Originally Posted by
vintagebicycle
I haven't tried a set of Panaracer Col de la Vie tires on a Raleigh Sports but had a set in 650B on a mid 80's Raleigh mountain bike that had been converted to a Nexus 7 speed hub for a while. The bike came to me with a Col de la vie tire on the rear, and a CST tire up front that had seen better days. I bought a new front tire and left the rear tire alone. I got a ton of flats with those tires, I ended up buying some Kevlar strips for the inside of the tires which ruined the ride. At max pressure they still felt soft under my weight. I eventually added a set of thorn resistant tubes and ran them over inflated to gain back to help with rolling resistance. While I think they're a well made tire, I don't think their a good choice for a heavy rider. Michelin World Tour tires have been my favorite lately. I've not had a set of Schwalbe tires yet though.
When I got my first set of Col de la Vies, I didn't like them that much. They looked good, but I did get a number of flats (especially slow leaks of unknown origin.)
The Col de la Vies are rated at a max of about 45 psi. Like you, I'm not on the light side, and that just seemed to be too low a pressure. On the advice of someone else who used these tires, I over-inflated to about 50-55 psi, and had frequent flats.
But on my second set, I decided to try something different: I inflated them at 40-45 psi. And guess what? Barely any flats, and the ride quality felt a lot better. They're just fat enough that running them at lower pressures work.
So if you try another set, try them at 35-45 psi and don't use any flat liners or thorn resistant tubes. And if you still can't wrap your head around that idea, just go with Schwalbes instead.