Recommend light touring tyre, 26 x 1.75?

[Donerol]

Yet another tyre question, I'm afraid.

I have a s/h Thorn Raven that came with 1.75 Pasela Tourguards. They are comfortable and roll well but the sidewalls look increasingly dodgy. The bike hadn't been used much and the tread is almost like new, but I think age and UV degradation has done for the brown sidewalls.

The rims are Sunrim CR18. I don't really want to go larger than 1.75 as although the frame has the clearance the SKS mudguards measure 50mm, fine for the current tyres but I think too narrow for anything much wider.

I would love to get some more Paselas but I don't think I trust those sidewalls (I had similar problems with their 700c ones). I'm looking for nice-riding, reasonably robust tyres for road riding with some tow-paths but nothing rough. The bike won't be particularly heavily loaded - I am 9 stone/57Kg myself and will taking no more than 15Kg/33lb luggage at the most - I'm aiming for 10Kg.

Any recommendations? I use 28mm Ribmos on my 700c bike and really like them, but they are quite tall and I don't know if the 1.75" ones would fit under the mudguards. I don't want to have to change the guards so Big Apples are out.

All thoughts and comments gratefully received!

[JimK]

Certainly the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 42-559 deserves a look! I am riding Marathon Racer 47-559 these days... I even had them on a rather rough trail and they did reasonably well!

[Neil Jones]

+1 regarding the Supremes. They roll very well, are comfortable and light. The only drawbacks are the price and relatively short life span compared to something with more tread and a harder compound but that's the trade off I suppose.

Neil

[mickeg]

For on pavement use, I have used the Schwalbe plain Marathons (with GreenGuard) in 1.5 width and wired bead, tire was marked 559X40mm, thus not much narrower than your 1.75.  Was very happy with them.  They worked well with a load of camping gear on the bike and also worked well unladen.

I bought a Vittoria Randonneur Pro with folding bead to carry as a spare, same size as the Marathons but have not used it, so I have no opinion yet.  But looking at it, it looked like a nice tire.  But when I recently saw these at an unbelievable price, I ordered two more tires.  I do not know when I will use them but I am sure I will some day.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVTRNDP/vittoria-randonneur-pro-folding-tyre

I have never used the Supreme, no opinion.

[geocycle]

Supremes 26 x 1.6 are fantastic. I've had about 12000 miles out of mine so far. The sidewallls are thin which helps their comfort but stronger than panaracer tourguards in my experience. I use on light off-road but am careful on rocky tracks. They are also a slick tyre so not much good on mud.

[John Saxby]

I have Supremes 1.6 on my Raven, and like them -- but have not had as much durability from mine as geo, for example. (There's an extended thread on crazyguy on these tires, started by Graham Smith/vintagetourer: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/reviews/board/message/?o=k1&thread_id=350687&page=1&nested=0&v=32 )

For light touring, the Compass 26 x 1.75 are attractive, perhaps at the expense of durability [http://www.compasscycle.com/tires.html].  Maybe the 26 x 1.75 Marathon Racers as well -- I have a pair of 700 x 35s on my day-rides bike, and they're very good, in the same range of comfort & speed as the Supremes.

[onrbikes]

I've always been a fan of the indestructible Marathon Plus.

I did try the fast and light Supreme but only managed 4000km before the sidewall went, and a few punctures.

I'm back to the Pluses. I've got 10000km on them with 1 puncture. A small nail in India.

[Donerol]

Gosh, lots of food for thought - many thanks for all the suggestions.

I think the Marathon Plus is overkill for my use, which is short tours (up to two weeks) in the UK. The Supremes sound great but perhaps a little slick for me. The plain Marathons sound a better bet, and I will have to try the Randonneur Pro at such a fantastic price.

I'll let you know how I get on. 

[John Saxby]

Not to further complicate things, but I used Randonneur Pro's on my Eclipse (700 x 32's - but actually only 29mm inflated) and I thought they were pretty good until they wore out & I tried the Marathon Racers (nominally 700x35s, actually only 32s -- shoulda bought 700 x 38s...)  The Racers hold more air, obviously, but also have more flexible sidewalls and are more comfortable for both of those reasons.  The Rando Pros were durable, for sure, and mine were foldables, hence easy to work with.

I do recall Il Padrone in Oz saying that he's had very good results from his 26 x 1.75 Randonneurs, which he found at REI in the States at a good price; but I also recall that those are wire-bead tires.

Look forward to your reports in any case, donerol.  I have this nagging question/doubt in the back of my mind: What do I do if I have another dose of sidewall problems with my 26 x 1.6 Supremes?

Good luck!

[onrbikes]

I just bought a set of Pluses but in a 26X1.5 and am going to have a go soon on them.
A bit lighter but still tough.

I see they also come in a 1.35

[Mike Ayling]

We have now done 4,000 km on the 26 X 1.75 Pasela Tourguards on our Thorn tandem and there is still plenty of tread and no sign of sidewall cracking.

I run folding bead Vitoria Randonneurs on my Surly LHT and I recently replaced the rear tyre after its first puncture, the tyre being as smooth as a babies bum and starting to show the carcase.

Like IP I really like those Randonneurs.

Mike

[Donerol]

Decisions, decisions.....

I had problems with 700c Pasela sidewalls after just a few hundred miles. I've seen it suggested that the larger sizes are more robust, and it may well be that the ones on the Raven are flaking because of UV degradations.

The Vittoria Randonneurs seem well regarded. My only slight doubt is that apparently they come up a bit small, so that the 40mm size will be rather narrower than the  Pasela 1.75 than expected - how will this affect comfort? At the moment I roll happily over out dreadful road surfaces without a care!

[mickeg]

Smooth road surfaces on a 26 inch bike, I use 40mm wide tires.

Rougher road or smooth gravel, I use 50mm width.

Off road or 4X4 roads, I use 57mm width.

I have some tires of each size ready to put on a bike.  I think the 50mm ones are the only ones that I paid almost full retail price, the others were bought when I saw a good price so I had them for when I wanted them.

Exception, my errand bike I use 50mm or wider tires on smooth road, but I do terrible maintenance on that bike, store it outside, the wider tires mean I do not have to add air for a couple months at a time.  Typical trip is 2km, so all trips are very short.