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I can't believe I've started a "what tyres" thread. So sorry ... but I eed some advice.
I love my CX bike and use it on fairly mixed terrain with 35mm Landcruisers. I also use it for pure road rides (including my first sportive last weekend) so have been wondering if I'd benefit from fitting 25mm road tyres. Would it make much difference to the ride? Less rolling resistance vs less comfort? Is it worth the bother of changing tyres for the different types of ride?
It will feel a lot lighter/faster and be a little faster.
Any decent 25mm tyres will give the benefit - no doubt many "what I bought is best" recommendations will follow 😛
Possibly, I've got Continental Sport Contact 32mm, seem like a good comprimise between racey tyres and touring tyres. Actualy prefer them to my 4seasons which are the usual response.
Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase 25
Am using 32mm Conti Gatorskins for rough old roadie-free country lanes.
Get a spare set of wheels and the just swap wheels depending on road/CX rides.
But yes, road tyres are much nicer on road IMO. 25mm seems a good bet these days.
A spare set of wheels would be nice, but that'll have to wait for now
as above any narrower road tyre will give benefits personlly i like the spech armadillo's for day to day use as they dont puncture easiliy, for events i tend to use vittoria's
Get some Conit Grand Sports in the amnesty
Panaracer Pasela 32mm.
Great all-rounder tyres, rolls well, grips well, have yet to have a puncture in 2 years of riding them.
I use 28mm Marathon Plus on both roads and tow paths. Not the lightest tyre but you don't feel it once rolling and you don't need to worry about punctures.
Maxxis Raze have a nice central ridge to ride on when on the road, if you want to keep something a bit more nobbly.
Wouldn't bother changing if it was me, I use the Landcruisers on mixed terrain and for me they're the best all-rounder I've tried yet. They're pretty fast, don't get punctures (yet!) and cope with the crater holes on local roads.
I have conti contact city reflex 32's for road and touring duties. They look and feel a bit faster than the Conti CrossSpeed 35's but Garmin says it's all in my mind 🙂
I use Bontrager CX0s, which are kind of semi-slicks. They're reasonably quick on the road and reasonably grippy off. For solo rides that's fine, but I absolutely brained myself keeping up with a friend a proper road bike on moderately long and hilly sportive last weekend - it doesn't help that my 'cross' bike is about 25lb of pig iron.
If I had my time again, I'd have fitted road tyres for sociable riding purposes with road bikes, but for solo stuff I wouldn't bother.
Buying a spare set of wheels seems like an expensive sort of solution as well. I'm amazed no-one's suggested going the whole hog and just buying a road bike... nicer on the road by some distance 🙂
craigxxl - MemberI use 28mm Marathon Plus on both roads and tow paths. Not the lightest tyre but you don't feel it once rolling and you don't need to worry about punctures.
did that for a while but got a 2nd set of wheels and went back to 32mm Marathon plus's for gravel/dry dirt some bits of road
32mm less sketchy into bends but impact average road speed by around -2mph for me (that's a big percent of a small number!)
run 25mm on a lighter set of wheels for road rides (if I don't want to get dropped) - tyres bought on price and possibly performance reviews in the press - but as the cynic above said people only recommend what they buy so I won't say what they are
edit but here's a pic ....taking the long way home with the wrong tyres and a mirror (useful on berms)
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Ran 28c Durano Plus on Crests on CX bike.
Marathon Ultras on my crosser for road/lane/bridle commute runs. Shop around and they don't cost too much. Fairly light and grippy on most stuff.
theonlywayisup - I was in a similar position recently. I normally run Specialized Tracer's (700x33) on my Genesis Fugio. I switched to some Specialized Espoir in the 700x28 guise for a recent Sportive (The Tour of Lauder). The Espoir's definitely feel a little quicker on taramc, maybe 1-2mph quicker. They definitely don't offer the same level of cushioning but they are still very comfortable tyres. I actually prefer the way the bike rides and handles with the Tracer's on but for big road based rides then the switch to road tyres is worth it.