Best general purpose pavement tires ?????

Wolfeman

Wolfeman

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What are the best choices for general purpose pavement/very occasional gravel tires? From my browsing it looks like most people really like the CST Cyclops, Maxxis Hookworm and Schwabe Big Apples. My 26 x 1.95" Kenda street tires are clearly not up to what is being asked of them. Pretty soon I'll have more patches than bare tube showing..... I like the low rolling resistance of the Kendas, but they are obviously too thin and light duty. I consider tires extremely important having experienced a rear wheel blow-out on my BMW R1100RT before. As always, I appreciate your input. 8)
 
Maxxis Hookworm 2.5" on my 29" they are great I used with a heavy tube and sealant 6 months and have not even added air. Dropped about 2 amps at 25mph flat travel from the stock tires. about 500 miles and almost no wear to speak of 95% on the road rest on sand.
Keith
 
I've gone through a bunch of different tires and the Cyclops is what I used exclusively for 4 years for street use. Recently got a bike that will take a bigger tire and will be trying the 26x3.0" kenda (Sunlite) flames. Look to have more tread and have high hopes for them.
 
It depends on the speed you want to run at, but there are plenty of choices.
I'm a fan of the Maxxis Hookworm. I've used them for a decade and have abused them in ways that most tires wouldn't survive. They have a thick DH casing with heavy sidewalls and a tread that extends far onto the sidewall.
CST Cyclops used to be the same tire as the hookworm. CST is the parent company of Maxxis, and for a while, they sold the Cyclops along side the Hookworm, but for 1/3 the price and a different visual tread pattern. a few years ago they changed things up, and the Cyclops now has thinner sidewalls, but weighs much less. It's still as thick through the tread, and is a very stout tire.
Both are balloon tires, listed as 2.5" and 2.4" respectively. they would do well on loose gravel.

Schwalbe make the Big Apple, that everyone's heard of, but it's not their best tire. They also make the Marathon series. the best being the Marathon Plus HS 440. It's ES50 rated, which is a European Speed rating for electric bikes meaning it's certified up to 50kph. Many others are only ES25 rated. It also features a protective strip in the tread to guard against punctures. It's a 2" tire, so not a balloon tire, and better suited to packed gravel.
 
If you speed...

Duro Berm Master is my favourite tire for mixed conditions city riding

Maxxis Hookworm 120 TPI for dry pavement and hard pack trail riding
 
Speaking of 26” tires it’s really too bad Panaracer discontinued the Uf Da! It was about 2.3” width and would often fit frames which are a tad too narrow for the Hookworm/Cyclops.

Big Apples come in 2.1” width so with the demise of Uf Da! that’s what I’ve beed forced to use on my one FS bike.

In 700c size myself and others like the CST Ciudad for price, ruggedness and longevity.

There really isn’t anything that good, IMO. Bicycle stuff is just light duty. Hell, even a higher quality tire will eventually rip at the bead if run on a rim with even a mild dent.

For as many as I seem to go through I just try to keep cost down and durability up. Hookworms/Cyclops for my 20" bikes, btw.

Rear motor wheel, extra thick tubes and shot of slime to help slow a leak down in the event of a debris puncture. Check air pressure regularly and use the right sized tube for your tire.
 
wesnewell said:
I've gone through a bunch of different tires and the Cyclops is what I used exclusively for 4 years for street use. Recently got a bike that will take a bigger tire and will be trying the 26x3.0" kenda (Sunlite) flames. Look to have more tread and have high hopes for them.
Click to expand...

I've used the flame tire and it's ok. Nice volume and a thick "tread" area, super thin sidewalls.. but my main issue with them was the very square profile. Sucks for cornering and leaning hard. Check out the Felt Thick Brick, or 3G Boa-G 3" tires. Nice round profile on them.
 
CST "City" on front tire of both SB Cruiser and CrazyBike2, works better than anything else I've tried, has good grip on flat center and knobs on edges just in case, good braking grip too. Has lasted well so far; I think almost a year and a half on SB Cruiser and longer on CB2.

CST "General" was even better for grip but because it's softer compound it didnt' last nearly as long. :/

If you had 20" wheels I'd say Shinko SR241...heavy but "nigh indestructible" on back of SB Cruiser. :lol:
 
Schwalbe Crazy Bob and Big Apple Plus are both good sturdy tires, but not cheap. Panaracer Tourguard Plus is an excellently robust general purpose tire that costs less than Schwalbe, and Panaracer RiBMo is a strangely reliable tire that's faster and nicer riding than its puncture resistance would suggest.

