Wendell F

I love the WTB Horizons that came on my Super Professional but they're too big to fit under fenders. Any suggestions would be great.

Need:
- 42 or smaller actual width to fit under fenders (my beloved city is a cesspool and there's always garbage juice along 1st Ave)
- Puncture resistant (again, cesspool)

Want:
- Tan or reflective sidewall
- Minimal tread

What's caught my eye:
- Gravel King slicks -- seem well liked
- Vittoria Randonneur -- not super fast but I've got them on my other two (700c) bikes and have never gotten a flat
- Fatty Rumpkins Stout -- maybe it's just the name
- Schwalbe Marathon -- kinda OG dependable bulletproof city tires by all reports

Just looking at regular clinchers. May move over to tubeless at some point, but winter's no time to experiment.

Kedosto

Get a wider set of fenders?


-Kedosto
*got nuthin’*

Wendell F

HA! Specs say 42 max with fenders, so that's sadly not an option. Guess I'll just pick at random and see what works. I've combed through the many tire threads here and only the Marathons are fairly uncontroversially recognized as bomb-proof city tires so I'll probably start there.

tyrion

Schwalbe Supreme 42-584 (27.5 x 1.60).

davei1980

Can't go wrong with Panaracer Gravelkings; run tubes for now and preserve the option to switch to tubeless in the future at your leisure

noglider 

I ride in NYC and only get two or three flats a year, maybe fewer. How many are you getting? I ride tires with no puncture protection because I don't want to sacrifice ride quality.

tyrion

Are you running those super fragile paper thin Rene Herse tires in NYC?

ThermionicScott 

And, what is so different about riding bikes in NYC that requires mention at every chance? It's like someone saying "I'm looking for a fast and durable commuting tire. Also I'm a vegan."

noglider 

Haha, no, but it's something I might do. I'd be more likely to do if they're wide. I tried 22mm Veloflex tires, and they didn't last long at all.

Wendell F

Answers to your questions:

I don't get tons of flats on now, but I also haven't ever run 650B tires before. 700x28 tires will tend to be run at higher pressure than 650x42's so I thought that some tires may work differently in 650 than their 700 counterparts. I've done great on my 700c bikes with Vittoria Randonneurs (two flats in three years) but if there's something more supple that's reliable in lower pressure I'd gladly move that way.

I mention NYC because different cities have different hazards. If I lived in Arizona and had to contend with goat heads everywhere I think that'd be relevant to mention. Hell, Seattle is just as much a city as NYC but I had to switch out my Compass tires for something tougher when I left there and moved back east. NYC is all crappy streets, construction sites and glass EVERYWHERE, especially on my commute up 1st Ave and down 2nd Ave -- lots of bottle throwing vagrants around Sara Roosevelt Park apparently.

ThermionicScott 

So if potholes, construction debris, and glass are the problem, why not just say that? Might help other people answer the question, and the answers might be helpful for people outside of the "shout-out" zone.

Wendell F

Ha! Very fair, no winky emoji needed.

Anyways, I'm going with the Schwalbe Marathon Supremes and worst case scenario I hate them and try something else. Got to work stinking of garbage spray today and I gotta get fenders on this bike ASAP.

noglider 

Wider tires run on lower pressure. Lower pressure means glass doesn't push as hard into the tread and therefore do so less frequently. Not only that, when you get a puncture, it takes longer to lose all your air. I once had a puncture that I didn't fix until I got home since it didn't hinder me much.

I do see broken glass in the streets but long ago, it was much worse. The thing that changed it was the mandatory deposit law on bottles and cans in the 80s. I don't see all that much glass. Maybe I'm able to steer between the shards. And maybe my streets are different from yours.

Wendell F

Glass is definitely not as bad as it was when I was a kid. My issue is that I commute up Allen/1st Ave at 5:30AM after hack private garbage haulers have left a mess of broken bottles and general detritus in their wake but before Sanitation has cleaned up after them. And as I said, the 2nd Ave bike lanes next to Sara Roosevelt are a wreck. Every flat I've gotten on my commute has been on the stretch from Houston to Grand.

noglider 

Wendell F that makes sense. So some haulers are sloppy and some are not. Or the sloppy don't traverse some routes. That explains why there is a lot of glass in some places but not in most others. I don't picture people carelessly tossing their own bottles in the streets.

zacster

NYC is cycling heaven, if heaven were strewn with glass, potholes, garbage, clueless pedestrians, even more clueless drivers, cops that purposely park in bike lanes, cabbies and uber drivers that cut you off, other cyclists and other indignities. Feel free to add to the list. Edit: I'll add one more, snakes. (yes, snakes. I've hit one here.)

noglider 

zacster you're right, yet we have it better than some others do. I moved from NYC to suburban NJ and was there for 26 years. I moved back here.a few years ago, one reason being that I could cycle every day. I'm grateful for it, even though the downsides are clear enough. At least you live in Brooklyn which is quieter and not as smelly as Manhattan.

zacster

Brooklyn has its own aromas.

Wendell F

Yup, I cross the Gowanus on my commute. Yes, quieter than the Manhattan leg of my trip, but man it gets ripe in the summer.

noglider 

The Gowanus used to be worse many years ago!

ascherer 

No, not Tom. That would be me. About 1200 miles with one flat, picked up a piece of glass at Houston Street.