Author Topic: Panaracers okay for Carratera Austral?  (Read 2935 times)

SteveC

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Panaracers okay for Carratera Austral?
« on: February 07, 2015, 11:37:42 AM »
Hi,
We're less than a week away from starting the Carratera Austral and I'm starting to get a little paranoid that our 26×1.75 Panaracer tyres won't be up for the job... We are only going as far as Coyhaique, so will be missing some of the nastier roads. If anyone has ridden the CA with Panaracers or something similar like Schwalbe Marathons that would be good to know. Likewise, if you think we should be fitting chunky 2.1s that would be useful info.

Thanks,
Steve

rualexander

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Re: Panaracers okay for Carratera Austral?
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2015, 02:07:58 PM »
From the recent Top Gear special, it looks like some of the Carraterra Austral has been sealed  since I cycled it in 1997/8.
The northern portion to Coyhaique wasn't bad when I was there anyway
I would be happy doing it on Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 26x1.75, having ridden a lot of gravel roads in New Zealand on them. I would carry a spare tyre though, just in case.

in4

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Re: Panaracers okay for Carratera Austral?
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2015, 04:48:54 PM »
Riding 1200 miles I've had four punctures with my Panaracers. I'm not sure you can read anything into that though. I've ridden mostly on tarmac with some compacted gravel tracks thrown in. I've probably fallen victim to thorns on the road piercing the tyre's sidewalls. I guess its, in part, the sidewalls that help  make the tyres so comfortable and I've always found them 'grippy' in the wet. They are not the cheapest around as a quick search would show, but as a good all rounder they are fine. Just avoid thorns, not the bikes though, just the things that stick in your tyre walls and mess up your ride!

SteveC

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Re: Panaracers okay for Carratera Austral?
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2015, 01:48:15 PM »
Thanks for the replies, which are reassuring. Just need to find a suitable spare tyre somewhere in the Southern Lake District... Continental, Schwalbe and Panasonic aren't sold around here...

-Steve