I’ve just bought a road bike for commuting and weekend blasts when I’m not out on the mtb,
I’m not to happy with the tyres it came with(kenda),
Now I’ve had a look and I have no idea which tyre would best suit me,
Commute is all roads so a slick or semi would work, would need to be able to cope with rain, but I don’t want an aggressive tread as that will slow me down, so something with rain channels but still a uber fast roller.
Current tyres are 700×25 so around that or smaller if the rim allows(again not sure as new to this skinny tyre thing)

Thanks in advance

Firstly, what bike and what wheels?

secondly 25s are narrow enough for almost everything

finally how important is puncture protection given you will be commuting?

Ignore tread on a road tyre, you will get plenty of grip, wet or not, from a slick.

In terms of specifics, I’ve always liked Schwalbe Ultemo’s, they are pretty light and very grippy. What they are not is very robust, how important this is to you is your call entirely. On a similar note, there are some Vittoria Diamante Pro’s in the PX website that I have just put on my bike and quite like, they are cheap as well. If you want a more robust tyre plenty of people will suggest a Conti Gatorskin. Personally I would avoid them altogether as I find they are terrible in the wet, Conti GP 4 Seasons are much better but much more expensive.

what don’t you like about the current tyres ?

Sorry, it’s a 2012 giant defy 5, wheels are giant sr-2.

Puncture protection is definitely a factor

As said, tell us what you have, tell us what your problem is, tell us what wheels/bike and we can recommend appropriately.

STW will provide you with tyre recommendations from racing tubulars to touring tyres so it helps to know what you need

I had kenda’s on my last bike (hybrid) and they were naff, so I’ve come to the conclusion before I’ve even ridden on then that they need changing

@lunge, re gatorskins.
and im one of them, been using them exclusively on my road bike and crosser for about 4 years now.
they are ok in terms of weight and they roll fine.
ive never had a puncture yet on my ones.
i have heard a few folk say they lack grip in the wet, but ive never had a problem.
i am thinking of trying a set of gp4000s as a racier alternative.

So… Kenda Kriterium, 700x25mm. The tread pattern doesn’t look too bad to me and a 25 is a nice tyre width for every day use (even some pro racers use them for that matter). In true STW fashion I’ll recommend what I use:

1, Schwalbe Durano – not super light but pretty bullet proof so far
2, Michelin Pro4 Evo – I use the predecessor and love them

But ride the Kenda first and see how you get on. 90% of the problem at first will be your confidence.

I had kenda’s on my last bike (hybrid) and they were naff, so I’ve come to the conclusion before I’ve even ridden on then that they need changing

Why? I would recommend Continental GP4000s for fast and grippy or 4 seasons. If you want puncture proof then get the gator skins. 25mm would be best for commuting on a road bike.

However, continental make some truly aweful tyres and if you buy them from the bottom of the range they will be worse than buying from the premium end. Don’t judge one brand by one tyre experience.

As above, tread is largely irrelevant.

What matters is the TPI (Threads Per Inch) count of the carcass. The more threads, the more supple the tyre.

Good average tyres: Michelin Pro4 in 25mm with 120 tpi at around £22 – £23 each from Ribble, Wiggle etc.

Stonkingly amazingly superb tyres: Veloflex Open Corsa in 25mm with 320 tpi at £52 the pair from Ribble. Warning: Once you’ve experienced these tyres you will never want another tyre again.

Schwalbe Durano S in 25c are a good all round compromise. Fast, grippy, good in the wet, puncture resistant, wider than a typical 25c. If you want more spendy, Schwalbe Ones are fantastic, and commutable. I’ve only ever had one puncture – screw right through the tyre.

How many of those Continentals punctured on Ride London 😉

It would have been interesting to do a puncture survey on Ride London.

I have just swapped out my Giant branded tyres for GP4000s and have noticed a difference with better rolling resistance. The Giants were decent tyres but wore very quickly so I am hoping for more wear out of the GP4000s after reading many reviews of 2000+ miles.

I’d get and in fact have got GP4000S for the nicer months and GP 4 Seasons for the crappy months.

I use Conti GP 4000s in 25s all year round (and did London Ride 100 without getting a puncture)

But if main role of my bike was for commuting I would go for something like the schwalbe duranos

I did have 4000s on my only road bike over last winter, but by spring they were completely trashed – gouges all over them. May just be the roads where I am, but I’ve got 4 Seasons on my winter bike (now I have one!) for this year.

Main role will be commuting so the durano is the best option from what I’ve read,
But will it affect weekend blasts? Or are they good enough for all round use

I raced on Durano S’s last winter when I couldn’t be bothered to swap tyres one wet weekend. They are good enough for all round use. Durano Plus are more robust, heavier and don’t roll as well, but are perfectly good too. I’ve never punctured one.

I’ve been using Specialized “Armadillo” 700x23mm tyres for three years and had ONE puncture, commuting through the minefield of the A24 into and out of London.

Buy now. Never go back. 😀

Tried various Conti, Vittoria and Schwalbe road tyres & none have been as good as the Michelin Pro 4s I have on at the moment. Grippy, quick and not punctured once in the 2,000km+ they’ve done so far.

Try the OEM tyres first, they’re probably fine, if anything they’ll just be slower/less comfy than expensive tyres, unlikley to be apreciably less grippy.

My thoughts on road bike tyres are 99% of corners in 99% of conditions any tyre will work, the other 0.01% of the time, nothing will work, it’s not like MTB where you drift round corners and save it, you’ll either stay upright regardless of wet/dry, or hit leaves/gravel/white lines/ironwork/overbanding/oil and end up sliding down the road.

So all paying more get’s you is a better comprimise of punctureproof, weight, comfort, speed, etc, grip will always be fine. I’ve only ever had one pair of tyres so bad I binned them, and they cost £5 and actualy looked like they were made of plastic.

I got a set of Michelin Pro 3s, they went all cracky after very little use, Michelin’s response was “Yeah, they’ll do that, it’s because of the sunlight”. So if you want a tyre you can only use at night, I highly recommend Michelin but otherwise I’d get something else.

My Michelin Krylion Carbon were fine. No cracking at all.

Interestingly, Michelin tyres are banned at the Manchester Velodrome. Apparently they mark the track, though I dunno what that actually means in terms of their performance.

My Conti 4seasons did that, so really they’re only usefull in Autumn/winter/spring.

My Michelin Krylion Carbon were fine. No cracking at all.

Likewise. Best combination of speed, grip and puncture protection I’ve had.

Pair of Conti 4 seasons 25mm bnib – £50 posted 🙂

Been meaning to sell for 3 months this post reminded me.

Bontranger hardcase, did me for years. Every so often, you’ll need to dig the glass out of them. It depends on commute really, if there’s cyclepath then there’ll be shards of glass.

Schwalbe Durano user, done thousands of training miles on them, very robust and good for big mileage.

Schwalbe Durano’s are probably the best combination of performance, grip, rolling resistance, puncture protection, durability and comfort out there IMO. There are other tyres that are better in 1 or more areas of course, but no others that give as good an all round performance. Get the folding version and they’re only about 30g per tyre heavier than a lightweight race tyre, but they’ll last several times longer, have good puncture protection, grip well in all conditions and they’re fast enough to not worry about changing them when summer comes. If you’re happy to trade some speed and weight for more puncture protection, get the Durano Plus instead.

Gatorskins are popular cos they’re the most puncture proof tyre out there and they last an age. But they’re not very grippy at all, and have a very stiff un-supple carcass in comparison to most other tyres. Ride some Gatorskins back to back with Durano’s and you’d happily take the very occasional puncture for more grip and the increase in ride quality.