Road Bike Tyres - Help

YOu can get some durano S on ebay for £20 each

My advice - don't skimp on tyres! The reasons why are logical. £50 or so for a pair of quality tyres is money well spent. BTW, Conti 4 Seasons gets my vote, especially now that winter is just around the corner. They are light enough to run all year round, grip is great in all weather, they roll relatively fast, and puncture resistance is up there with the best.

I use Michelin Lithion 2's on my Triban 3 for £22 ish a pair whats not to like, roll well sick well wet or dry and tough enough to last(only the odd nick, filled with Supper glue) happy

I've been using some Michelin Lithion 2's and found them perfectly good . Not one puncture and far better than budget Schwalbes.Got them in 25's for around £12 each from Ribble.

Worth a try for an inexpensive tyre, as mentioned by Simon E, is the Schwalbe Blizzard.
It's one of cycling's unsung heroes, combining reasonable flat protection with respectable grip and longevity. Probably the best value around if you are working to a tight budget.

A step up in performance is the Michelin Lithion 2. It's rated as a training tyre but actually performs well enough to satisfy most people. It will cost more but always seems to be on offer somewhere.

I, along with quite a few riders I know, have switched completely to 25mm rubber. It seems a little more comfortable and doesn't roll any slower so what's not to like?

Best of luck.

25mm tyres have greater volume and in my experience provide greater comfort on long runs. Unless the clearances on your frame or brakes is really tight you should have no problems. Recent research also seems to say that 25mm provides lower rolling resistence than 23 mm and the pro peleton seems to agree.

A warning - I just got some wheels built up with dt rims and could not get my continental GP tyres on them without some swearing and serious levering - and my thumb based tyre fitting technique is pretty good. The rims just seem to be a couple of mm bigger than mavics and it makes a big difference.

The thought of trying to get a tyre off and on at the roadside was not attractive so I've just got a pair of Schwalbe duranos on recommendation. They popped on easily by hand and so far so good.

I use Vittoria Paves. They arnt budget but I have managed to avoid several high speed crashes because of them and the great grip they have in the wet. In a way they have saved me money!

another +1 for rubino pro's ... specially the 150 tpi
version and they're dirt cheap

Scwalbe Durano's are pretty good - wear well but again not really budget.

Vittoria rubino pro's get my vote as a good all round stock tyre. Seem to be a good compromise between being able to go round corners/puncture resistance/ease of fitting and are relatively cheap and easily available in a 25.

Tyres aren't the best place to cut corners. Good tyres might cost 50% more but if they flat even 10% less i'd say they're worth it!

(and some tyres flat orders of magnitude less than others).

That said - if i want a cheaper tyre i go with Vittoria Rubinos. I'm also quite impressed with Giant's own-brand P-R3 tyres at the moment - which are very very cheap at Rutland Cycling right now!

Around £10 each:
Schwalbe Blizzard Sport. Quite light, I have a folding pair on for over 12 months that have been surprisingly good.

Alternatives I have heard good things about include Vittoria Rubino rigid (wire bead) and Zaffiro, but I've not tried them.

Under £20:
Vittoria Rubino Pro III
Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase
Michelin Lithion II

Above £20:
Schwalbe Durano (but not variants e.g. Skid, Plus)
Michelin Pro 4 Endurance
Continental GP 4 Season

There are others but these 3 are consistently top rated allround/all-year tyres.

I found Michelins more vulnerable to cuts than Vittoria, however I was on the pro 3 SC, not the newer pro 4, or the endurance model. Amazing rolling resistance tho.

I just replaced my rear Vittoria after 1400 miles, front still looks pretty good after same mileage. I don't think that's horrendous, but depends on your definition I suppose.

As LSW says, budget tyres are false economy, all of these mentioned are good tyres for what they do, wear rate and performance varies according to purpose

I'm running both the Vittoria Open Corsa and GP4000S on a couple of bikes. The Vittorias ride nicely, but wear rate is horrific. Also appear vulnerable to cuts (although I haven't had a puncture yet). I wouldn't advocate them for all rides. As @ilovemytinbred says the GP4000S are a good all-rounders, and unlike him I do feel their wear rate is very acceptable. Given the time of year you might be well advised to think about 25mm Gatorskins though.

(I'm not sure what you mean by 'budget', but searching for a cheap tyre is a false economy. Simply, they'll ruin every ride in one way or another. I think all the tyres named above give great value for money - which is perhaps a more important measure of their worth).

Indeed, nobody said Vittoria was a budget tyre, but if folks are suggesting this Conti then personally Vittoria would be my preference.

The vittoria is not a budget tyre, even if you can get them cheap the wear rate is damn quick making them £££ per mile. They are not that puncture proof either. - Really nice rubber though.

The Michelin pro 4 endurance are pretty good and I found them for £20 each a while ago.

The GP4000s are a great tyre, I dont think they are amazing at anything but pretty good for everything. Wear slightly below average I reckon.

Budget tyres?! Not continental then..(although I've heard they're good). I like Michelins but agree with you, grip in wet is poor.

My winter / poor weather favourites are bontrager hard case race light 25c.

If your budget is actually big enough to consider continental GP 4000 then why not go to the next level with Vittoria open corsa 320tpi?

+1 the Continental GP4000s.

GP 4000's on sale at wiggle for next 2 days - £55