gif4445

Thought I would direct this question first at the long distance crowd, as that's the type of cycling I focus on.

I've been using 700 x 28 Armadillo Nimbus tires for the last few go arounds. LBS stocks these. Good puncture resistant tires. At least I have been happy with them in that department, as we are in goat head country. Get about 3500 miles before the flats kick in. Wondering if there is a better choice for me. Looking at Continental Grand Prix. Maybe less rolling resistance? Wondering how they compare puncture wise? Anybody have some experience along these lines? Any other recommendations?

IK_biker

In the last 6-7 years I have entirely shifted to fatter tires for my distance riding.
The narrowest tire I run on rides longer than 60 miles is 38 mm. Zero desire to use anything smaller, after having spent some 45 years riding 19-25 mm tires.
There are plenty fast tires in the fat category, many of them made somewhat puncture-resistant, including tubeless.

kingston 

If I had your bikes I would run the widest compass tires that would fit on the volagi & roubaix, marathon plus on the LHT, and michelin pro4 endurance on the trek.

gif4445

Should have mentioned that currently, the Volagi is my distance bike of choice. 28's are the limit. As is usual, I've been looking at N +1, either a new Roubaix or Diverge. Future shock and able to run wider tires. Roubaix to 32 and Diverge up to 42 or whereabouts I believe.

gif4445

This is an interesting topic. Can you tell me what your experiences have been? Is it an age related deal or just the realization that fatter doesn't equal increased rolling resistance? Or a comfort tradeoff,etc?

IK_biker

Comfort, in order to be able to sustain long hours of performance, and do the same the next day, and the day after...
Decided to try wide tires after I read Jan Heine's research results back in the day, and while I do not subscribe to most of his marketing hogwash, my own experiences match his results - supple tires in 38 or even 42 mm are plenty fast for my purposes. And give me the chance of being comfortable on forest roads, which are ~30% of my riding.


Not age-related, as I am still quite young @58. I still catch up to the young bucks on the local university team when I want to while ascending.
And totally demolish them on descents...

Carbonfiberboy 

I still run 23mm on my carbon single bike for distance work, well for all my riding. The bike doesn't beat me up and they're the same width as my deep alu rims, so that's nice. OTOH, I only ride pavement. On the 3rd hand, our local rando club's brevets are all on pavement, though some perms include some firm gravel which is OK.

As far as tires goes, you'll just have to try them and see what your flat tolerance is. Personally, I'm not a never-flat rider. A flat only takes me 10 minutes or less to fix. I always carry a spare tire. Because my tires are so light, that's not an issue. So I just swap tire and tube and am on my way with a nice unscheduled break. I flat maybe every 1000 miles on my 4000IIs.

On our tandem we flat more frequently, pretty much no matter the tire. In summer, we run 4000IIs in 28mm, which is ~31mm on our 23mm rims. In winter, we've been running 28mm Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech which are now only available NOS, so we're switching to 28mm Vittoria Corsa Control of which we've had good reports. One of the things we want in our winter tandem tires is sidewall protection which both those mentioned winter tires have.

rando_couche

Amen to that. Flats are only a hassle for the time it takes to fix them. "Flat-proof" tires are a hassle every minute you're riding: slow, harsh ride, usually poor handling. And they're twice the hassle when you DO get a flat.


SP
OC, OR

gif4445

You are younger than I am then. I've been putting some thought in getting a long distance ride that will take up to 40 mm tires. I do have the LHT, but it's heavy and really, after riding my latest purchases, doesn't feel very comfortable. Most of my rides are on pavement, so I differ here. But the possibility of improving ride comfort, is very appealing.

Steve B.

I've used Grand Prix 4 Seasons for years, 23-25- & 28mm sizes, they also come in a 32mm and run a bit small, IME. I use them for general riding as well as NYC commuting as they are very flat resistant. Can't state as to ride quality as I am notoriously insensitive to the ride quality of road bike tires. I currently use Vittoria Rubino Pro's on my go-fast as they were cheap.

I generally get over 2000+ miles out of set of GP4S and look for them on sale then buying a few pairs. Good deals at $35 -$35, but they often run at $75. I'm not paying that.

tangerineowl

Ideally I'd be on a tubeless wheelset with a Compass tyre that fits for your conditions.

Fullcount

Interesting thread. I am setting up a Trek Domane for my Rando bike. Had some older Continental Touring Plus tires in 32 that would fit the front, but not the back. Looking for a comfortable tire, easy rolling and long lasting (puncture resistance is not a big issue in our neck of the woods). I think I will have to move back to 28's. The stock tire was a 700 x 25 Bontrager R1 (bought the bike used). Any suggestions?

unterhausen

Compass offers a tire in 28, I think. Not sure that long lasting and easy rolling are fully compatible. Compass does away with flat protection and goes with thicker rubber, so that is a consideration. I really like Pansonic Gravel king tires, but I was surprised at how quickly they wore out. Definitely easy rolling though.

rm -rf

Here in Ohio, I rarely get punctures on my GP4000S. Maybe one every 10000 to 15000 miles? But I stay in the right tire track as much as possible, where there's much less debris.

In goat head thorn country, I'd try tubeless tires with sealant.

~~~~
On my all-day ride / gravel bike, I've been using 25mm GP4000S on very wide HED rims, so they measure 29mm, and I inflate to 29mm pressures. (65 psi front, 80 psi rear)

I've recently been using Compass Barlow Pass 38mm. These seem to be as fast as my "29mm" GP4000S on smooth roads. I think they are faster than the 29s on very rough chip-seal and badly patched roads, since they kind of float over the bumps instead of bouncing me as much. And are way more comfortable, of course. Perfect for mixed road surfaces.

But I'll probably switch back to the 29mm for most riding, since they are 200 grams lighter per tire, and handle most local road surfaces okay.

clasher

I use the Vittoria Corsa for most of my long distance riding, done a whole series on them this year. I'm limited to 28mm on my current bike but will probably start using my tricross for the longer brevets, it'll fit 38s with fenders, probably even 42mm. I like the 28mm tires on smooth pavement but chipseal and rough roads are a bit too much for me now.

The Vittoria tires are pretty cheap from wiggle and the other UK sites.

Goatheads would probably make me wanna try tubeless.

iTrod

I get about 2,000 miles on my Conti Grand Prix 4-seasons if I rotate the front to the back after about a thousand miles. I think I have had one puncture in about 8,000 miles, so I think their puncture resistance is excellent. I have had deep linear cuts and deeply embedded glass in the compound that did not penetrate the belt. I did have to throw out a tire due to a sidewall cut into the casing that caused a large bleb that could not be contained with a couple of layers of electrical tape on the inside of the tire (probably should have tried a real tire boot). This was on a 25 mm version. I bought a pair of 32 mm tires for my Ti randonneuse, but have not worn out the original tires yet. I love the traction and puncture resistance of the 4-season, so I see no need to try anything else. They are expensive, however.