531colin wrote:slowster wrote:......... Remind me again, what tyre width are you running now on your Roughstuff?
I think they are nominally 40. I've got a couple of busy days and its absolutely blathered in mud, so I'll clean it up, measure, and take a photo when I get a chance.
Tyres as here..
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=140851&p=1528133&hilit=schwalbe#p1528133 Except as it says there the tread pattern seems to be different now to when I bought them; I think I paid 10 either euro or pounds.
Edit...that Leisure Lakes link now goes to the wrong tyre!
Here are the details;
IMG_5223 by
531colin, on Flickr
Schwalbe range cruiser, as it says; kevlar belt (K guard 3....who knows what the 3 means!)
Heres the tread.....its about 2mm deep,
IMG_5221 by
531colin, on Flickr
and its nicely rounded, so it doesn't discourage spirited cornering (on tarmac)
IMG_5222 by
531colin, on Flickr
Measured width is just less than 38mm, and my 10mm Allen key fits between the tyre and chainstay (on the Roughstuff bike)
Just for fun, here are some other tyres I've used over the years (these are 26" and various widths)
IMG_5224 by
531colin, on Flickr
On the left, Marathon Racer, with tread only about 1mm deep. liable to just "let go" without warning on mud or even wet grass; a bit too exciting for me, unless I'm doing mainly road or dry tracks..
Middle and right are 2 different incarnations of the old kevlar belt Marathons. As far as I could tell they rode the same, and I have done most of my recent roughstuff on tyres like that...about 2mm tread depth. Really quite capable on all but the foulest mud, and also good for road riding, including spirited cornering. (the finer tread is 368....the other, older one is 308....I think!)
Between the old 35mm Kevlar Marathons and the existing Range Cruiser, I tried some wider tyres, briefly; 47mm Greenguard Marathon (if you have ever picked one up, you will know why I didn't stick with them) and 47mm Marathon Mondial folding; for an expensive tyre, I didn't think they offered any advantage over the narrower and much cheaper old kevlar Marathon, and they felt harder work on road.
Of course, it all depends on what you want to do. Even when I set out to do tracks, I'm lucky if a third of my miles are on tracks. So that the inevitable road miles aren't too much of a pain, I want something that rolls well on the road. If I walk a bit (where I might have ridden if I had 2" knobblies and suspension) then I don't care; I would much rather walk a bit on a track, somewhere I want to be, than flog my guts out to make a bit of progress on a busy road which I have to use to link tracks together.
I got my Range Cruiser tyres from Bike 24 in Germany; they are schwalbe "active line" and seem to be sort of budget stuff which UK retailers don't want to bother with. I have to say, I like them as a substitute for my old favourite kevlar Marathon. Perhaps I should get some more before they "improve" them!