imi

Summer: 28mm Gatorskins
Rest of the year: 32mm GP 4-seasons or 35mm continental studded tire on the front in snow

A bit old school here too, but I like hard inflated tires (7 bar) on asphalt.

rekmeyata

Also, if flats are a huge concern, then like we all have been saying, get the highest flat resistant tire on the market which is the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, you will pay a weight penalty starting at around 480 grams which isn't awful, but the Marathon Plus Tour is a 1,000 grams, sort of crazy heavy, but you won't have to ever fix a flat...well, ever might be stretch! If you are still concerned about flats than run a pair of Clear Motion Rhinodillos tire liners for absolute insurance against flats. The Rhinodillo is far better than a Mr Tuffy, it's more difficult to cut, and I couldn't get a tack to penetrate it but it did penetrate a Mr Tuffy fairly easily. The only way you would get a flat from using the Marathon Plus, or Plus MTB, or the Plus Tour (a very long distant tire), and a Rhinodillo is if you hit something that destroyed the tire like a curb or a large rock, etc, but glass, bits of wire, thorns, the everyday normal stuff found on streets won't flat that combo. I have a pair of Schwalbe Almotion tires with Rhinodillos and I roll over fields of glass all the time on the side of highways and never had a flat, and those tires aren't as tough as the Marathon Plus!

noglider 

I'm unusual in my tire tastes. I like a tire that rides nicely, and I don't care about puncture resistance. I don't get many flats, and when I get one, I can change the tube on the street very fast, so it's not a huge bother. I'm commuting on Continental GP5000 tires, and they're very supple. I installed them in August, and I wondered why I waited so long. By comparison, my previous tires rode like rocks. My new tires are 32 mm wide.

rekmeyata

If you want comfort than go with a high thread count like the Challenge Criterium RS 27mm tire that has a 350 thread count. Now of course you could go fatter like the 32's you have and that will increase comfort, but to add to that get a thread count like the Challenge Almanzo if you want a gravel tire, it's a 33mm with 260 thread count

szachariah

Does anyone here have experience with both liners (like the Clear Motion Rhinodillos) and Slime sealant? Which one did you finally settle on?
The problem on my urban commute seems to be bottle glass. This year, I am seeing even more of it.

rekmeyata

I did and do. Slime Sealant (and thorn resistant tubes, even using a combination of the two) do not work anywhere near as good as the Rhinodillos, and Rhinodillos work a lot better than Mr Tuffy plus the Rhinodillos are lighter. Mr Tuffy makes a lighter version but you might as well not even have a liner, that's how ineffective they are!

Slime weighs about 113 grams, a Rhinodillo will weigh about 136 grams, but the Slime needs to have 113 more grams added in two years, then you'll have a total of 226 grams of sealant inside the tube, you won't need to add another liner!

A problem with the Mr Tuffy is that the edge of the liner will eventually chaff a hole in the tube somewhere between 6 to 12 months! The Rhinodillo has a soft edge that will not do that, mine have been inside the tire and tube for 4 years without an issue.

Since using the Rhinodillos I haven't had a single flat even while traversing miles of broken glass. I had glass and goathead thorns penetrate Mr Tuffy, and the Slime Sealant unable to seal the leak. Keep in mind, my tires were running higher pressures into the 70 range, and in the case of the road bike into the 90 range, the Slime crap won't seal any leak above 60, so while it could work great for mountain bikes, not so much for road bikes. Then when you go to pump the tire up the Slime holds until you get to around 60 and then the pressure just blows the sealant out and the tire is flat, not to mention a huge mess inside the rim. So I for one don't like Slime, others here may love the crap, not me.

