deux jambes

I know. There are countless such threads already. However, I want to, no, wait... maybe I need to pose the question to you all once more. This time citing my own criteria to draw upon your experiences for feedback, and recommendations.

I’m real close to build time on this mid/late 70’s Reynolds 531 touring frame. A mostly period aesthetic, and a multi purpose bike. My only bike. It’ll be the commuter, the errand runner, the joy rider, and the lightly front loaded long haul weekend camper.

I’m in the market for tires. They’ll mount to MA40 rims laced to Record hubs.

In keeping with the C&V vibe, tan or brown skin walls or gum walls are a MUST!

Lots of broken glass in my neighborhood, even the occasional hypodermic needle... so respectable puncture resistance is a MUST!

Our rainy season here spans the course approximately 8 months out of the year. Good grip/traction is a MUST!

I’m not a fast rider, but I do enjoy smooth, effortless rolling... So a “fast” tire is KIND OF a must.

The bike will likely see some light, off pavement road and path surfaces when getting out of town for the occasional bike camping. Not exactly a “must,” but some versatility in handling characteristics would be an appreciable quality.

And lastly, the higher the mileage the tire, the better. Buying new tires frequently is not something I can support or sustain.

A foldable 28c or 32c tire that meets some or all of the above criteria, in addition to complimenting the ride quality of a 531 frame is the goal.

I have three tires on my radar, maybe four:

Pasela PT

Gravel King

Fairweather

and though they’re friggin’ expensive...

René Herse (Compass)

Thoughts on the above listed... Which ones best hit the mark?

Any worthy candidates I’m missing?

52telecaster

The paselas make me very happy.

gugie 

Rene Herse (Compass) is the best ride, by far, but puncture resistance?

I'll let those with experience on more puncture resistant tires comment.

Fahrenheit531 

I don't think you're gonna find all your "musts" in a single tire. That said, nothing I've tried are even remotely close to the 32mm Compass I run on my Volare in terms of fast, grippy comfort. But as @gugie mentioned, puncture resistance is dicey.

I'll also mention that the 32mm Paselas I got were pretty unimpressive, having a distinct wobble to them that couldn't be resolved no matter what I did. The tires were just malformed. Probably just bad luck, as I hadn't run into problems with them previously in either the 25 or 28mm versions.

Compass. Spend the money. Ride happy.

ramzilla

Brown skin walls or gum walls are going to limit your choices. I like Paselas. They seem to be pretty tough. I also like Michelin Pro-Tek tires for durabiliy. And, where I ride heavy thorn proof tubes are a must.

amillhench

I think the best of your options is the GravelKing. Half the price of Rene Herse and 80% of the ride with better puncture resistance to boot.

They do everything I ask of them and roll along quickly. And you can get a pair delivered cheaper than a single RH. I have no doubt the RHs ride nicer, and if you have the money, buy them. I’d rather spend my money on something else.

I liked the Paselas, too. But the GK beat them.

Easy choice for me!

Lemond1985

I ride both the Paselas and the Gravel Kings. Be aware that these tires run narrow in 28's, more like 26mm on most rims. I'm told the 32's run true to size, but can't confirm personally. Also be prepared for a beast of a job mounting these, plan on getting a tire bead jack and many buckets of soapy water. They come off easy, but first time mounting of either of these tires can be a challenge.

Great tires otherwise, you can't go wrong with either one, but the file tread on the GK's makes me lean toward those as a recommendation.

TenGrainBread 

It sounds like the 32mm GravelKing slick is pretty much what you need. Girlfriend has them on her bike and they work well. She's been riding them for about a year and a half on road and some gravel and has never flatted. We'll probably want to replace them in a couple months. I'd say that's a pretty long life for a lightweight tire. They're definitely a step up from Paselas in terms of ride quality.

Mad Honk 

Any votes for Vittoria? I love the kevlar versions they offer and are reasonably puncture resistant. But they are pricey. Smiles, MH

samkl 

I vote for Gravel King slicks too, or Compass if you have money burning a hole in your pocket.

I've ridden lots on Paselas and Gravel Kings, and the Gravel Kings ride a lot better.

nlerner

For what you want to do, I’d go with the 32mm Pasela GT.

delbiker1 

I am very happy with Pasela PTs. I have them is 25mm, the biggest my bike would fit. They actually look a bit bigger than other 25's I have. They have a really good tread, good flat resistance and long wear, and are very comfortable at 85 to 90 psi. I had a pair of Pasela TG in 28mm and they lasted a very long time. They had a thicker tread and more puncture proof, and were fairly heavy and had a great ride. I cannot find the TG in 25. Amazon advertises the 25s to be TG but they are not. Not sure if the TG are available in larger wider size.

thook

for the price, gravel king slicks. i have the sk's, but the only difference is the tread. they're a well made tire and all kinds of deals on ebay right now. hey...you can even get'em in colors WITH a tan/coffee sidewall

Reynolds 531 

Nobody has mentioned VeloFlex, but I love them. More than Paselas for sure. Bery buttery and pretty fast, feel just like a tubular.

