2018 Trek 520; What tire do you like for pavement?
 

As a commuter/tourer , what tire , and width , do you like for riding pavement on the 2018 Trek 520 ?

My Trek 520 is a bit older, more like 1995! In more recent years I've had great success for Schwalbe Marathon tires, now using 32mm. Zero flats, long life, rated pretty highly for low rolling resistance. Going from 28mm to 32mm improved all those areas as well as a bit more comfortable on typical rougher roads around here.

On my 94 Trek 520 I use Schwalbe Marathon 700x38's. I settled on the 38's after trying both fatter and skinnier tires, the fatter tires had noticeably more rolling resistance, and the skinnier tires were more vulnerable to snakebite flats on the rough-surface downhills I often experience here. Of course, if you're riding on smoother, flatter terrain than I am, 35 or 32 widths would probably be just fine.

Marathon classics in 35mm are a great ride on the Trek 520*.

*Just make sure you'd also have enough room for a fender under the fork. After going from 32mm Conti TopTouring to the 35mm Marathon, my '99 Trek 520 was left with only 6mm in this spot.

On my 26 inch derailleur touring bike I use the Schwalbe Marathon (with Greeguard) for pavement touring. Very nice tire.

My 700c derailleur touring bike has a 37mm wide Hutchinson tire that is no longer made or sold, when that tire goes I plan to replace with a similar Schwalbe tire. But I might use a Marathon Mondial in 35 or 37mm width.

These tires will also handle a bit of gravel here and there or broken rough pavement.

When touring, I put a premium on a robust tire that won't fail with good flat protection. I have no clue what the roads you commute on are like. My point is that if the tires are mostly going to be used for commuting, you might consider a faster rolling tire that is less robust. A more robust tire like the Marathon or Mondial might cost you a couple minutes each day on your commute compared to a faster rolling tire, that is a decision you should consider.

I've run Schwalbe Marathon Almotion 700 x 38c in the past on my hybrid and like those .
But was thinking of trying the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 40mm on a 2018 Trek 520 .

I don't have experience with the Marathon Supreme. People over on the General forum replied that they like them. But I've since been wondering how the new tread pattern affects how it rolls. It used to be a slicker tire but now, has lateral troughs in the tread. The Marathon classic (aka w/Greenguard) doesn't have any interruptions in the slick part up the center of the tread.

Same experience, 2011 Trek 520 32MM. Thousands of miles. My wife too, different bike.

Re:Schwalbe sizing ; A Supreme listed as 37-622 700 x 35c ; what is the actual width , 37 or 35 mm ?

The 37-622 is actually 35mm, the 42-622 is actually 40mm and 32-622 is the crazy one at 32mm.
From page 68 of the Schwalbe 2020 catalog.

This thread just sparked my monthly hatred for Schwalbe's decision to call most of their tires 'Marathon'. That line of tires is anything from frozen hoses that are slower than sloths to wide tires that are faster than many road bike tires. Its absurd.

Marathon Almotion, Marathon Supreme, Compass/RH Bon Jon, Schwalbe G One Speed.

This is if you want 35-38mm tires. If you want something like 32mm- then there are more quality options. For paved touring and commuting, I wouldnt want a heavy slow tire, even if it has more protection.

Which 32mm tires would you recommend?

32 or 35 Schwalbe Marathon Supremes. For my Trek 520, I may never buy another type of tire. I love them.

What model year Trek 520 ?
Have you tried the 40mm Supreme ?

My Trek is a 2015, and I’ve only tried 32 and 35. I think the 35mm are the largest tires I can get on my 520 with the fenders I have.

If I continue to loose weight and keep it off, I may eventually go back to the 32mm.

My favorite tires right now are the 700x36 Gravel Grinder Pros from Challenge if I am not as concerned with puncture protection (they also make a vulcanized version which is my current tire on my touring bike) and if I want more puncture protection I really love the Travel Contacts from Continental and those I generally run 700x37 but I believe they do a wider version and if you can fit that wider is better. I will also say that I really like the Graphene tires from Vittoria but unfortunately they haven't quite yet copied the two aforementioned tires which if they did I would buy in a heartbeat. The Graphene really has great connection with the pavement and is super nice in the wet.

I generally only go with folding bead tires these days and I really don't much care for super puncture protectant tires especially after riding on really nice supple tires for a while and not really seeing many flats. Granted for fully loaded touring I would want the puncture protection.

Continental 4season. Good mix of fast, weight, and reliability.
Continental gp5000. Same characteristics as above.

I have a 1994 Trek 520 that I bought new. It came with 28 mm tires, and I had a bad experience with them.
I took the Trek 520 to the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway between the James River and Peaks of Otter. Coming downhill, the steering became unstable at about 40 mph.
I have done this same ride on other bikes without having any similar problem.
I changed the tires on the Trek 520 to 25 mm for the next time I went to that section of road, and the steering instability problem didn't recur.
I have two theories on why the steering instability happened.
1. The instability has something to do with the aerodynamic characteristics of the original wider tires.
2. The original front tire had a congealed glob of sealant inside the tube that threw the wheel out-of-balance.
I still have the Trek 520, and I still give it a lot of use. The photo below was taken about a week ago.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a7a419dc84.jpg

Did you put sealant (like slime or something) in your tube? Because, generally speaking, tubes don't come from the factory with sealant. Maybe a very lopsided tube, but even that shouldn't result in 'steering instability'.

The idea of an aerodynamic anomaly is possible. have been running 35mm wide tires on 14mm wide rims on the front of my bike, and the turbulent air going around the pronounced 'omega' shape can be felt, I am sure. However, since the original tires were only 28mm, this might be a bit of a stretch.

ANother possibility is that the particular rotating mass of that tire helped your bike find its resonant frequency, and changing to a lighter (or heavier) tire, or a smaller diameter tire (which effects the 'trail') moved the bike away from the resonant frequency. This is assuming that your 'steering instability' was similar to whatis known as 'speed wobbles'.

Regarding slime in the tire tube, they were the tubes that came with the bike. It is purely speculation on my part that the shop might have added slime to seal a leaky tube rather than replace it.

Regarding speed wobbles, it wasn't as though the steering was oscillating. It wanted to turn hard to one side or the other. This is probably an indication of an aerodynamic problem. The thing I don't understand about this is that it was a relatively small change going from 28 mm tires to 25 mm tires. I might be mistaken about the actual width of the original tires. I discarded them a long time ago. I found a pdf of a 1994 catalog online that shows the stock tire width as 28 mm.

There is approx. 0% chance that a shop put slime in the tubes of a bike before it was sold. Replacing the inner tube would be a faster and easier and cheaper if there were a leak.

I'm glad to learn that the GP5000 comes in 32mm. I should be able to use fenders with that.

For a few years I used the 35mm Marathon Supremes on my 520. They were dreadfully heavy and made the bike feel slow. I switched to 32mm GP4000 Gator Hardshells. I couldn’t be happier.

Another vote for Marathon Supreme--mine are 35c I think. Roll much better than the regular Marathons they replaced and have been long wearing and flat resistant.

David

You just combined two very different tires. Gp4k and gatorskin hardshell.
The speed and feel of a 4k with the wear and protection of a gatorskin would be sweet.