Panaracer Duro Protex Tires

[Catrin]

http://www.panaracer.com/urban.php

I've been looking for quality blue tires for some time and stumbled across these - these are only the second blue 26 inch tires I've run across. Does anyone have any experience with these tires? I love my Conti City Contact tires and want to keep that same level of quality if I change tires.

Sure it's a vanity thing - but I think those blue tires just might be pretty sharp on Ms. Explorer :D

[Thorn]

I don't have any experience with the T-Serv, but I can speak for the Urban Max and the Road tire "Extreme Duro". In about 10K miles combined, I have flatted once on my Panaracers. Could be luck; could be their protex liner. In the same time frame DH has flatted a few times (Note: I ride the gutter, he gets the cleaner road).

Anectdotal #1...In Tucson, I had a thump, thump sound coming from the front wheel. I stopped and pulled out a goathead. I waited. No flat? Really? Never punctured the liner. I was good to go.

Anectdotal #2...Bad bicycle owner, I forgot to check the tread on my tires and went on vacation. As I was packing my bike up to put it back in the box I noticed that sections of the tread were missing. I'd worn the tire down to the liner. No flats. When I removed the tire, I took a thumbtack and played with it....went through the sidewall like butter (road tires don't put the liner in the sidewalls), but I could not drive that thumbtack through the protex liner. Tough stuff.

So my flat? Last Sunday I flatted (while standing next to my favorite LBS guys at the start of a century). All 3 of us were in complete disbelief that I managed to flat a Panaracer Duro. But it was a really nasty piece of glass--almost 1/2 inch.

My commuter bike needs new shoes.....she's getting another pair of Urban Max.

[Becky]

I've always had good luck with Panaracers. Like Thorn, I luuuuuuv their Urban Max tires, and I had a pair of Paselas that treated me well.

[Cataboo]

I have the t-servs 700x28 on my surly. I haven't had any issues with them, I can't compare their ride quality to anything other than skinny 700x23s and yeah, they feel slower than those. The tires look more beat up than I think they should for the actual number of miles I've ridden the surly.

[Catrin]

I have the t-servs 700x28 on my surly. I haven't had any issues with them, I can't compare their ride quality to anything other than skinny 700x23s and yeah, they feel slower than those. The tires look more beat up than I think they should for the actual number of miles I've ridden the surly.

This is good feed-back, I won't get them then. My Conti City Contacts have almost 1,600 miles on them and still look new! I had suspected that perhaps the t-servs were a lighter-weight tire by how they were described on the Panaracer site. I would love blue tires, but I am not going to move to a lesser tire for vanity - Ms. Explorer deserves better than that! This also gives me the confidence to go more places :D