Schwalbe Duremes?

[Inbred]

I see that SJSC have had some Schwalbe Dureme tyres especially made for them.
I've heard rave reviews about them and they come highly recommended in the Thorn brochures.
Before investing £80.00 on a pair, I thought I'd see if any of you good people have used them and what you thought.
Thanks in advance for the help 🙂👍

[DAntrim]

I use Duremes on a club tour and mercury, best investment I ever made. I commute daily and can't remember the last time I had a puncture, which on UK roads and cycle paths says something, I average around 9k miles on each set before having to replace the rear and the front will last around 12k, as it was getting difficult to buy them stocked up and have around 4 years worth left before I have to try and find replacements.

Carlos.

[julk]

I use 26” x 2” folding Duremes on an expR.
I find them the best touring tyres I have used.
Smooth supple ride with an all rounder tread suitable for most surfaces.
I run mine at low pressures 30 - 40 ppi and find they absorb a lot of the poor road surface vibration.
Recommended.
Julian.

 

[martinf]

I ordered Dureme tyres in the 50 mm width when I bought my Thorn Raven Tour touring bike. Since then I have mainly used this bike on good road surfaces, so after a while I swapped out the Duremes for 50 mm Supremes, the latter being a bit lighter, slightly faster but more fragile.

I then fitted the Duremes to an old utility bike that I used mostly for survey work (lots of riding on paths and tracks), it is now used as a visitor bike at our island flat where it again gets used on a mix of roads, paths and tracks. The Duremes seem excellent for this type of use.

My opinion of the Duremes (in the 26" x 50 mm size that I have):

- tougher than Supremes, so more suited to touring with a mix of roads and tracks
- long lasting (probaby better than Supremes, which last a long time with me)
- not quite so free-rolling as Supremes, but still very good when compared with the other 26" x 50 mm tyres I have used

If planning a tour with more than very occasional use of tracks I intend to refit Duremes to my touring bike.   

[mickeg]

I thought it best to tell you what I like for various conditions, so you can see when I prefer the Dureme and what I compare it to.

For touring on pavement, I use the Schwalbe 40mm wide (1.5 width) Marathons (with Greenguard).

For touring on mixed gravel and pavement, I like the 50mm wide Dureme (non-tandem version).

I did two tours that were about 80 to 90 percent on very good quality gravel, for those I ran the 50mm Dureme (non-tendem) on front and 50mm Extreme on rear.

For one tour where I have a very heavy load and was often on really poor quality roads, I used 57mm wide Extremes on both front and rear.

Schwalbe also made a tandem version of the Dureme.  (It says Tandem on the sidewall in small print.)  That tire is much stiffer than the non-tandem Dureme and I think the Tandem version has greater rolling resistance.  I accidentally bought one tandem version without realizing it, until it arrived.  It would have been difficult to return it, so I sometimes put the tandem rated tire on the front of my Nomad. 

They are a robust tire, but as I noted above on a trip where I will always have good pavement I use a less robust narrower tire than the Dureme.

[David Simpson]

I have Duremes on my Nomad. I have just passed 5 years on the bike, and turned 10,000km last week. Almost all of my riding is commuting, on city centre and suburban roads (with the usual city road debris) and some gravelled trails. No punctures. The front tyre has lots of life left, and the rear is showing some wear (compared to the front) but does not need to be replaced anytime soon.

I have only used those tyres on that bike, so I cannot give any comparison to other tyres. However, when these tyres wear out, I will replace them with another set of Duremes.

- DaveS

[Danneaux]

I too have been real pleased with my 26 x 2.0 Duremes in practice, both folding and wire-bead. However, there are three things I wish were different, one is the tread cap itself wobbles on all six of my examples across both kinds. The bead is evenly seated and it has no effect on function, but looks strange when I look down. It isn't much, but bugs me.

The second thing I have noticed is that while riding heavy rock ballast on logging roads, the sidewalls are a bit vulnerable to abrasion from getting pinched between the sharp edges of the larger rocks when falling between them. To some extent, this is to be expected as a more robust tire would better shrug this off. Horses for courses.

The third thing is I have found the tread can and does pick up and hold small rocks when used on certain kinds of gravel and make a clicking noise when transitioning back to pavement. Not a big deal, and doesn't happen often. It seems to be only on certain kinds of gravel here in my immediate area, as I have not noticed it elsewhere.

Otherwise, they have proven to be excellent tires in my use on the Nomad, my tandem, and my Enduro-Allroad bikes.

I also have really good luck riding Schwalbe Marathon Deluxe tires on AndyBG's very kindly loaned Raven Tour for my 2014 European tour and put about 9,000km on them. The tread was more like the Mondial of the time, the sidewalls were thicker than my Duremes and they showed little noticeable wear After despite use in heavy mud, on a lot of rough pavement, and on gravel. In all my use, I only had one puncture -- on the rear just outside Giurgiu Romania, when I ran over a very long roofing staple (a happy event, as I met and was invited to lunch by the family who owned the land under the pear tree where I was making repairs. We stay in regular contact to this day). My impression is this was a much heavier tire than the Duremes and did not roll as well, but they worked nicely. I don't think they were continued in Schwalbe's line past about 2013, but I include them as a data point.

I don't think you'd go wrong with the Duremes as an all-around tires for mixed surfaces. As Martin said, not as fast/light as a Supreme, but likely a bit more versatile on other than pavement thanks to the light tread design.

[David Simpson]

... However, there are three things I wish were different, one is the tread cap itself wobbles on all six of my examples across both kinds. The bead is evenly seated and it has no effect on function, but looks strange when I look down. It isn't much, but bugs me.

That's what a handle-bar bag is for.

- DaveS

[Danneaux]

 

All the best,

Dan. (...who is still chuckling)

[Inbred]

Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply.
Well, it seems that Duremes really live up to the hype!
I think I'll be investing in a pair in the very hear future 🙂👍

[Slammin Sammy]

I’ll vote for the Duremes (26x2.0) as the best all around touring tyre for all surfaces, although I’d agree there are better tyres for specialised circumstances. I’ve had one puncture (sidewall) in 10,000km so far.

I am also REALLY impressed with the Mondials (26x2.1) for rough, abrasive, loose or slippery conditions. They’re somewhat heavier than the Duremes, but are very comfortable and surprisingly good on smooth pavement as well.

I find all Schwalbe tyres have an “imprecise” tread cap and reflective stripe, but they roll true and are very reliable. I have them on all my bikes, including the Bromptons.