Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Washington County, Vermont, USA
Posts: 3,778
Bikes: 1966 Dawes Double Blue, 1976 Raleigh Gran Sport, 1975 Raleigh Sprite 27, 1980 Univega Viva Sport, 1971 Gitane Tour de France, 1984 Lotus Classique, 1976 Motobecane Grand Record
Mentioned: 77 Post(s)
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My $.02:
Kenda K-35--sometimes called Kenda Street tires, I think--are cheap and work pretty well. I've used a bunch of them, but the sidewalls tend to crack after a fairly short time.
Michelin World Tours--As someone else has noted, these are really wide. I put a pair of them on my Dawes in place of the Kendas that had fit comfortably, and they almost rubbed the chainstays--only a mm or so of clearance on each side. No good on that particular frame.
Schwalbe HS159--I just put a set on my Raleigh Sprite yesterday. The wheels have Mavic G40 rims, and I had a REALLY hard time getting one of the tires seated. It kept wanting to creep off the rim as I inflated it--I burst one tube and almost had the same thing happen again before I finally got it on properly. Not a rim problem, as far as I know--I'd never had problems with other tires on that rim. Now that it's on and fully inflated it seems fine. The other tire--the front--went right on with no problem. Go figure.
Panaracer Paselas--all in all, I think this are the best, most reliable 27s out there. If I weren't congenitally cheap, I'd never buy anything else.