Depending on what you're doing you could save some weight. On my commuter bike (I'm now retired and so it's not being used for that anymore as of 4 weeks ago) I put in a Rhinodillo liner in just the rear tire, why? because 99% of all flats are on the rear, and the front I can fix faster, than the rear, so I may only be down for 5 minutes but the rear I could be down a bit longer. However, on the touring bike I use those liners front and rear because I don't want to be bothered with a flat while touring with a load. On my regular bike I don't use a liner at all, I wasn't commuting on it nor touring on it so I have all the time I want to take to fix a flat on the road. So it depends on what your needs are could depend on whether you want no extra flat protection, half extra or full extra protection.

szachariah

Wow! Thank you so much @rekmeyata. I am blown away by how comprehensive, specific, and precise your reply was (down to the 2-yearly refill of Slime). You covered everything I needed to know before deciding to get a pair of Rhinodillos to have on standby for the next time I get a tire full of Slime. (I had not considered that the ability of Slime to stop a leak is pressure sensitive)

rekmeyata

The Rhinodillos are easy to install, just follow the directions, once in side the tire, you'll have to cut off some excess, just make sure you don't cut to much, it should overlap a bit, and obviously don't cut off the end with the soft edge, that soft edge goes up against the tube, not the tire, the overlap part will go up against the tire.

rekmeyata

By the way, there is a easy way to fix most flats that was taught to me when I was 8 years old by a 60 something neighbor. In most cases you can repair a flat without ever taking the wheel off the bike! All you do is locate the leak, then remove about 1/2 the bead on one side with the hole in the center of that 1/2, then pull out about 1/4th of the tube with the hole in the center of that, patch as usual. Check to make sure there is nothing protruding through the tire, then restuff the tube and rebead the tire, inflate and you're good to go. This method makes doing rear flats fast and easy. I probably fix about 2/3rds of my flats this way, maybe more?

Not sure why more people don't know about this method, I've been telling people on various forums this method for a quite a few years now, and when I run into someone with flat and they would like my help I show them how to do that way. Supposedly according to the old man that taught me that method everyone use to do that way in the 30's, 40's and 50s with those old balloon tire bikes because they required a wrench to get the wheels off, and sometimes you didn't have the right wrench.

PhilFo 

It used to be Continental Contact Plus, but I just put on a set of Gravel King Slicks and I'm going to be changing all the bikes I regularly commute on to the GKs. They are just such a better tire when it comes to ride quality.

campfire

For the other 1/3rd that require tube removal, a GAADI tube is another option to avoid wheel removal:

rekmeyata

Reviews said that the Gaadi tube has a flat spot once inside the tire and inflated, what's been your experience with that tube.

ericlowney 

I can't say enough good things about the Rene Herse (aka Compass) Stampede Pass 700x32 tires I run. I use the extra-light casing and the recommended superlight SV18 tubes. Rene Herse also has a tire pressure calculator on their website, so I originally had these inflated much higher than the calculator recommend and once I corrected that the ride is much improved.

The Chemist

I'm currently running 35cc Schwalbe Marathons (non plus), which are pretty darned durable and not really that slow. I am considering trying out a pair of Continental Urban Contacts in a slightly bigger size (38 or 40c) whenever my Marathons wear out, but that might be a while still as they are still in great shape.

rekmeyata

Depends on what you want. The Conti will be lighter and perhaps roll faster, but it won't last as long nor be as puncture resistant. It's all about what you want in a tire.

I read some reviews on Amazon, and evidently the Conti tire has a tendency to dry out and crack within 3 to 5 years; and the newer version of that tire isn't lasting as long as the older version in terms of tread life. I wasn't able to find any information on how long they will last, but I would venture a guess and say around 4,000 miles, whereas a Marathon will last around 10,000 miles!

Another tire to consider, if it will fit your bike, is the Schwalbe Marathon Almotion tire, slightly lower mileage at around 8,000 miles, but has better puncture resistance and better rolling resistance, however it does cost quite a bit more. Of course, the Marathon Plus is the best puncture resistant tire on the market, they claim it's flatless, but I doubt that, but I also doubt that it is quite feasible that you probably would not experience a flat during the life of the tire, it too is another 10,000 plus mile tire, but the rolling resistance isn't as good as the Almotion. I actually do bicycle camping/touring with the Almotion tires, I end up on those wide shoulders on highways, and all they are is a field of glass for miles, and I haven't had one flat, at this point I think the Marathon Plus would be an overkill for flats, and when biking the way I do I don't want flats because it's a headache to fix a flat on a loaded bike, yet I'm comfortable using the Almotion tires. Almotions come in a V-Guard and a Race-Guard, the V-Guard is the best at flat protection, the Race-guard is lighter in weight but will sacrifice some puncture resistance, I opted for the V-Guard.

