Anti-Puncture Tyres At-a-glance

4 years = bullshit. It must be sitting in your house 364 days of the year.
21,900 miles is an extremely good mileage for a bicycle tyre.

In the hunt for a decent gumall tyre I've been looking at these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-open-corsa-evo-sc-clincher-tyre/ anyone had any experience with them?
I'm a bit concerned that they are overkill for a bike that is mainly used for commuting (20-30 miles a day).
I don't want to stick on £70 of tyre for them to wear out quickly or cut up riding through glass and crap. I've also read that they can be a pain in the hoop to get on and off which might make roadside tube changes a nightmare.

They look good other than that

i'll chuck in a little story...

i bought one of those schwalbe durano skid at the beginning of the year, it took something like 6 months to actually arrive. it took a further month before it was even on my bike.

i skidded through it in a week and a half.
it had squared off within a day and was wearing so so quickly i was pretty shocked it was so bad.
pretty shit, as stated above in the reviews in this very thread.

i emailed schwalbe uk to register my complaint about a product simply not up to standard.
in response i got a set of durano plus as a sweetener next to an apology.

a subsequent email went back to schwalbe uk to let them know i was very happy with the durano plus. in their response they mentioned that the initial run of the durano skid had been made using the wrong compound.

so potentially once all the shite compound skids have been bought and then thrown staight away the next batch could be alright.

i will remain well clear of them however i have found a very decent tyre in the durano plus.
very heavy - 380g but very tough with good resistance to skids and wear, no punctures. aces.

I bought one from my work and it lasted nearly a week exactly. I'll email Schwalbe about it.

At the mo you can get Big Apple 26'' tyres for 15 quid from planet x RRP about 45 quid. I've put some on my MTB - seem fat and meant to be pretty puncture proof. They are having a pretty good sale on swalbe.

My Marathon pluses lastest longer than my bike (including frame) - best value tyres ever and not one puncture.

just saw these (via tracko) http://store.somafab.com/sonewextimsi.html
might be a good skinwall option, anyone sell these over this side of the water?

I reckon you can ask Tokyo Fixed about bringing them in, I rather like the red/tan one.

Well the average of 15 miles per day is not much riding at all even compared to a lot of people. Even when it was on my fixed bike I rarely skidded it. And its been on the front of my bike for the past couple years. Tyres have always lasted long for me and rarely/never puncture. I have the same thing with shoes too, had the same pair of vans old skool since 2005. Skated in them, rode bikes etc, still going strong although tatty.

So, you are claiming almost 22,000 miles / 35,000km from a tyre?
I have worn through rims quicker than that so I repeat, "bull-fucking-shit".

Shoes are different. I had a pair of Nike cycling shoes for over 10 years with original SPD cleats and sold them on ebay with life still.

So, you are claiming almost 22,000 miles / 35,000km from a tyre?
I have worn through rims quicker than that so I repeat, "bull-fucking-shit".

Yes I am more or less. The odd day of riding other bikes, the odd day of doing longer rides. Roughly 15 miles min a day, because all the places I ride to are around 7 miles away from each other. I can make a really cheap (like £5) tyre last at least year too. Really cheap tyres would get punctures though, so not worth the hassle.

I have a feeling tyre wear may be related to speed and such. I only ever do urban commuting, never really go more than 25mph on my fastest downhills because they are so short. Might have something to do with it.

If you can think of a way to test this, I would be happy to oblige. You could provide me with a tyre to ride (can be heavily pre worn if you like) and we can see how long I can keep it going.

Where do I send it?

DFP
1 Mythical Street
Fantasy Land
Dreamville
BUL 5H1T

now now boys play nice.

I ride 25c minimum, does that make a difference? If you were rolling on 20c tyres it could be the reason.

No, the reason is you're obviously lighter than air or perhaps astral projection is possible when you're on the bike. No rubber lost here, Chop.

I remember a photo posted on here of DFP, cycling with some friends in/near his city center, and he is indeed a rather slender chap.

Peace.

Sooooooooo, this morning on the way to work, the Continental Super Sport Plus tyre I've been using, punctured. Luckily it wasn't far from work, so it was not a real inconvenience. But, on examination of the puncture, I found that it was a significant piece of glass. However, this would have done nothing at all to the Courier Berlin that I'd used previously. In fact, the Courier Berlin would have crushed and broken that piece of glass.