Darth Lefty 

Maxxis Minion DHR II

Thalia949

I have had a great experience with Ritchey JB Alpine WCS 30MM on my vintage Bianchi. I ride it on gravel and roads, the tires have a tread that is good on both, and the sidewalls are on the firmer side.

They are dark skin wall in color

canklecat

If you don't mind 700x25, check out the Continental Grand Prix Classic. It's a faux-gumwall or skinwall (correction: I just mounted one tire and these appear to be genuine skinwalls, not faux or gumwall -- the tire is translucent through the brown sidewalls). Some owners nitpick the depth and color of the sidewall -- it's dark reddish brown, with some sorta weave. Dunno, don't care, didn't get it for the cosmetics. It was cheaper than the GP4000s and reportedly not prone to the sidewall ruptures reported by too many GP4ks owners.

And it has classic 1980s style tread, sipes on the main contact patch, fine chevron hatches on the shoulders.

At $35 each, not cheap but not as pricey as some. I've had good results with Conti's cheap Ultra Sport II, so the GP Classic seemed like a good bet.

Handmade in Germany, presumably by the churlish looking couple depicted on the box. With those aprons and scowls I trust them to make sturdy, technically correct Teutonic tires.

Ask me in a week if I actually like the tires. Just got 'em Monday afternoon, haven't ridden them yet.



Serious business. Those scowls assure us that we WILL like these tires.

***



Presumably this guy rode these back to the future.

***



I barely even look at tires but these look pretty okay.

verktyg 

My vote for @deux jambes would be either 700c x 32 Pasela ProTite or the GravelKing slicks - called the Mixed Pattern.

I've been riding Pasela Tourguards since 2007 including 700c x 23, 25, 28, plus non-Tourguard 27 x 1 1/8 & 26 x 1 3/8. They've all run really true on the rims.
@Fahrenheit531 you should get in touch with Panaracer about the 32mm Paselas with a "distinct wobble". I had a set of Panaracer sewups that the rim strip separated during the first ride. I called them and they sent me a new pair free!

Try North American Cycles in Ames, Iowa, 844-622-2453


As far as long wear goes, the pattern in the Pasela treads wears fast initially but after that they seem to wear much better and even with a smooth tread they handle very well in the wet.

Currently the only standard style tan wall Paselas offered are the ones without the puncture resistant strip under the thread that the older TourGuard version had. They ride smooth but no puncture protection.

The old TourGuard tires were replaced a few years ago with the Pasela ProTite style. The puncture resisting belts in the ProTite tires are 24% stronger than the old TourGuard versions.

This translates into a less smooth ride - I compared both types on the same wheels and bike using new tires and the difference was noticeable. I have the old style TourGuards on at least 15 bikes so I'm pretty familiar with them.

Until a month ago I was still riding the 1st set of 700c x 25 Pasela TourGuards that I bought in 2007. They have 3000+ miles on them (I switch bikes a lot so no one bike gets a whole lot of miles).

I've never had a puncture flat with any of my Pasela TourGuards but I did get a slight nick in the casing on the front tire of those original ones. I replaced it and I'm going to boot it to use as a spare.

GravelKing slicks, I saw all the hype when they first came out and it looked like they were only made for gravel grinding. Later the story changed to "They are really good general purpose tires". I bought a set of 700c x 26 GKs to try out.

I was mostly interested in the sidewall protection because a number of places that I ride have separations in the asphalt pavement in the direction of travel up to an 1" wide. When riding in the evening or at night I've damaged a number of sidewalls dropping into the separations.

When I first mounted the GKs they only measured 24mm wide on 20mm wide Mavic Open Pro rims. After a few rides they stretched or seated out to 25mm but not 26mm.

The thing that impressed me the most was the way they accelerated and climbed. They have the feel of sewups!

But... because of the thick rubber in the side walls, the cornering on smooth pavement is sluggish and feels dead. Maybe the 28mm and larger sizes might corner better. Overall, I'm very pleased with them.



It appears that the entire casings on the GKs is made out of the same Kevlar material that is used under the treads of the Paselas.

I recently bought some NOS old version 700c x 32 folding Pasela TourGuards for my touring bike otherwise, I would have gone with the GKs.

verktyg

verktyg 

I have Continental Grand Prix Classics on several bikes. I was originally expecting cushy touring bike type tires. These are not that!

But all is not lost. They have the same exact feel as the old Continental 700 x 23c Grand Prix tires from the late 2000's. I think that they may have been used by some pros for a while. I got 24 of them on a closeout for ~$12 each and have some that still I'm riding. They corner and handle great like their glued to the road.

