Freedom ThickSlick Elite Urban Tyre

Freedom ThickSlick urban tyres are 700c slick rubber and part of WTB's wider foray into the urban cycling market. Claimed to be the most durable tyres of their kind, mid section 25 and 28mm profiles lend themselves handsomely to winter training, Audax and weekend touring thanks to phenomenal puncture resistance, relatively low drag and excellent manners. Comfort's not bad either, although their sportier sibling, the ThickSlick Sport, shaves 80g a set and roll marginally quicker without any noticeable loss in durability.

Heavier casings, reckoned to have twice the density of comparable rubber are impregnated with crushed Kevlar strips while a second, 'dura layer' safeguards the sidewalls from splits, tears and impact damage-helpful since they've an operating pressure range between eighty and 110psi. Reflectives obviously aren't cool, neither are dynamo tracks, which might deter traditionalists but didn't deter me from having a go with a dynamo. Slippage hasn't been an issue with a mid range bottle unit and bold white lettering seems to catch driver attention better than amber or plain black walls when passing junctions and other danger zones. Some folk are a bit snotty when it comes to wire beads but ours breezed aboard mid and deep sections without tools and without hydraulic thumbs. Better still, there's no danger of mounting them the wrong way.

Their absence of tread gives the ThickSlick and recipient machines a really sleek, round profile that appears wider than their sections suggest. Initial impressions were of a tenacious, yet dependable tyre, biting deep into the asphalt yet with nominal drag and this seems consistent despite subtle pressure tweaks. However, ride quality was distinctly harsher over dimpled surfaces common to B roads, but having tested the ThickSlick Sport (review coming soon) I'm convinced this is down to the belt and braces Kevlar banding.

Put the hammer down and they'll certainly deliver, whether sprinting for the lights, turning sharply to avoid opening car doors, pot-holes, errant pedestrians or cruising at 90 odd rpm through the urban/suburban nightscape. Shards of broken indicator lenses, beer bottles, tacks and other generic litter haven't so much as cajoled a nick in the casings and even five miles of fresh, thorny hedge clippings' couldn't rain on our parade... Talk of the devil, carving into wet descents inspired confidence and they'd go as low as you're cranks will allow without turning bandit. This wasn't the case over wet manhole covers/ similar ironworks though and one in particular peppered with diesel induced a heart in mouth shimmy and visions of Jean Claud Stablinski reading my last rites. Mercifully me and the ThickSlicks held it together but I continued with a larger spoonful of caution.

Verdict

Ultra dependable, yet sprightly rubber for most types of road riding.