Hello

yep, need a 700 tire for the beater bike…

25 or 28 wide, and not to heavy, and good puncture proofness, and rolling light… thanks

Gatorskin would be my first answer, but if your rims are compatible I’d go with a Bonty AW2 running tubeless.

GP 4Seasons.

Much nicer to ride than Gatorskins.

Almost as puncture proof, if you don’t let them wear too much.

Vredestein Senso Xtreme. Good grip (really good in the wet), durable, reasonable puncture resistance, I swear by them for winter bikes. Michelin Pro 4’s are pretty good too if you want something a little quicker.

And not Gaterskins in a million years, terrible grip, feel nasty to ride and aren’t that puncture proof either. The Vredestein’s are better in every way in my opinion.

2nd’d GP4 Season. Gatorskins are wooden tyres with terrible wet weather grip.
[edited] I like Vredestein tyres, have done for years, but didn’t think that they came in 28mm?

You’re unlikely to get consensus here as there are many good options!

In the spirit of recommend what you’ve got, I’ve had a lot of success with Schwalbe Duranos. Standard carcass, not the double defense ones. I’d say not the fastest rolling, but seem (anecdotally) to have been nice and durable. No punctures over several thousand KMs and the carcass isn’t too badly worn.

Michelin Pro4 Endurance V2 are £23 on CRC. V good rolling resistance

Another vore for GP 4Seasons, tried lots of tyres over the years and these are the best. Running 28mm on one bike and 32mm on the other.

Schwalbe Durano Plus.

Will be changing my rear one soon, it’s been on since March and has done over 5500 miles with no punctures.

The blue belt is showing through in one place where I had to do an emergency stop early on, but the rest is fine, if a bit square.

Better than Gatorskins in every way (except maybe weight, I’ve not checked that, it’s not a priority to me)

From tyres I’ve got, I’d say Conti Grand Sport Race, Cube came with 25s and I bought a pair of 28s to put on the Wazoo 29er wheels over the summer. Now got 28 on Cube front, need to get round to fitting 28 rear, but not urgent as more grip up front the plan for winter.

Durano DD are supposed to be a good all-rounder, which go up to 28mm IIRC.

Had GP4000s’s on my road bike for a year they’ve been fine all year round.

Just got a SS which came with marathon pluses, these have been a bit murdery. Keep almost washing out when I least expect them to, GP4000s’s will be under the Xmas tree I hope.

What I would recommend aren’t as good in a 28 (I have 35s), but I would say consider rolling speed more than weight.

(Thread hijack)

Similar issue here for a 700c hybrid, 25-28mm size, ridden on rough roads/old back lane with mud and leaves on.

Suggestions of cheap, hardwearing and muck/rain/slippy good tyres…?

Bontrager Race Lite 28mm hardcase used on road and some paths all year round.

Gp4 seasons are ace. Another recommendation.

Bontrager Race Lite 28mm hardcase used on road and some paths all year round.

I used these in the past, didn’t like them at all, not that puncture proof and very wooden feel.

Suggestions of cheap, hardwearing and muck/rain/slippy good tyres…?

Schwalbe Land Cruisers. Heavy but bomb proof. 3 peaks tyre of choice though times may have moved on.

Challenge Paris Roubaix are awesome, very expensive though.

Cheers YoKaiser

Schwalbe Land Cruisers. Heavy but bomb proof. 3 peaks tyre of choice though times may have moved on.

Guy in work ‘bought’ 9 of these from Halfords last week when they were selling the reflex version for £0.

He’ll be selling them if you’re interested?

They weight 900g each I believe!

Last couple of years I’ve used gatorskins, good puncture protection but quite dead feeling and seemed to lack grip in the wet. A lot of people in my club swear by conti 4 seasons and I was set to buy some but found I could get 25mm gp4000s cheaper so went for those instead, I rode my last set of gp4000s for 2 summer seasons with no issues so hoping they’ll be good enough for my commuting and club rides this winter

Like ‘rs89’ posted above, Schwalbe Durano (standard carcass) has proven to be completely reliable for year round use here.

Fairly cheap too, think mine were about 17 quid from Ribble.

Running 28c, and certainly wouldn’t want to go any smaller.

Colleague at work (who covers way way more road miles) seems to have settled on Michelin Pro4’s.

Fifthed on GP 4Seasons

What I would recommend aren’t as good in a 28 (I have 35s), but I would say consider rolling speed more than weight.

Philjunior, was wondering which tyres you are using? I have room for thirtyfives on my CAADX, and I like the extra volume… The roads where I live are pretty beat up, and skinny tyres make my teeth rattle out.

I like Vredestein tyres, have done for years, but didn’t think that they came in 28mm?

They do indeed, here for instance.

Had gatorskins on my commuter for 2 years, zero punctures.

They aren’t as nice a ride as other tyres but we are talking marginal gains on a tyre running near 100psi

Spesh all condition armadillo elite for the last 4ish years here. Much prefer them to 4Seasons which I didn’t think were particularly grippy.

