Anti-Puncture Tyres At-a-glance

had a gran compe white and foolishly left my bike next to a light which i didnt realise was also a heat lamp, blew it... patched the tube and rode it or a while longer, think it was £28 at the tokyo fixed gear pop up shop on brick lane, thought i was buying a pair!

currently riding panaracer rimbo on the back and armadillo all conditions on the front so far so good

There were a lots of review on that tyres, the general view was that it's a crap tyres, worse than the Halo one.

There were a lots of review on that tyres, the general view was that it's a crap tyres, worse than the Halo one.

Which are you referring to Ed?

The Gran Compe, or Koen's Ribmo?

gran compe.

whereas the Ribmo is pretty good ime. Bit pricy but good protection, fast and not a bad weight.

it will be my post work mission to buy tyres and put them on immediately

also specialized lightweight tubes are shite, 2 have split on the seams - so not really punctures but adding to my time off the bike changing tubes

I'll second that. Had a specialized tube blow the sidewall out of my Stelvio rendering it useless. This happened when I'd just got off the bike and had carried it into my flats. No more Specialized for me.

Is anybody riding these - are they really worth £40 a pop?

Apparently they wear through quite easily.

Quick report.

Bontranger racelite hardcase -- fast as you like, but look after them. I weigh 100kg, and knocked up several hundred k's in central and south London with little problem, including a couple of pothole-wheel incidents.

Tyre is fast, feels pretty light (precise weight in first post of thread, I imagine!). Rolled well, and had what felt like oodles of grip in the wet.

Managed to tear a big flap off the middle of the tyre, about 2cm along the circumference and a cm wide. I glued it down (onto the fabric that was visible) and kept using it. Punctured 50k later, much to my annoyance. On the plus side, I did 5k home on a flat with no damage to the rear rim -- the sidewalls are thick, and make the tyre an absolute bitch to fit, but on a nice smooth road, it's doable, if highly unrecommended.

I am just about to fit a michelin krylion carbon, and I will post up the state of the tyre after a few hundred K. I also bought a pair of decathlon tubes for 2.50€, and I'm almost too scared to fit them. They HAVE to be rubbish, right?

Photo of state of bonty shambles to follow. I'd recommend the hardcase for use that doesn't involve fixie skidding -- I imagine my last emergency stop caused the layer to come off.

I discovered Decathlon tubes not so long ago, but have had no problems with them at all.......and I weigh more than you do.

Good review on the Bonty, though in an other review, DynamicalSystem was not as enthusiastic as yourself. I wonder what other people think?

Right, I took some photos of the tyre so people could see the importance of checking / gluing.

It seems I'd neglected my tyre maintenance / gluing schedule...I'll be more careful next time to say the least!

Tyre was a 700x25C Bontranger Racelite Hardcase. My first successful attempts at skidding tore the tyre.

The flap that ripped up:

That's the full extent of the rip:

And the the little bugger that punctured me:

Right through the full thickness of the tyre:

Checking the rest of the tyre, I can see that it had taken a lot more damage. To take the photos of the cuts, I had to squeeze the tyre pretty damned hard, it's a thick casing. They appear to have grit / glass in the bottom. These are the bigger cuts. Plenty more smaller scratches / marks

The damage to the Bontranger inner tube:

Not worth patching with tubes available at 1.25€ each...

And the new 23c michelin on. I can feel the difference – smoother, faster, running at 120 not the 100 I had in the last one. And less comfortable, but not by much.

Summary: my neglect of the tyre shortened its life. Smooth, fast-rolling, comfortable enough in 25c, but an utter bugger to fit. Not for fixie skidding, but a decent enough tyre for training / winter riding. Griptastic.

The Michelin glided on, thumbs for almost all of it, and careful single lever for that last bit. Less comfortable, obviously, and seems faster and perhaps slightly less grippy. I'll update on its wear / durability in due course.

[QUOTE=Velocio;1183009]W

I'm using Schwalbe Marathon Plus's at the moment as that is what the nearest shop had in stock. They are considerably slower in feel and my GPS times for commuting have added a couple of minutes every day since changing to them.

QUOTE]

Two whole minutes !
Thats grim.
But what can you do ?