I did cheat against flats however, I installed a pair of Clear Motion Rhinodillos flat liners in my touring bike. I chose the Rhinodillos because they're significantly tougher than Mr Tuffy, they weigh about 60 grams less than the standard Mr Tuffy, and they have one edge that is soft so the edge of the liner doesn't chaff the inner tube and causing a flat. It was lighter for me to add those liners then it was to get the Plus tires with no liner. Having said that, my Amotion tires have no cuts or puncture indications anywhere on the tires, so at this point nothing has penetrated to the tire or liner. I also use those liners on my commuter bike (this bike uses Specialized Roubaix Pro tires) before I retired, but I only put them on the rear tire since most flats occur on the rear, and I can fix the front tire faster. I tested the Rhinodillos against my old Mr Tuffy, and the Rhinodillos hurt my hand to try cutting them with a pair of scissors, while Mr Tuffy cut like butter; next I drove a tack through both, the tack bent on the Rhinos, but went through the Tuffy fairly easily.

Anyway, hope that helps.

campfire

I have no personal experience with them, I simply think the idea is neat. Would like to hear from folks who have used them. I've considered buying one for my rear hub motor, that tube isn't fun to change on the side of the road. To combat this I run Tannus Armour in this tire, and I have successfully used its run-flat capability 3 times now. It's a neat function when I'm riding to work, but all 3 times were from the tube chafing on the liner itself. The Continental Ride Tour tire hasn't punctured yet in 3 years of riding, so I actually would have had fewer headaches without the Armour.

Dokiz

Schwalbe Marathon Plus. In a heartbeat. They saved me from so many falls on wet ground! They are on the heavy side but for commuting they do the trick.

rekmeyata

Paying $200 for a pair of those Tannus Armor things is not remotely worth the money vs simply fixing a flat for 30 cents. I don't get that many flats in a year to make me scratch my head and go, gee, I better pay $200 for Tannus Armour. I guess if I was getting 5 flats a day, I would probably consider it, but I probably don't get more than 5 flats in 3 years! It's not even worth using that Tannus thing in my touring bike, I have the Schwalbe Almotion tires with the Clear Motion Armadillo tire liners and get zero flats.

campfire

While I'm inclined to agree they're not worth the hassle, the Armour liners run around $40 each depending on size. So $80 for a pair (less if you find a discounted pair). In theory, their purpose is to save the time it takes to change a flat, not the cost. Some commuters strongly want to get to work on time. My rear hub motor requires a lot more disassembly work than a standard wheel, so I thought the time savings would be worthwhile.

Having run them for several years now, and chafed through a few tubes*, I think a good armored tire is a better use of time & money. Across my fleet I've used Continental RideTour and Schwalbe Marathon (GreenGuard) for several thousand miles without any punctures. That's good enough for me, so I don't plan to put Armour liners on my other bikes. Run-flat is nice, but not useful if you're not getting flats!


* Be sure to use exactly the tube size they specify, oversized tubes don't last long.

rekmeyata

Before I retired last month I had been commuting on bike for many years, and all I ever used were decent flat resistant tires, nothing outstanding, but stuff like my last tires were Specialize Roubaix Pro tires, then used a Clear Motion Rhinodillos tire liner, those don't chaff the tube like the Mr Tuffy's do, and they're stronger and light than the Tuffys as well, but I only used the liner on the rear tire only. Most flats occur on the rear anyway, so the liner in the front wasn't necessary. I always left for work about 30 minutes earlier than I needed to in case of a unforeseen problem; I can fix a rear flat in 5 minutes, but I always wanted some leeway. Even when I ran my own business I still left home 30 minutes earlier than I need to be there. That 30 minutes also gives me more than enough time to go to the restroom and freshen up. On the touring bike I took it a lot further then I did with the commuter bike because getting a flat on a loaded bike is a headache, and on my regular bikes I don't use any liners. Though I am thinking about getting a pair of extremely subtle tires like the Specialized Turbo Cotton tires for one of my regular bikes, and then put the Rhinodillo liners in because those tires are not good against flats, so the liner would keep me going. Of course if I use those tires I will have to go to latex tubes to get the full tubular effect, it should feel a lot like the old cotton tubulars I use to ride on millions of years ago.