Tyres for a family holiday?

[Tangled Metal]

Just wondering any recommendations for touring tyre use. Last year my hypers punctured the first day when we were trying to get to our campsite after a tiring day for our youngster. They're dead anyway. One punctured with a hole through it and the other needs replacing because there's cuts everywhere.

Currently running hyper that needs replacing and a new gatorskin 700x32c that was a real ****** to put on and punctured straight away (first ride out a slow puncture). I have a matching gatorskin.

Other options in stock is a planetx CX/urban tyre that came with the bike, gets used for months each year and seems to not show any signs of dying. In 700x37c.

Our marathon pluses in 700x37c. As you probably expect they got used for several months each year, usually over winter plus one summer tour without any sign of wear. I'm not a high mileage rider because of other activities and family life (plus nowhere near retirement to enjoy riding in, jealous!).

I'm thinking a 32 mm width in something tough for punctures but not as heavy as M+ tyres. Maybe marathon (not pluses). Supremes or racers might be good but I'm thinking something with a little tread in case of unsurfaced routes or even easy off road (which I do on this bike too). I've got racers on the front of my recumbent and they're slippy on grass, dry earth / mud or slopes. Don't like my recumbent front wheels sliding sideways when riding.

There's tread based grip but there's material based grip I believe. AIUI there's tyres that have low level of tread but still grips off road. IIRC there's like the schwalbe fat tyre 27th little nibbles all around it, the one I think it's called.

So any opinions appreciated.

[Tangled Metal]

Forgot to say the kids bike has either nobbly off road tyres or smoother treaded hybrid tyres. They came with the bike (frog 20"wheeled bike). They look guys tyres even though own brand. I think I read that a good brand made them but could be wrong.

Should I replace them or not?

Currently nobblies on but I'm thinking hybrids are better for mixed surface use. He'll ride whatever and probably prefer nobbly tyres because that's what other kids have.

[Bonefishblues]

The tyres are both Kendas. Either will be fine, including the small block 8s ( which is what model I think they will be) which roll well IME, but the smoother more road oriented pair would be what I would fit.

[Tangled Metal]

Are the frog bike tyres both kenda? I thought they'd be cheaper versiona of block 8s and kendas. I know Iskabikes do use them but frog is next tier. If kendas then I'll put the hybrids on for touring and small block for home use (well his school mates ask have cheap blocky tyres so he might as well have them even though they're good tyres. So called off road or moto x tyres as they call them.

Forgot to mention my partner has a 26" mtb running 1.75" (or something like that) city jets. Bombproof but heavy and slow.

So what about tyres for us adults?

[landsurfer]

Black tyres are good .... some with tan walls may be fashionable ... but black tyres are good ....
As you've been on this forum for over 4 years you should probably have some ideas of your own ......
But all my tyres are black and they seem to work just fine .....

[al_yrpal]

Schwalbe land cruisers, smooth on road touring, off road grip. Cheap as chips

Al

[Tangled Metal]

Black tyres are good .... some with tan walls may be fashionable ... but black tyres are good ....
As you've been on this forum for over 4 years you should probably have some ideas of your own ......
But all my tyres are black and they seem to work just fine .....

4 years? My pluses are only getting bedded in!

Seriously? 4 tyres including m+ won't give me much idea what is out there. If you have more experience I don't. PX own brand, gatorskins, m+ and hypers. Not much Experience.

Hypers I can rule out because they don't handle anything but roads and very easy off road. I love riding them for the excitement of slipping around in grass / mud when unladen and having to control it more. Not good Laden touring though on similar terrain.

CX from PX are cheap and I don't want to risk cheap tyres on a tour.

Gatorskins I don't like because they're slippy. More so than hypers and the same reasons rule these out.

Marathon pluses are heavy and overkill I think, or at least hope. So they're out.

My experience doesn't give me much else. It's been 2 years possibly, since I last read much about tyres and I only know it's pretty dull reading so I apologise for starting another thread on treads!

BTW 2 years of majority hypers use is either good for the tyres or bad for me in that I don't ride enough.

Whatever the experience I have I think you can accept I can't have an opinion I don't have experience on. Tbh I've only read things on conti 4 seasons being good or some other expensive road tyres. I don't think most threads on tyres I've read talk about more general hybrid use. Some 2 years ago raved about hypers so I got some. Don't suit now though.

[rotavator]

I like Schwalbe Marathon Supremes and used them on a recent mini tour. They are very comfy and they cope with rough roads although knobbly tyres would be better if you are going to do more rough roads than tarmac. Some bloggers recommend the Marathon Mondial tyres which have more treads on them but I haven't tried them. Have you seen Spa's current offers?

[Tangled Metal]

Good call about spa offers. They've some in offer. Elsewhere landcruisers are about £12 each.

[mjr]

Schwalbe land cruisers, smooth on road touring, off road grip. Cheap as chips

I use the Schwalbe Delta Cruisers which I think are similar except for tread. While I like them, they are only kevlar-protected not the thick near-solid band of the Marathons and (Duranos?), so might not be what the searcher is looking for.

[SimonCelsa]

I use the Schwalbe CX Comp on the commuting bike. https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sch ... -prod24615

Initially I thought they'd be garbage due to low price (I got them for £8 each I think), but they seem OK & I haven't skidded off yet.

Used only a few times 'off road' without problems (although not hard core off road).

Maybe done about 500 miles with one puncture.

I don't tend to rush to get anywhere and I'm not so bothered about punctures this time of year.

[Tangled Metal]

I'm usually puncture free on holiday but last year got out of Roscoff into the countryside and puncture. Found out my 26" rear wheel had a much larger inner tube in it. It looked like it was smaller than a 700 tube possibly 27" (didn't they do some odd wheel sizes in the 70s and 80s?). That's an annoying thing so early on a trip. Other tours had m+ tyres and puncture free (linked by any chance? ).

Possibly better to stick with marathons. Perhaps greenguard hs40(??) ones or the older version. IIRC they're about 200g lighter than full m+ tyres. Get them in 32mm not 35 or 37mm.

Would changing from 37mm m+ to 32mm marathons feel much different at slow speeds?

[andrew_s]

New ones.

To reduce the chances of problems to a minimum, it's best to start with new tyres. You can always swap back to the old tyres when you return.

Tyres that have been in use for any substantial period of time are always more likely to puncture than new tyres, having had the time to accumulate embedded fragments of glass and wear thinner.

The trouble with recommendations is that punctures are sufficiently variable that it's perfectly possible for person A to have written off a tyre as no good after 5 punctures in a day, and for person B to think the same tyre is great, after wearing it down to the canvas without getting any punctures at all.

[AndyA]

Schwalbe Marathons are the tyre you seek. Probably the best compromise of speed, puncture resistance, and general unfussyness of any tyre for utility use.
Marathon Pluses feel dead and slow. Anything lighter than a marathon lacks puncture resistance

[reohn2]

https://www.highonbikes.com/vittoria-ra ... B#217=5512

Good tyres