The weakness is the tread doesn't wrap over much and the casings are rather delicate. Casing cuts have been the biggest problem. The newer Grand Prix Classics have a little more tread wrap.



I wouldn't rate the Grand Prix Classics as "good general purpose tires" because the casings are a little delicate but they are great for a more sporting ride.

BTW, the 700 x 23c Grand Prix tires measure about 24mm on most of my rims while the 700 x 25c Grand Prix Classics measure closer to 24mm.

You should enjoy the feel the first time you push them into a hard fast corner.

verktyg

metalrideroz

veloflex master 28, https://www.bike-components.de/en/VE...re-Set-p66307/
grand bois cypres 30, https://global.bluelug.com/grand-bois-cypres-700c.html

Kuromori

I'm not a huge fan of Paselas. Paselas are the ubiquitous mid-range all-rounder tire that you buy for full retail at the LBS when you don't know if you need 700c or 27". Better than the $10 CST wire bead 27 TPI thick rubber walled colored fixie tire. Won't break the bank like gatorskins at $60 ea. retail. The economics of the Paselas are thrown out the window once I consider special ordering online, and they're never the right tire if I actually want something specific and not a basic all-rounder.

I'd lean towards the GKs, which are made by Panaracer like RHs. As RH people will tell you, they're not the same tire and the casing is different. The disadvantage is they're less supple because they have flat protection. The advantage is they have flat protection.

audiomagnate

The OP is looking for a 28 or 32 that will go off road and I'm pretty sure these don't come larger than 25 and I wouldn't take mine very far off road.. Vertyg, do you think Continental is selling the exact same tire as a 23 and a 25? The 25's are definitely much bigger than Gatorskin 23s FWIW as they won't fit on my Cannondale Six 5.

gomango

The last three flat tires I experienced were on Compass tires.

Very small sample I know and I would still use them without hesitation.

FWIW I have Gravel Kings (700x32's) on my BMC Monstercross and it's a great tire.

Somewhat related, I use the Panaracer Pari-Motos on my Weigle. It's the 650b version. So far, so good.

I only have 300 miles or so on them, but it out performs the rider in my case.

verktyg 

I was responding to @canklecat and his suggestion to try the Continental 700 x 25c Grand Prix Classic tires... Should have clarified that.

At the top of my post I mentioned 32mm Paselas and GKs. I'd only run tires 28mm and larger off road or on consistently poor pavements.

As others have mentioned, some Continental tires tend to measure on the small side.

The two Continental tires I mentioned are completely different.

What I suggested is that the 10 year old 23mm Continental Grand Prix tires that I have, run about 24mm on all of my wheels - maybe 5-4 different make/model 20mm wide rims - Mavic, Super Champion, Rigida, Ambrosio, Campy... Always have.

The 2 sets of Grand Prix Classic 25mm tires that I have, run a little small, closer to 24mm. One set is on Mavic Module E rims, the other is on Fir or some other smaller brand rims. In time they may stretch out a little.

What rims did you try the Grand Prix Classics on? How much pressure? At the suggested 125 psi they may bulge more??? I run mine at 90 psi.

We're talking 1mm difference which is only 0.039". It's less than 1/16" which is 0.062". So the real differences are not very much.

I measure both the width of the tires and the height from the outside of the rims. Those dimensions can vary from tire to tire, rim to rim. I don't think that you can get an exact consistent dimension because the listed tire sizes are approximations and tires can seat differently in the rims.

Another thing, because of the reinforced casings, Gatorskins are not going to stretch much so they will stay closer to 23mm.

All the 25mm Paselas I have measure 25mm height and width....

verktyg

canklecat

Good to know, thanks. I'll try them first on my Trek 5900, but I'm not sure they'll clear the chainstays. If not, they'll go on the Ironman which already has 700x25 Ultra Sport II. I ride those mostly for 20-30 mile workouts and club rides. If they ride harsher I'll notice on the 50+ mile weekend rides -- that's when the old neck and shoulder injuries flare up.

Unfortunately Conti isn't currently offering the faux-gumwall/skinwall (correction: I just mounted one tire and these appear to be genuine skinwalls, not faux or gumwall -- the tire is translucent through the brown sidewalls). Grand Prix Classic in any size other than 700x25. I'm hoping they'll offer it in other sizes. I'm betting it would be popular in 700x28 or larger.

For that matter, if Conti offered brownwall in the Ultra Sport II lineup I'm betting they'd sell. The US2 is a somewhat lightly regarded tire but very good for only around $15 each. It's lasted longer with fewer punctures and cuts than some pricier tires I've tried that didn't handle any better. No special puncture shield and so far I haven't had even as many puncture flats as I did with "better" tires.