I can therefore compare these two tyres after my extremely short use of the Continentals. The Conti rolls very well, and the handling is predictable. The tyre is very strongly constructed, and honestly, I WOULD recommend it for general commuting. However, the Courier Berlin is at a whole different level of puncture protection. I didn't get a puncture on my Courier Berlins for maybe 6-9 months. But got one on the Continental Super Sport Plus after only two weeks.

Comparing the Continental Super Sport Plus against another good tyre, the Maxxis ReFuse, I'd say its pretty close. Those the Maxxis are more grippy, and the handling is also better.

The offending piece of glass went right through the Conti, which was a real surprise. I haven't seen that sort of entry since I used the Continental Grand Prix 4000. I think I shall slice open this Conti, and see how thick, or thin, the under rubber insert is (beneath the tread). I have a feeling that its actually a bit thin. I didn't see it in the puncture hole, and the yellow should have stood out. More later.

You got a puncture due to running over a glass, tyres choices play little roles in this.

Tyre choice always plays a role in punctures.
Take an extreme example - one rider uses a 2mm thick tyre and another rider uses a 1cm thick tyre. How many 5mm objects can the 1cm rider puncture from?
Realise that 1cm tyres would be unworkable but the same goes for the smaller differences in available tyres. Included with other protection such as multiple layers, differing materials etc,. and all tyres are not equal.

You got a puncture due to running over a glass, tyres choices play little roles in this.

If you talked any more shite you'd drown.

Sooooooooo, this morning on the way to work, the Continental Super Sport Plus tyre I've been using, punctured.

So, how many miles did you put on that Conti before the first puncture?

Frankly I find all this 'protection', 'belt' etc. are just gibberdork that make a certain tyres sound more appealing than others.

Under what reasoning does he have that the Halo won't get punctured through the same broken glass as the contis?

All this is hearsay.

Perhaps because other tyres aren't made of cream cheese?

Conti four seasons on the front, Gator on the rear, both working well.

That said the Gator is a new one as (being a four year old) I skidded through it, causing the inner tube to blow out through the 1cm square hole that opened up in the carcass of the tyre.

I had to buy a new tyre from the nearest cycle shop, and got a non-folding Gator, which oddly seems to skid more pleasantly than the last one.

/csb

Just fitted a pair of Re-Fuse after 8 months on the same pair of Rando's. I was a little skeptical of their puncture protection ability compared to the bigger heavier Vittoria's but they are holding out well so far. Nice and grippy, but I've not ridden them in the wet yet. Squeaky skidding FTW!

Frankly I find all this 'protection', 'belt' etc. are just gibberdork that make a certain tyres sound more appealing than others.

Under what reasoning does he have that the Halo won't get punctured through the same broken glass as the contis?

All this is hearsay.

No its not Ed.

I've ridden through broken glass on purpose many times, as a test of the Courier Berlins, and they haven't punctured. They've crushed the glass (Clydesdale that I am - thank you BMMF), or I've pulled out bigger pieces, with NO harm to my tyre.

So, how many miles did you put on that Conti before the first puncture?

Less than 200 I think. Thats pretty bad now that I think about it.

I'm going to give it a fair shake though, and glue up, and re-try. But if those bastards let me down again, I'll join the hippy-against-Conti crusade for sure.

In fact, screw that. Depending on my mood, I may take a knife to the Conti tonight, and do the same to an old Berlin I have, and look at what is actually beneath the tread. I'm curious, because the tyres with inner thermoplastic/hard-rubber inserts, shouldn't puncture much at all. The Marathon Plus does the job as advertised, and so does (to a lesser degree?) the Courier Berlin. I've heard the Durano Plus can puncture alarmingly easily, and maybe, so can this Conti.

EDIT:

Had another think about the puncture, and I wondered if this may be a case of user error? When the tyre punctured it was at about 100psi. The tyre is supposed to be inflated to a rather narrow margin of only 10psi differentiation - 110psi to 120psi. Clearly the optimum tyre pressure is within this very narrow band. Could it be that the below-tread insert only works efficiently at this pressure?

I'm going to keep the faith, for now, and I'll report back later/soon.

Under what reasoning does he have that the Halo won't get punctured through the same broken glass as the contis?

All this is hearsay.

A Halo Berlin has around 5mm of material for an object to get through, a Conti tyre has 2mm. So if a 3mm object is applied to both tyres which do you think would puncture?

(Numbers are estimates to get the point across although I can see it will still be missed)