Which tyres for my former road race bike?

[mick skinner]

Hi everyone,

I'm not racing anymore, I just want to keep fit by riding my race bike, so I don't need super light weight tyres anymore.

I want tougher tyres on it so I can ride along the occassional not-so-rough bridle path and such like.

The tyres need to be fairly narrow because the frame only has narrow clearence.

Which tyres should I buy?

[mig]

Vittoria Open Pave Evo CG 24c

SCHWALBE Durano Plus Rigid 23 or 25c

SCHWALBE Marathon HS368 25c

depends on clearances and budget after that...!

[rive gauche]

I've found Vittorias ride nicely, but are expensive, a tighter fit, and not particularly damage resistant.

Imho either the Durano S or Conti gatorskin are a better tyre.

[mig]

it's the old trade off between grip and longevity. vittoria open pave grip well but the tread does cut yes. i find gatorskins hardly cut but sliiiiiide unpredictably on wet corners as they are hard.

[Audax67]

I can just get Conti GP 4000 700x23c's into my 2001 Lapierre frame. Lovely for fast downhills.

(Hah! I just typed 700x23c into Google and got 4.82665857 × 10^12 m / s)

[mick skinner]

32 millimtre Marathon Plus's served me well on my fixed gear hack bike in the past so I think the Durano tyres are going to be the chice for me.

Thanks dudes.