I need new tires for training rides, and top priority is puncture resistance.
Most of my training rides are commuting to work, 37 km one way, and my average speed has picked up quite a bit the last year after I started training more and got my Fuji D-6. It has reached a point now where traffic is holding me back when traffic is bad. (Meaning I can go faster but I dont dare to).
So I need to slow the bike down during training. So priority number 2 is hopeless rolling resistance/aero properties.
Panaracer Stradius Sport…we will have a colony on the moon b/f you need a new pair. Actually a nice ride too in the 23. Wish I could do the 26’s, but my QR can’t handle them.
Pick whatever tire you want, and then put in some THORN RESISTANT tubes. I’m talking the tubes that are made with MUCH thicker rubber than your standard tubes. They will cost you big time in the rolling resistance department.
michelin krylion - best of both worlds, decent RR and bomb proof
Thanks, bombproof is good, but I dont want decent RR. I want terrible RR.
Thanks for all the other suggestions so far. I didnt know about the thorn resistant tubes.
I will give them a try.
Whatever tank tires you get, definitely go w thorn resistant tubes or slime tubes or similar.
Also consider getting said tires in 27’s.
Wider is slower, plus you can run a little lower PSI (slower), and they will reduce the chance of pinch-flatting as well.
You could consider some cx tires - you’ll get small knobbies (slower!) and you can ride in or thru almost any weather or terrain w more confidence.
And less speed.
I have some 28mm Bonetragers (touring tires) that are seriously more like 32’s that I ride for training on my Kestrel Airfoil pro at 65-75 psi and I also have them on my Talon for bike commuting. They really make it hard to keep up with the boys, but really it’s is all training. I have a standard 90K loop with 2400 feet of vertical, and with 23 mm tires at 90 psi, I’d consistently do 1700-1800 kilojoules of work for that ride, whereas with th 28’s at 70 psi, it is consistently 1950-2100 kilojoules. So definitely a lot more work.
It is awesome going to race wheels for race day though!
I use these tubes in my training wheels and always wondered about RR… Can you explain why they cause so much more rolling resistance?
Not really, but I will try anyway.
The simplest expIanation is to think of it an analogy: Latex Tubes are to Standard Butyl Tubes as Standard Butly Tubes are to Thorn Resistant Tubes.
There is a lot of writing and research on Latex Tubes versus Standard Butyl Tubes for rolling resistance. As I understand it, the Latex wins due to it’s suppleness advantage. And a Standard Butyl Tube is way closer to a Latex Tube in suppleness than a Thorn Resistant Butyl Tube is to a Standard Butyl Tube.
The standard suggestions are the 3 popular ones - Conti Gatorskins, Bontrager Hardcases, and Specialized Armadillos. I haven’t loved any of those three.
The Schwalbe Marathon suggestion is a good one, as is the Panaracer suggestion. I ride their T-Serv tire on my commuter and it’s been the best puncture resistant tire I’ve ever ridden. I haven’t ridden the Schwalbe Marathon, but they’re loved by the touring community and the Schwalbe Duranos I have on my road bike have been fantastically durable. (I heard a clicking sound once coming from the rear. Stopped and saw that a nail had stuck into my tire, but the puncture-resistant belt had deflected it so it got pushed out through the side of the rubber without pushing through to the tube. It was stuck in the rubber with both ends hanging out.)
Use a pair for a year with no flats, and it is fine on trainer too
Only a year? I had some of the Michelin carbons that I rode on my TT bike (training wheels) for 7 years. The nice thing was that they seemed impervious to the heat buildup from doing intervals on the trainer. They wouldn’t be the best in terms of the highest Crr though.
We have a lot of goat heads and thorns here, and the Maxxis Re-fuse is the best option. Not a single goat head flat in a couple years of using them. Gatorskins would have a flat every week or two.
I too have used the Specialized Armadillos for years when I was riding conditions and surfaces fit for such -they never let me down. But I trained for and rode for 6 months in Kuwait on Maxxis pros recently in highly eclectic abrasive, and asphalt-granular road conditions on my road bike. This included daily temps of 120-130 deg F, crumbed asphalt, tactical military vehicle misc debris, and sandstorms most days over the summer…essentially an unpredictable minefield of desert and roadie nightmare conditions. They Maxxis impressed the heck out of me - a little heavier than Armadillos -but in the afore described conditions…not a single flat in 5 months. I flatted three times in the first month on my standard continentals which would never give me an issue on a normal US road - so stripped them and put the Maxxis on - and all was fine.