for when I get my new wheels.