27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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AndyBSG
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Joined: 10 Jul 2013, 11:16am

27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by AndyBSG »

Looking to swap out the cheap, slow, fat, knobbly tyres on my Carrera Subway and after some recommendations.

The requirements are pretty simple.

- Fit 27.5" wheels

- The thinner the better

- Slick or semi slick if possible(going to be mainly road commuting so grip not essential)

- Very puncture resistant

I can't seem to find many slick/semi slicks in that size and only ones I have come up with so far are all Schwalbe's with the 650B Big Ben, 650B HS 159 and 650B Marathon.

Anyone have experience of decent commuter tyres for a 27.5 wheel?
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mjr
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by mjr »

Why isn't the Marathon decent? There's not a great choice in 584mm though - it looks more limited than my ancient 590mm, which surprised me. Marathon looks the best of Schwalbe options although there's a 54-584 called Kronan (HS315) which I don't remember seeing before, or there's http://bike.michelin.co.uk/tyres/michelin-world-tour (I used those many years ago on 630mm) and Continental TourRide which are all listed at http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres-26-275 ... pt348_pg1/
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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AndyBSG
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by AndyBSG »

Think I'll give the Marathons a shot as they generally seem to be well thought of
Brucey
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by Brucey »

I would suggest that you consider fitting either

1) 590 rims -to take tyres 28mm- 37mm (650A) or

2) 622 rims - to take 23mm -28mm tyres.

A 23-622 tyre rolls at around 26-1/4", i.e. about 1/4" larger than a 650A fitment, less whatever difference in tread thickness there is. Do measure up carefully, but I suspect that you will find that either wheel size will fit nicely in your frame. If you use a wider tyre fitment in 622 you might run out of space, but then again maybe not, you'll have to see.

Right now (this year...) 584 rims are flavour of the month for MTBs but this does not translate to a widespread need for, (or availability of) 'road' oriented tyres in ~35mm section (or less) to fit 584 rims. It may come in time, it may not. By contrast there are still many millions of bikes, wheelchairs etc trundling around on 590 rims and for the foreseeable future there will be a choice of inexpensive/robust tyres to fit these rims. However if you can fit 28-622 tyres in your frameset, and you ride on half-reasonable roads, I'd choose those every time.

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sreten
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by sreten »

Hi,

IMO 650B will become more popular as a larger bike MTB size, a smaller road bike size,
and a medium touring /commuter bike size and the tyre choices will become available.

There are the slick Schwalble Kojaks at 35mm :
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/schwalbe-kojak-hs385-rigid-tyre-275-inch-(584)-prod35891/
Also these Schwalble Marathons in 35mm :
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYSCMARA/schwalbe-marathon-kevlarguard-snakeskin-tyre-wire-bead

I think the latter are your best bet for commuting.

rgds, sreten.
gerrymcm
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by gerrymcm »

Are these any good? I've just come across this site and I've not used them myself so not a recommendation but maybe help with choosing tyres.

http://www.velovitality.co.uk/search?q=650b
Bikefayre
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by Bikefayre »

Schwalbe Big Ben Active Line Twin Skin K-Guard SBC Wired Tyre - Reflex Black, 27.5 x 2 Inch from amazon.co.uk
AndyBSG
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by AndyBSG »

Fitted the tyres at the weekend and went for the Schwalbe Marathons which has left me with another question.

The Marathons are classed as 27.5 x 1.65 tyres. My old tyres are 27.5 x 1.75 so these are thinner. Had a look round a couple of shops at the weekend and none of them had 27.5 x 1.65 inner tubes.

For now i'm just using the 1.75 inners I had. Is this likely to cause me a problem?

Also, have to say what a pain they were to fit.

I thought my road bike tyres were hard work but I really struggled to get these on. Also used metal tyre levers for the first time and immediately binned them after. They scratched the paint on my rims to high heaven and after eventually getting the tyres on I found the metal levers had punctured one of the inners :(

Thankfully the tyre was a lot easier to get on the second time!
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mjr
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by mjr »

Most tubes have a range so 0.1" is unlikely to be a problem.

Most protected tyres are tough, at least at first. I won't use metal levers any more either. Plastics are good enough now... and I usually use levers to refit tyres. Maybe not balloon tyres, but most.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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squeaker
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by squeaker »

AndyBSG wrote:Also, have to say what a pain they were to fit.
Why? Hope you looked at this first :wink:
"42"
niggle
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by niggle »

27.5"! Yet more flipping obfuscation by the bike industry, trying to make out something is new and different simply to sell you more stuff :roll:

A 27.5" tyre, also known as 650B in some places due to an old French sizing system, basically is a tyre that fits a 584mm rim. A 27.5x1.65" tyre is a 44-584 tyre according to the ETRTO system and should only be called that IMO :evil:
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mjr
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by mjr »

niggle wrote:A 27.5" tyre, also known as 650B in some places due to an old French sizing system, basically is a tyre that fits a 584mm rim. A 27.5x1.65" tyre is a 44-584 tyre according to the ETRTO system and should only be called that IMO :evil:

Don't you just love that 27.5" is 6mm diameter smaller than 26 x 1⅜" (aka 37-590) and a whole 36mm (in other words, more than an inch!) smaller than 27 x 1¼" (32-630 IIRC)? They like you to think that everything is bigger in the USA, but it's not true for bike wheels...
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
sreten
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by sreten »

Hi,

27.5" is just for any American dominated market. MTB wheels are
26", 700C MTB wheels are 29" and 650B MTB wheels are 27.5".

No point fighting the inevitable, most Yanks have no idea that
MTB wheels are in fact 559mm, not 26" in any sensible sense.

Sadly again for US dominated markets tyre widths are in inches.

However the innertubes will be absolutely fine.

rgds, sreten.
AndyBSG
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Re: 27.5 commuter tyre recommendations

Post by AndyBSG »

squeaker wrote:
AndyBSG wrote:Also, have to say what a pain they were to fit.
Why? Hope you looked at this first :wink:


Watched that video and it looks to be a great help. Never thought of using straps or pushing the bead down into the well
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