End to End Tyre Choice

[Templogin]

I am hoping to do the end to end next year on a Thorn eXp (I need the exercise!).  The bike is currently fitted with Panaracer Pasela 26 x 1.75 tyres.

I will either be riding with full camping gear or full rear panniers, the latter if I take the B&B option.  I like to take plenty of stuff!

Would I be better off with some different tyres?

Thanks a lot

Andy

[JimK]

I would think that if the pavement is decent, those tires would work fine. But I have not used them myself, so don't weigh that opinion too highly!

[Peejay]

Hi Andy,
            Did LEJOG this year on my Raven on 26x1.75" Schwalbe Marathon Plus - absolutely no problems - 890 miles over 11 days - ran them at 50/55 psi F/R.
Bike had front and rear panniers and weighed in at 72 lbs or 32 kgs fully loaded. I know they are a heavy tyre, but with the bike at this weight that wasn't an issue.

Pete.

[energyman]

My Pan Racers went to the charity shop.  The attracted punctures like a magnet.
Mind you I met a lot of nice people who stopped for a chat whilst I was fixing them so they are good if you want to be sociable !
Marathon plus or Plus Tour are excellent but you don't meet so many people.

[bikerta]

I used 26 x 2.0 Schwalbe Duremes on my Sherpa when I did JOGLE in August. These were brilliant with no punctures at all in the 1,170 miles. I think it depends on whether or not you are going off road onto canal paths or staying on tarmac. I covered a lot of miles on canal paths and forestry trails in the Fort William area and these tyres were a good mix for off road and on road.

[rualexander]

26x1.75 Pasela Tourguard are great tyres, lightweight, comfortable and roll well.
I used them for a 2500 mile fully loaded tour of New Zealand seven years ago, on tarmac and gravel roads, no problems, no punctures.
I don't use them on my Sherpa because I have gone up to 2 inch tyres so now use Schwalbe Marathon Supremes, but sometimes consider going back to Paselas.
They are still recommended by Thorn in their brochures I think.
A good choice for a lejog trip in my view.

[Templogin]

Thanks a lot guys.  I think that I will stick to what I have got at the moment, then look at buying either the Marathon + or Duremes as a spare set.

It won't be the End to End after all, but I dare not say where I am going.  As soon as I plan anything, everything changes!

Andy
Shetland

[StuntPilot]

The Panaracer Paselas are good tyres. They are quite light and roll well. They got me from near Edinburgh clockwise to London round the North Sea Cycle Route in 2013 (which does include some rough off-road tracks). They were a couple of years old when I started and eventually I had too many punctures in Kent. The sidewalls were starting to perish too.

I swapped to Schwalbe Marathon Plus in London and they got me back to near Edinburgh without a puncture. The Marathon Plus are a bit heavier but have stronger side-walls. They are a bit of over-kill for on-road LEJOG maybe.

So I would say to go with the Paselas for LEJOG, and the Marathon Plus for increased puncture resistance and rougher mixed conditions/heavier loads.

[Kuba]

Many positive comments on Paselas, but my experience is more like energy man's. Good tyres but punctured badly when I was on tour in Andalucia... Maybe they have issues with quality control? Swapped to Marathon Supremes 1.6, much more robust in my experience, not a single puncture yet after probably 2,000k.

[rualexander]

Marathon Supremes are also very good and I have had them on my Sherpa for a couple of summers now, but they also have thin sidewalls which can be vulnerable, my rear Supreme suffered a sidewall cut a year ago from a day out on a gravel track. I patched it up and its been fine since then though.

[geocycle]

Both supremes and panaracers are very comfortable largely because they have thin side walls. I've had Supremes on the bike since 2011 and done about 12,000 miles over all sorts over very mixed surfaces. In contrast the tour guard lasted less than 200 miles before I cut the side wall.  All down to luck I guess.