Tyre alternatives please

[Stevek76]

For actual road tarmac I've rarely had a problem with suitably supple touring slicks (e.g. vittoria hypers or similar modern equivalents).

If there's oil, wet metalwork or leaves on leaves (ime single layer of leaves is fine, it's stacked leaves that are the problem) then I'm not sure any tyre is going to help much. Harder knobbles or possibly even spikes might help puncture through the leaf layers but they may well be worse on the metalwork due to reduced contact area.

I guess it depends on the relative balance of the surfaces but if most of the trip is just wet but otherwise clear tarmac and there's only sections of leaves etc I'd suspect any effort to deal with the leaves etc via the tyres is going to result in a net loss in speed overall from increased rolling resistance on the rest of the trip. Will be quicker to just avoid metalwork and treat the leaves with a bit of care.

For absolute glue like grip in offroad conditions then compound does make a massive difference I find. e.g. Maxxis minion dhfs in the maxx grip (or the historic 'super tacky') variants are stupidly grippy. They're also really slow.... but that's tyre trade offs for you.

[Pinhead]

For actual road tarmac I've rarely had a problem with suitably supple touring slicks (e.g. vittoria hypers or similar modern equivalents).

If there's oil, wet metalwork or leaves on leaves (ime single layer of leaves is fine, it's stacked leaves that are the problem) then I'm not sure any tyre is going to help much. Harder knobbles or possibly even spikes might help puncture through the leaf layers but they may well be worse on the metalwork due to reduced contact area.

I guess it depends on the relative balance of the surfaces but if most of the trip is just wet but otherwise clear tarmac and there's only sections of leaves etc I'd suspect any effort to deal with the leaves etc via the tyres is going to result in a net loss in speed overall from increased rolling resistance on the rest of the trip. Will be quicker to just avoid metalwork and treat the leaves with a bit of care.

For absolute glue like grip in offroad conditions then compound does make a massive difference I find. e.g. Maxxis minion dhfs in the maxx grip (or the historic 'super tacky') variants are stupidly grippy. They're also really slow.... but that's tyre trade offs for you.

I just guess I believed that heavier duty MTB tyres were better for winter I guess I have learned a lot

[rareposter]

I’m liking Schwalbe G one allround for mucky tarmac.

Agreed, G-One's are brilliant tyres.

I just guess I believed that heavier duty MTB tyres were better for winter I guess I have learned a lot

That's broadly correct although it depends a lot on what terrain you're riding. The pic of the muddy bridleway a few posts back for example - is that 90% of your ride or 5%? Because buying full on MTB tyres for a short stretch of trail when the rest is road is going to make the longer road sections feel unpleasantly slow and hard work.

I reckon you could easily use a gravel-style tyre that is a bit more suited to all-round use, able to cope with the sort of light off-road that you've said you ride and anything from smooth tarmac to bumpy back lanes. It shouldn't need to be a full-on MTB tyre and you don't actually need huge amounts of tread to grip, a lot of grip comes from the tyre compound and the pressure (lower pressure = more grip).

[Pinhead]

I’m liking Schwalbe G one allround for mucky tarmac.

Agreed, G-One's are brilliant tyres.

I just guess I believed that heavier duty MTB tyres were better for winter I guess I have learned a lot

That's broadly correct although it depends a lot on what terrain you're riding. The pic of the muddy bridleway a few posts back for example - is that 90% of your ride or 5%? Because buying full on MTB tyres for a short stretch of trail when the rest is road is going to make the longer road sections feel unpleasantly slow and hard work.

I reckon you could easily use a gravel-style tyre that is a bit more suited to all-round use, able to cope with the sort of light off-road that you've said you ride and anything from smooth tarmac to bumpy back lanes. It shouldn't need to be a full-on MTB tyre and you don't actually need huge amounts of tread to grip, a lot of grip comes from the tyre compound and the pressure (lower pressure = more grip).

Off road the mud and road 50/50 literally

[mattsccm]

I guess that someone will come up with something more scientific but to my reasoning you get grip from two things. 1. Your tyre distorting the mud. That is digging in with tread. 2. The road surface distorting your tyre . Friction is part of this. So, a knobbly can really only work on a soft surface and a hard surface needs a soft* tyre. A knobbly will of course distort but its lack of contact on the road may minimise grip not add to it. Neither a knobbly or a slick will bite through a leaf or ice. Spikes might.
Summary? Compromise.
* Relative term as all tyres are softer than tarmac.

[freiston]

I'm new to this game - I've recently bought a new trail style bike (my first bike not primarily meant for the road) that I want for road, mucky road and off-road use, including bridlepath and out-of-town towpath - similar stuff to your pictures.

I went for Schwalbe Marathon Mondial Folding HS428 in 50mm width - it has a chevron style central tread which gives a good contact surface for tarmac but has a chunkier knobbly style pattern towards the sides. It also has good puncture resistance.

I did 20 mile of towpath on them yesterday and they did the job. when the mud gets a bit deep and slippy, they can slip a bit but no tyre will do everything excellently - if I was mostly doing mud, I would choose a very chunky knobbly tyre but I'm happy with this tyre as a compromise - I don't see a lot of mud and I can do it with this tyre if I take some care. If I got anything really bad, I might get off and push the bike for a few yards to clear it.

Here's a couple of reviews:

https://www.cyclingabout.com/review-sch ... ial-tyres/

https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/schwalb ... dial-tyres

[hopster]

There are many different properties of bike tyres, and I'd never choose on one alone.

We use Schwalbe Marathon Plus on the tourers, and don't experience inadequate grip on those surfaces.

Jonathan

I have found the Marathon Plus, despite being essentially indestructible and unpuncturable, to have poor wet grip with some nasty unexpected moments as well as a very harsh ride whatever pressures I try them at.

M

[pjclinch]

There are many different properties of bike tyres, and I'd never choose on one alone.

We use Schwalbe Marathon Plus on the tourers, and don't experience inadequate grip on those surfaces.

I have found the Marathon Plus, despite being essentially indestructible and unpuncturable, to have poor wet grip with some nasty unexpected moments as well as a very harsh ride whatever pressures I try them at.

I've never used M+ because the standard Ms are, at least IME, tough enough as they are. I do get the odd puncture, but it's the odd one, and the tyres are lighter and cheaper and work well as general purpose tyres.

Pete.