Recommend me a good puncture resistant commuter tyre

[lemonade]

Hi

I currently have Schwalbe Road Cruiser Active Kevlar Guard Wired 700c Commuter Tyre fitted on bike, they came with it from new and probably have around 2-3000 miles on them. The rear tyre looks quite worn in places, some areas unevenly and one side of the sidewall has cracking all the way round. I've had 2 punctures in the space of 5 days, which is rather annoying, so I am thinking of changing the rear tyre as it might have seen better days.

I am not really sure what to get, I would prefer something better than what I have and something that has better puncture protection and will last longer.

I looked at solid tyres but they seem a bit iffy and expensive. Currently looking at Schwalba Marathon plus. Can anyone recommend any good tyres under £30 please?

My wheels are 700c32

Cheers

 

[PermaBanned]

810g is a *lot* for a single tyre really. I've had good experiences with Vittoria Randoneurs but they seem less common now. Wiggle's own brand tyres seem to get decent reviews if you wanted to do both of them;

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-armour-commuter-road-tyre/

 

[BennyC]

1 puncture in just under 5,000 miles with the Vittoria Corsa G's. Not really marketed as a commuter tyre mind What sort of roads are you riding on?

 

[UTmaniac]

What pressure were you running the Road Cruisers at and what is your best guess of total weight of you plus bike?

It's hip and trendy to run tyres at low pressures, especially offroad, but they are often tubeless setups with latex "animals" growing inside the tyres waiting to try and stop a puncture... Snakebite (with innertube under-inflated), or otherwise.

 

[TallPaul1878]

https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/round-ups/round-up-puncture-resistant-tyres

A couple of good models here. I'm running Continental Gatorskins myself and have had 1 pinch flat in 4 years.

 

[Shamrock]

I second the Lifeline recommendation.

I'm impressed so far with the Prime Armor tyres which are aimed at road bikes. I imagine the commuter one to be as good. Price is very nice too.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-armour-commuter-road-tyre/

 

[Going to Cali]

I commute on the 25c lifeline prime - they're £12 a tyre. A set lasted me about a year doing 18 miles a day. I only had any issues with them (puncture / sidewall fail) when I'd neglected to switch them over once they'd clearly worn out.

 

[lemonade]

Will have a look at the tyres. A bit reluctant to go with the Lifeline, just seems a bit cheap and downgrade from the Schwalbe's I have now. I read gatorskin tyres have poor grip and wear rate too.

I am riding in inner London, mixture of cycle superhighways and the normal roads. Really terrible roads, lots of rough, bad surface, debris on most, building work debris, glass, tree sticks woods, stones etc. So need something that can withstand these. My current tyres have done well to be honest, they have last a year with only one puncture which was an impact puncture from road surface, but my two recent ones seems to have been penetrated by something, last one had a small pin hole puncture and the tyre was full off all kinds of stuff in the treads.

I'm running my tyres at the recommended 5.5bar, i'm roughly 62-63kg, bike with all the accessories is probably 14kg.

I took a look at tubeless tyres, but not for me, too complicated and if I do get a puncture with one will be big faff changing them.

 

[PermaBanned]

Will have a look at the tyres. A bit reluctant to go with the Lifeline, just seems a bit cheap and downgrade from the Schwalbe's I have now.

This is a fair concern, and it's hard to know just how well they'd hold up next to like for like tyres from another manufacturer. But for the money it's maybe not the worst thing in the world if they only last a year or so. Spec wise, they're probably a pretty big step up over your current tyres - lighter, folding rather than wire bead, more than twice the TPI.

I'm running my tyres at the recommended 5.5bar, i'm roughly 62-63kg, bike with all the accessories is probably 14kg.

It can be a good idea to run with a bit of a front/rear balance in tyre pressures. This calculator is quite good for getting a ballpark;

http://www.dorkypantsr.us/bike-tire-pressure-calculator.html

Which would put you somewhere around 40 psi in the front and 60 psi in the rear.

 

[Shamrock]

I used to commute on Grand Prix 4 Seasons, Central London also, but they are so expensive I switched to the Lifeline Prime Armor.

 

[FrenchTart]

Avoid Gatorskins - puncture resistant but no wet grip.

I use Pro 4 Endurance VIIs personally but I've not tried the new Lifeline tyres - which seem to get very good reviews.

 

[lemonade]

I've had a read around, the Lifeline seems decent, I'm also liking the Schwalbe Marathon greenguard, so it will be between those two, the Lifeline has 5mm guard, the Schwalbe 3mm, but the quality of the lifeline tyres is bit of an unknown quantity. The marathon plus smartguard would have been perfect for puncture resistance, seems to get raved about, but the performance figures put me off, its a heavy tyre and I have a lot of high inclines, dont fancy the extra weight and resistance, its also said to be very difficult to fit. So the greenguard although less protective seems to be a good compromise, shame they do not make the road cruiser kevlar anymore, I would have just bought another. The Vittoria was a good alternative to the Marathon Plus, but is expensive and also said to have weak sidewalls.

That tyre calculator things looks very useful, would make sense, the rear has a lot of weight over it, which might explain some of the odd wear patterns. Will look into that. Just wary of having a blowout from too much tyre pressure.

 

[zophiel]

i have gatorskins and agree they are not all that in the rain. on my previous cycle i had specialised armadillo, they were very good never had a puncture at all with them in 3 years

 

[mattyfez]

Just wary of having a blowout from too much tyre pressure.

The maximum pressure will be printed on the tyre side wall, for riding on tarmac closer to max is generally better for rolling resistance, but it might feel a bit hard and bumpy, so drop the pressure a bit if that's the case.
You won't get a blow out unless the tyre or tube is damaged.

Drop the pressure too low and you risk the tyre compressing onto the rim if you hit a big lump or plough into a curb, known as a pinch flat or a snake bite.

Generally speaking you'll want to run the rear tyre with a little bit more pressure than the front, what that pressure is will be a compromise between weight of bike and rider and comfort.

 

[lemonade]

Cheers for the tip, i'm gonna up the pressure to 6bar maybe to 6.5 if its not too much for the rear. They do feel a little saggy at 5.5bar

I ended up buying the Schwalbe greenguard which turned up today, can't say i'm impressed by the build and finishing of the one I got, and the depth of the protection doesnt seem much!

 

[BennyC]

Slightly lower pressures (generally) have a lower rolling resistance, as do 25c vs 23c, which has been proven. Evidence is not hard to find

 

[Edinho]

It's puzzled me why Gatorskins are so poor in the wet but by virtue they are a wet weather tyre. Odd.

They never used to be so bad in the mid 2000s no idea what they did to em.

 

[sHo0sH]

I haven't had a puncture on these in the year I've been using them: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/panaracer-ribmo-folding-city-tyre/
They're also fairly grippy in the wet.

 

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Bargain.

 

[lemonade]

Cheers, its a bit small for my wheels I think. I already ordered the tyre though, but it looks in a bad state, bent and one part of the sidewall has a small bulge, do they all come in this state? Or hsould I return?