Technical > Wheels, Tyres and Brakes

2” tyres?

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Inbred:
I currently have Schwalbe Supreme 1.6” tyres on my Raven Tour.
I was considering swapping them for some 2” tyres.
Would there really be a noticeable change in comfort and grip with an increase in width?
Any recommendations for tyre types?
(They’ll be used for mainly cycle paths and tracks)
Many thanks for the help 🙂👍

mickeg:
On my Sherpa, for bike touring that is mostly on pavement I use the Marathons (with Greenguard) in 40mm width.  But for more gravelly routes I use the 50mm Duremes.  I have also used 50mm Marathon Dureme on front and 50mm Marathon Extreme on rear.

I have never ridden Supremes, but it is my understanding that the Supremes roll better (less resistance) than the tires I use, so consider rolling resistance besides comfort and grip.

RonS:
I've got Continental Top Contact 2, size 26X2 on my Raven and I'm very pleased with them. I think they're as fast and smooth as the Compass tires they replaced, which were great tires until they wore to 50% and began to be very puncture prone. I have 4000km on the Conti's puncture free and very little wear. I probably ride about 25% off tarmac.

martinf:
My favourite tyre for touring with luggage or local utility use (both mainly on roads) is the 2" (50 x 559) Supreme, which I currently have on my Raven Tour touring bike and my "new" Raven Tour utility bike. 50 x 559 Supremes coped OK on my old bike riding with a touring load on the tracks in the photos, but I may have been lucky.

When first I got my "touring" Raven Tour I started with 2" (50 x 559) Duremes. IMO these tyres are well suited for a mix of road and unsurfaced tracks, tougher than the Supremes but with slightly more rolling resistance on good surfaces. I haven't used them much for touring, but have used them extensively for survey work involving a lot of riding on paths and tracks, they are now on one of my visitor bikes that gets used frequently for mild off-road rides. I'd put Duremes back on my tourer if I ever planned to use it extensively off tarmac roads.

On my old utility bike with 650B rims I noticed a significant increase in comfort, durability and a decrease in rolling resistance when going from old 44X584 Michelin tyres to modern 44X584 Schwalbe Marathons. With the revival in 650B tyres I then changed to 42X584 Schwalbe Supremes, which gave a further increase in comfort together with a decrease in rolling resistance, but probably at the expense of durability. Finally, after passing the 42x584 Supremes on to my wife's old bike, I changed to 50x584 Supremes, even more comfort, but perhaps a very slight increase in rolling resistance over the 42x584. With the 50x584 Supremes performance on sandy tracks was noticeably better than with any of the smaller section tyres.

Inbred:
Thanks for the replies so far.
To be honest, I was just about to get some Duremes from SJS.
Then I thought I’d pick your brains first.
They seem pretty popular and Thorn/SJS seem almost evangelical abut them.
It’s just the £40.00 price tag that’s putting me off.

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