Hello
Im after some advice/opinions.... I run 27" x 1/1/8 and at the mo have the continental Ultra Sport, but they seem really slippery and although in the last 6 months have only had one puncture I just dont like them...
So am looking at other options. My priority in a tyre is puncture resistance and grip (rather than weight etc)... So the two choices I think may be interesting are the Panaracer Pasela TG:
http://www.kenellerkercycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b18s306p524&rs=gb
or the Bontrager race Lites:
http://www.kenellerkercycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b1s306p873&rs=gb
What do people think out of these two? and if you know any other options in this size would be good to know, but as I said, my main thing is they are super puncture proof, grippy, and also affordable....!
Thanks
H

In size 700x23 (or 700x24), I'd recommend the Panaracer Ribmo or Halo Courier Berlin.

The Panaracer Pasela TG is not very far behind my two recommendations, but the Bontrager Race Lite just isn't as robust at all,
as any of the afore-mentioned three.

Thanks man, but for the 27"?.... what would your opinion be?..
Appreciated
H

Did that sound rude? didnt mean to be....

My bad. Apologies. Now I understand why your choices were so narrow.

I'd choose the Pasela TG (Tour Guard) over the Bonty Race Lite.

Luckily, or forum sponsor, SJC, is an excellent suppliers of 27 tyres.

I'd consider the Schwalbe Marathon also, but would still prefer the Pasela TG.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Schwalbe_Marathon_Reflective_Kevlar_City_Tyre/5360042619/

Well I've been putting some miles in on my new Halo Courier Berlin tyres, and thought I'd give some early feedback on them.

The tread is of the same twin-rail as their other tyre offering. The difference this makes in the tyre's behaviour is quite unique.

Firstly, I pumped the tyres to the maximum 120psi, and that gave a strangely cushioned ride. It felt almost bouncy, though comfortable....like when the tyre is 30-50psi below its recommended maximum.

The twin rails can especially be felt when changing direction. Because the rails are proud of the main carcass, the tyre tends to "pull" suddenly in any direction that you are turning. It was something that took me quite a while to get used to. But what I have noticed, is that the effect of this lessens as more miles are put in. Simply, as the tyre wears, the handling becomes more predictable.

Another effect of the twin rail design, and I'll admit that it was really unexpected, is that the rolling resistance is impressively low. In speed terms, it was similar to the Specialized All Condition Pro "Quickstep".

The weight is published as 415gr for the 700x24 version. Either that is an over-statement, or the Specialized All Condition Armadillo is given an incorrect weight (405gr), as I weighed the two side by side, and the Halo Courier Berlin tyres were lighter.

One special note - this tyre does NOT like metal drain covers. The twin rail presents a narrower surface to road, than would be expected from a tyre with that size carcass. When hitting a drain cover at an angle, the tyre gets well and truly knocked off course. Think of a hard, narrow strip of rubber, meeting with a hard, cold, wet metallic surface. I'm learning to avoid such man-hole covers.

In summary:

1. Highly puncture resistant as described.
   
2. Cushioned ride.
   
3. Low roll resistance.
   
4. Changes direction too sharply, till tyre is a bit worn.
   
   
   

I'll do a review in the Tyre Reviews thread, when I've done enough miles on them.

Continental Grand Prix 4 season 25c.

I have this tyres since July 2009, I do occasional skid on it, but rarely those big sideway skid (let says, 3 or 4 time a months, in the 8 months I've done about 3,100 miles (according to trip computer).

it finally start to wear about 2 months ago, brought a spare tyres just in case, and now it finally give up the ghost.

bloody impressed with that tyres (the Randonneur last me 4 months because I was trying to skid as much as possible to see how long it last).

I've seen worse. That tyres got life left in it!

Yup, ride it for another six months...

kind of, when I pump it up again, the inner tube stick out like a pimple on one of the hole.

end up with lots of duct tape on and in the tyre just to get home.

i think you should try the rando again

Schwalbe Ultremo R FTW

Schwalbe Ultremo R FTW

First cousin of "The Village....."?

"Uncle Idiot", I can't imagine that you're anything other than an alias, which I find to be incredibly boring.

A Schwalbe Ultremo R cannot possible be compared for similar usage, to a Vittoria Randonneur.

But I'm sure you knew that, and that you were simply attempting to be humourous in as lame a fashion as possible.