UKC

Looking for recommendations for tyres to deal with a mixture of road, grass and forest gravel tracks, wet and mud. My commute is a total mixture of mud, gravel and road. I've got a new bike with 700c wheels.

Live in Aberdeen so will be used in all weather's...possibly even in one day

In reply to Lynsety:

Sounds like you want a cyclo cross tyre.

In reply to Lynsety:

People are raving about these for such riding
http://road.cc/content/review/190493-schwalbe-g-one

In reply to Lynsety:
The new Schwalbe tubeless gravel tyres get amazing reviews:

http://road.cc/content/review/190493-schwalbe-g-one

I have the 30mm versions on my winter bike - only just put them on so no real feedback, other than they feel a lot faster than you'd expect 30mm tyres to be.

Edit: SNAP!!

In reply to andy:
Schwalbe marathon plus without doubt. Cycle commute all year round, mix of road, and dirt paths and have been bomb proof . Possibly not the fastest but have absolute confidence in them.

In reply to Lynsety:
If you have the space, I've just invested in WTB Nano 40s' - roll pretty well due to centre knobs being almost continuous around the centre of the tyre but with good side knobs for cornering on looser terrain. WTB Riddlers are also supposed to be good and both can be bought in tubeless flavours. Have also used sam smarts, Bontrager LT3's, Michelin mud pro 2 and these are better IMO. The LT3's were my second favourite out of that lot but the offroad grip of the nano is way way better than any of the others. Found the sam smarts really clog in slightly wet conditions.

In reply to the sheep:

I've used some of them for ages and as far as I can work out they can't be punctured. It just can't be done.

In reply to beardy mike:

Of the ones you list I've used Smart Sam's and Mud2. I found the Mud2 to be pretty fragile but really rate the Smart Sam's. I find them excellent for off road with little bits of road. Done the Three Peaks CX on them three times with no punctures.

In reply to Lynsety:


What's the max width tyre your bike will take?

In reply to DaveHK: yeah the mud pros are probably great for a race, but riding them in normal situations i seemed to have punctures all the time...

In reply to Lion Bakes:

Big road or cyclo-cross tyres up to 700x42, or how about 650b x 47 Road Plus for maximum float and comfort on the potholes, rough tracks and back lanes?

Above is off Cotic's website so some fairly large ones.

Lynsey.

In reply to andy:

The 'schwalbe-g-one' look interesting! The marathon plus are on my husband's bike and have so far served him well.

Do you need any thing special to go 'tubeless'?

Thanks for all the replies everyone, its really helpful

In reply to Lynsety:

I've set up G-Ones on Fulcrum non-tubeless rims as tubeless. One wrap of Kapton tape over the holes and then three wraps of bog standard electrical tape. Aired up with a track pump and added a slug of sealant. Such a nice ride and oodles of grip.

In reply to Lynsety:



Yes, the right type of rims and tubeless conversion kit. It is not the easiest thing to do (recently changed my MTB to tubeless) but worth it for mountainbiking.

For commuting I've long been a big fan of Marathon Pluses - my first pair did maybe 10,000 kms over lots of years including riding a lot of gravel paths where I used to live - not one puncture. I'm on the second pair now, I went down from 35 to 32 mm, although I'm not sure it makes much difference. I also have Marathon Winter - the ones with studs, but that's a bit specialist, have used them for about three days since moving back to the UK three years ago, and then Marathon Plus Tours - they are 35 mm and have more tread on them - I mainly ride that bike on road now, but used to ride it a lot on gravel and like the slightly wider and grippier version.

In reply to Lynsety:

Are you on an escapade? If so I tried Sam smart 1.75" and whilst the front fitted, just, the back I had to take off the side knobs with a grinder and even then it was not right. So the casing is pretty critical at the upper end...

In reply to beardy mike:

Yeah I am. Okay thanks, will watch out for that if I end up going for those tyres. Thanks

In reply to Lynsety:
By logic I thought 1.75 was going to be ok... wasn't! Put 82km onto the nanos tubeless over Saturday... did a fine job. I used 1" t rex tape to seal the wtb rims if you got the same from Cotic. Front is still leaking a wee bit but the back seems to hold air well.

In reply to Lynsety:

have just got a pair of schwalbe cx comp 35s for a tenner each to replace vittoria hypervoyager 35s that were in fact 37mm and too wide for my frame. seem to roll well. i can't justify paying 25% of bike cost for tyres..

not sure of the advantages of tubeless - can anyone persuade me?