Plenty of stuff has always been cool.
Like being fucken badarse 
4 Likes
I’m not asking anyone to do research for me, but if anyone knows off the top of their head:
-
Is there an example of a tire you consider to be semi-slick? And given that Sheldon says the road surface itself provides all the knobs you ever need, and that bike tires can’t hydroplane, is there any reason to want semi-slicks over slicks at all for road use?
-
I’ve decided puncture protection is important, so I’m looking at that. Are there any mid-price brands I could look at, maybe from manufacturers people don’t always hear about, where the quality is there but I’m not paying for a big marketing budget? (I’ve seen the Marathon Plus and Gatorskins, I just don’t want to spend big bucks if I don’t have to.)
A guy in my neighborhood decided to make a new driveway to his back yard and dumped a load of crushed limestone gravel on it, which is now spread all up and down the road he’s on, and I’m coming back with pieces like little teeth in my tires, and I got a flat from one. Also, my neighborhood exits onto a highway which has great wide breakdown lanes, which is awesome for riding except that’s where all the debris ends up. This is my new reality, so I’m looking at puncture protection.
(Also keeping the topic alive.)
It helps to know what size tire you’re looking for- 700c, 650c, 26", etc. Width helps, too.
Almost all tires sold are, technicality, semi-slicks. Pure slick tires are great, except for when there’s crud on the road (sand, gravel, whatever).
Well I think I want around 622-35 at most, 622-28 at a minimum width but probably not that narrow.
I currently have 622-54 knobbies, but that’s wider than I want, and possibly wider than should even be on my rims, since the interior rim width is 20mm and these tires bulge out so far it almost interferes with the brake pads.
I’m going to be almost exclusively on road so I don’t want knobbies any more. I want the reduced rolling resistance of a smoother tire. I’m willing to live with the stiffness of low TPI for the protection that gives me (as I understand it).
1 Like
622 is a 700c. Are you using a 29" mtb bike or a road bike?
If a road bike, Specialzed tires with the armadillo casing have always been excellent.
If you’re on a 29er, I’m not sure- not a size I have any interaction with.
For bike path ripping and kicking around, I use Kenda K-Rads on my wife’s bike (2.3"), and Maxxis Larsen TT on mine (2.0"). Both handle highish pressure and roll reasonably fast and tolerate junk on the pavement well. Both are 26" in my case.
3 Likes
Yeah, it’s a 29er MTB, so 700c.
I’ll take a look at those brands, thanks.
3 Likes
Thinking about this for a few more moments (before I crash for the night…) nearly any smooth-centered (or semi slick centered) cyclocross tire might work.
Loads on the market.
3 Likes
Thanks again.
Yeah I noticed that, and I’m currently wading through it … there’s no shortage of choice.
2 Likes
fwiw, I’m running a Marathon Plus up front, I don’t recall paying a lot for it. In fact, I thought it was cheap? I think I paid $25-30 for one, iirc. this was for old school 27x1/4"
1 Like
Thanks, that’s good to know. I may have been looking in the wrong place, for some reason I had the idea they were top of the line and priced that way.
EDIT - That must be because I was looking at the Marathon Supreme 700c ($53.59/MSRP $79.99 on one site), and not the Plus. Yes, I’m still in the floundering amid confusion stage of taking this all in.
1 Like
Schwalbe’s are usually pretty spendy. Another standby (thought I don’t think it is as resistant or nice a tire) is the Conti Town & Country with its inverse treat. Throw a liner in that and you are good to go.
1 Like
I can’t remember why I originally bought them instead of Marathons, but I usually have a pair of Continental Touring tires (28) on my tourer. I ride mostly on roads and a bit of gravel. They’re pretty tough by themselves, but if you follow @rkt88edmo’s advice and use a liner, you should see very few flats (I’ve only had a couple of flats with the basic tire, and only sidewall punctures when using a liner).
I’ve also used the a wider version of the same tire (the 32 I think) for fully-loaded bike-camping in the rain forest (which involved some fairly significant mud). Given the mud, wider still would have been easier, but it worked…
3 Likes
IMO using puncture-resistant tyres is like wearing safety boots everywhere all the time, when you have replaceable feet.
4 Likes
I don’t disagree.
There are times, however, when I think they can be the right choice:
- On a commuter bike when a flat might make you late for work.
- Of a fixed gear (or igh) where changing a rear flat is a production.
They totally don’t ride that well and weigh more but they do have their place.
4 Likes
Yeah, sure.
Still, I manage to avoid polluting the purity of the machine I commute on… Take off the lights and swap the pedals for clipless, and it’s a pro-level race bike, including the tyres. I don’t find flats to be an issue…
Well, I think it is far more a function of where you ride, than what you ride as to whether you pick up debris that will cause a puncture.
I do think there is a strong secondary component that narrow high pressure tires are more likely to shed debris as well.
2 Likes
Yeah I’ve seen your rides. That would be like truck tires on your hot rods.
That sounds incredibly great.
So I did a ride to the grocery store today which totally convinced me I need something sturdy for tires. It was fun and had a lot of firsts. Longest I’ve ridden so far without stopping (two miles, the whole way to the store – I know, it’s not a lot unless you’re a newbie). It’s mostly downhill, so I had the fun of looking over and seeing cars not going that much faster than me. On the return, I had to go through a traffic light to get to the other side, which was my first time navigating real traffic, which was pretty cool. It was a short light because it was a cross-street on a major highway, and I started a few cars back so I really had to stand on it, and uphill at that, and just like I expected, my non-lockout front suspension was bobbing. OK, so I knew that was coming. Still, a great day out.
But - gravel and asphalt chunks on the road the whole way. I could mostly dodge them on the way out, but the return was so thick with it it was like riding on bubble wrap, snap crackle and pop the whole way, interspersed with gravel exploding out from under the wheels. There’s a new electric substation and also the emergency generator for the water plant along the way, and both of those have gravel drives, and again it just goes everywhere.
So maybe I can get a second set of wheels and tires later for clear road conditions, but right now I have to ride in this mess and I’ll be picking something sturdy.
5 Likes
An observation:
Biking in pollen season is different from driving in it or walking in it (obvs). I have to wash my eyes out each time after I get back. Tonight there was a stout breeze and I could see pollen and other tree debris (likely pollen pods) in my head-mounted light beam.
4 Likes
I actually, as a lark, went out cycling last week with a pair of aviator goggles I got at a con a few years back.
I definitely noticed that I got fewer bugs, less dust, less dry air, etc. in the eyes.
4 Likes