Slightly off topic, but how long are people getting out of their 4 Seasons. I put mine (28mm) on about 2,200km ago. There is visible wear but not too bad but I have got a few cuts in the rear that are slightly concerning.

Two things I want from a commuter tyre are puncture resistance and grip. Seems to me that most manufacturers go for longevity over grip. I’d like something with the puncture resistance of the conti gatorskins ( superb in my experience as I regularly pick glass out of them and they are covered in cuts) with a nice sticky rubber. I don’t care if I have to replace them more often. Any clues?

There is visible wear but not too bad but I have got a few cuts in the rear that are slightly concerning.

It will soon become a puncture magnet.

elwoodblues – I’m using Marathon Supremes. They’re a lot better rolling than older Marathons, and even some of the other marathons, and I’m yet to have a puncture on them after about 2 or 3 thousand miles over last winter and this autumn (I had a tyre go down, but I think it must’ve been dirt in the valve as I couldn’t find any hole and the tube stayed up all night when I gave up looking for holes!).

They’d probably suit you quite well as they’re fairly supple for a puncture resistant tyre.

I did swap to GP4000SII in 28 for summer (partly to do a 147 mile ride), but not sure I’ll bother next year. They’re a touch faster but less versatile and I do get the odd puncture on them.

I’m a Gatorskins man myself. 6 miles each way on pretty messed up, potholes roads and they’re great. Worth pointing out that there’s two types of Gatorskin, standard and Hardshell. The Hardshell are horrible (hard, slippery) the standard are great. I’ll hazard a guess that some of those above who haven’t liked them have been on the Hardshell variant. As mentioned above mine have had cuts, glass embedded and serious abrasions without puncturing. The GP 4Seasons is undoubtedly a great tyre, but less protection than the Gatorskin and they wear quicker.
Ridden many, many variants of tyre for commuting over the years and always end up back with the (standard) Gatorskins

I was a Gatorskin fan for many years but I’ve had some pretty nasty experiences with the lack of grip tbh! My current fave solution is tubeless, that way you can use a nicer tyre but not worry about getting a flat. Schwalbe’s tubeless range is a popular choice..

Schwalbe tubeless tyres are: Pro One, G-One, X-One, Marathon Allmotion and Marathon Supreme (MicroSkin only- not the V-Guard ones..)

I’m guessing you’ll be wanting the Pro One if it’s a road commute

Thanks, Philjunior!

I thought that you might have been referring to the Supremes, but I wanted to be certain.

How do they perform when its wet and icy out there? I realize that I can’t expect studded tire performance, but it would be nice to know that to expect when using them in Danish winter conditions.

Danish winter is usually cold and wet, not much snow, but plenty of ice.

Two things I want from a commuter tyre are puncture resistance and grip. Seems to me that most manufacturers go for longevity over grip. I’d like something with the puncture resistance of the conti gatorskins ( superb in my experience as I regularly pick glass out of them and they are covered in cuts) with a nice sticky rubber. I don’t care if I have to replace them more often. Any clues?

Yes, 4 Seasons. Gatorskins are like plastic, horrible.

Two things I want from a commuter tyre are puncture resistance and grip.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard tyres. They are admittedly heavy, but (IMHO) they roll very well for what they are, have decent wet grip and (so far) have proved pretty good against punctures*. Cheap as chips, too.

*I ended up riding along a very narrow lane covered in hawthorn clippings for about a mile, and they survived unscathed.

Ta chaps

Do the 4 seasons have good puncture resistance?

IME ( very limited) marathons are made of mahogany and have little grip. I want something with the equivalent of super sticky mtb tyres.

Vittoria Pave and (presumably) their replacement have been great for me all year round. Relatively fast wear rate but very supple ride.

Duranos wear slower and have a good but not great ride.

GP 4 seasons, relatively new to these (couple of 1000 km). Firmer than the Paves but no punctures, not so dissimilar to the Duranos, perhaps a little more grip in the wet.

Schwalbe G-One Speed tubeless have a fantastic ride, no punctures so far, easy mounted to non-tubeless rims, not the lightest, nor fastest. Rode 60 km on them in the dark last night. The extra volume really inspires confidence in the dark on poorer roads. Very good in the wet.

I will wait for the next tubeless Vittoria incarnation, but all of the above will be fine. Just don’t get gatorskins.

How do they perform when its wet and icy out there? I realize that I can’t expect studded tire performance, but it would be nice to know that to expect when using them in Danish winter conditions.

Danish winter is usually cold and wet, not much snow, but plenty of ice.
Well…

IME ( very limited) marathons are made of mahogany and have little grip.

Isn’t my experience. I guess nothing (except studs) is going to offer much grip on sheet ice, but for a non studded tyre they’re OK, they do have some tread which I think helps.
Wet grip is noticeably better than the GP4000SII’s, but you get days when it’s greasy and nothing gives much confidence! They also seem to break away quite predictably if you do lean them over a bit too much. Although now I’ve said that I’m bound to bin it next time I do that!