Cycling UK Forum

I have had to put a new tyre on my rear wheel which has left me with two different tyres and the bike seems a bit more jittery. I have a Scwhalbe Marathon on the rear now with a Panaracer on the front. The bike is a Thorn Audax which has always been a bit lively but seems worse somehow... or is it just me. Still not sure any views please?

Regards barbelfisher

tyre pressures?

its not using different tyres that makes the handling seem strange, but the marathon is not as supple as the Panaracer. Ride it a couple more times and it will be fine. I had the same with a durano London on the rear..

If its a Pasela, they have very flexible sidewalls, much thinner. They use less energy to roll but obviously the wobble factor is greater.

Al

al_yrpal wrote:If its a Pasela, they have very flexible sidewalls, much thinner. They use less energy to roll but obviously the wobble factor is greater.

Al

Wobble factor?

from what you say I assume you had two Paselas before. Assuming there isn't something else wrong or different (tyre pressures?) about the bike, it will feel different because of the Marathon on the back.

The Marathon is a fair bit stiffer than the Pasela, and will ride somewhat differently. These two tyres are almost as different as you can get, in 700c road tyres of similar width.

cheers

I can't comment on the handling difference but I have heard advice before that if you are putting a new tyre on a bike it is a good idea to put it on the front and shift the old tyre to the back. I think the idea is that you want the good tyre on the front so it can cope with the handling and braking, while putting the old trye on the back means it wears out more quickly so you can replace it more quickly with fresh, grippy rubber.

That is what I normally do.

However if your old tyre is a Pasela and your new tyre a Marathon then I put the Marathon on the back so that I have the nicer, more expensive tyre on the bike for longer and let the cheaper, tougher tyre do the hard job (and use it up as quickly as possible).

I have nothing against Marathons, I just much prefer to ride a bike which has Paselas on it.
I have recently fitted my last "new" Marathon to the back wheel, leaving the used Pasela on the front on my workhorse bike.

Coincidentally I have just had a similar experience trying to use up odd tyres. Pasela TG at the front, Marathon Supreme at the back on a Thorn RT. It feels awful! Now have the Supreme at the front and a shiny new Dureme at the back.