Pedicab operators around here who want more puncture protection than the usual CST Cyclops often go for the Continental Country Plus.

I like the Freedom Thick Slick Deluxe, but like the RiBMo, its smooth tread is not a great pick for loose dirt or sandy patches. It's good on pavement or compacted dirt and gravel.
 
Have a glance at the schwalbe big ben aswell, looks like the big apple with slightly more thread. They come in pretty balloony sizes that deals well with crushed rock gravel. 50km/h approved. Have 5700km on my set i use on the electric cargobike. One flat from puncture. One flat from smashing the tube. Hit pothole at maybe 40km/h. With a 8kg hub, unduspended mass takes its toll. 4bar airpressure didnt save the tube. Even bent the rim slightly. Still use the same tyres. But as others have said, there are many more or less equally good alternatives.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'll spring for a set of Hookworms. Function and safety aside, I also really like the way they look. I'm a sucker for aesthetics....
 
Good choice, you can ride them very hard. Slow down for wet or sandy corners, that is where they are lacking traction.
 
I can barely fit 2.4" Cyclops on my Mongoose Ledge 2.1 with 32/39mm rims. on the wider rims they go to just over 2.5" wide. I'm pretty sure hookworms would be too big, so make sure your bike will take them.
 
I've been riding Kenda K841 Komfort Tires for the last couple thousand miles. I really like them. Just make sure to keep them around 50psi, they are soft tires and by feel they can be misleading. Great for commuting.
 
Another tire you might like is the Serfas Drifter. They are primarily a street tire but also have an inverted tread design which gives them some dirt road/trail capability. They come in two versions, regular and "survivor series," which are the ones that I got. The Drifter Survivors are supposed to be among the most flat resistant bike tires out there and I like the way they look too.
 
The best puncture resistance is large contact area and low PSI. Using a wider rim is letting you ride a tire with lower PSI than its spec. Add 4 oz of green slime, and most of your tires will ride through their entire lifespan without any flat. :wink:
 
Thank you all very much for the info. Since my original post I've patched 2 more punctures, one front and one rear.... After much consideration I think I'll go with the Maxxis Holy Rollers. They seem to be a nice combination of durability, tread, decent rolling resistance and aesthetics. I'll probably go with heavy duty tubes as well. Will post pics once they're on. 8)
 

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I wouldn't buy those for street use, There are a lot of better and cheaper options.
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/tires-tubes/tires/26/26-x-1-90-2-5
 
Well, the Holly roller is a street tire, and a very sticky one that does pretty good off road. It doesn't last very long but that is well compensated by the exceptional grip that lets you corner aggressively with confidence. Just too bad they don't make it wide enough for my needs.
 
wesnewell said:
I wouldn't buy those for street use, There are a lot of better and cheaper options.
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/tires-tubes/tires/26/26-x-1-90-2-5
Click to expand...

You got any favorites from among those options?
 
Jabotical said:
wesnewell said:
I wouldn't buy those for street use, There are a lot of better and cheaper options.
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/tires-tubes/tires/26/26-x-1-90-2-5
Click to expand...

You got any favorites from among those options?
Click to expand...
Too many to list. Just look for something that's not a knobby and has a decent max PSI and TPI. Stay away from low tpi tires. Any 2.125" or larger street tire will ride a lot smoother than knobbies.
 
I like the Schwalbe Marathon mondial Evolution.

Those are the tires Schwalbe recommendes for travalling around the world.

They use a diferent rubber on the sides for more grip than on the middle (durability), have a profile that works well on tarmec roads and are quite puncture resistent. They are not noisy.

Not cheap, of course, and not ideal for offroad sport.
 
wesnewell said:
Just look for something that's not a knobby and has a decent max PSI and TPI. Stay away from low tpi tires. Any 2.125" or larger street tire will ride a lot smoother than knobbies.
Click to expand...

Wes is right.

You might decide to get a tire with a textile belt or an elastomeric breaker belt, but the first and most important qualities are large size and smooth tread.

There's another disadvantage to knobbies besides rolling resistance and impaired traction on pavement. The areas between the knobs are thin and more easily punctured than a more uniformly treaded tire of similar size and weight. Unless you plan to ride regularly on surfaces that are softer than your tires-- not just unpaved trails-- you're better off with a street tread.
 
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