Need Help Picking Road Tires

[spazzdog]

Hmmm... they look pretty good. Thanks Newf!

[mtbdarby]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm assuming I'll need new tubes for the tires but I use my existing rims, right? Oh, they grow up so fast...

[SadieKate]

Maybe. Depends on the size (as in width) of the tires you are taking off and the width of the new tires. Tubes are rated up to a certain width so you'll need to check that. Sometimes it is legibly printed on the tube and sometimes not. If unsure, tubes are pretty cheap so just replace them. Make sure your spare tube is the right size also.

[bikerchick68]

spazz... I ride Continental Gatorskins... the things are freakin bullet proof! I've also hear Armadillos are good but I think the Gators roll smoother... not expensive either... like $40! I was riding race tires, and while I'm VERY proficient at changing flats now, I really prefer not to...

[mtbdarby]

Dare I ask about going tubeless?? Anyone have tubeless road tires? My current tire is 26 x 2.0. I will probably go to 1.5. TIA.

[bikerchick68]

I've had only ONE experience with tubeless... it was on an event ride... rode past a woman sitting on the sidewalk in tears... stopped to see if I could help her (ALL the men just blew by without acknowledging there was a problem! what's up with that???)... she was on tubeless tires and had flatted... had an extra tire but was outta glue... and had used ALL her co2 and was flat again... she was a racer and chastising herself for going out without glue and a pump... I told her to ride with us (we were WAY slower than her.... but I had a pump! ) and stopped about every 7 miles to fill her up til she made it back in... I have no idea if her wheelset was messed up or not...

somehow to me, tubes seem much easier to deal with... ???

[SadieKate]

Tubeless or Tubular? Tubular = "sew-ups" plus glue. Tubeless are only made for mtn bike rims as far as I know. Both take special rims. Most non-racer roadies ride clinchers, as in there is a bead around the edge of the tire which is held by the rim and the tire encloses a tube.

Sheldon Brown to the rescue again: http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html

I'm editing to add this. Tufo makes what they call a "Tubular Clincher" In other words, it is a tubular tire (which is truly a tube) combined with the bead of a clincher so it mounts on standard clincher rims. I've known about Tufo but I don't know any one who uses Tufo. They might have 26" tires but I didn't really look. Be interesting to see some reviews.
http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/tiretypes.php

[eofelis]

spazz... I ride Continental Gatorskins... the things are freakin bullet proof! I've also hear Armadillos are good but I think the Gators roll smoother... not expensive either... like $40! I was riding race tires, and while I'm VERY proficient at changing flats now, I really prefer not to...

I ride Conti Ultragatorskins 700x25 on my road bike. No flats in 3 yrs. They are pretty nice! We have a lot of chip sealed roads here and I have no problems. This time of year a lot of those roads are freshly chipsealed with piles of gravel still on them.