Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
OK, John, good luck in your search of 60 psi tyres.
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Off-road capable commuter tyres?
- Thread starter pmcdonald
- Start date
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
I also have these in 42-622.
www.continental-tires.com
This is a passable tread in loose dirt, especially if you are not riding it in its intended cold weather environment. The tread is squirrelly in warmer temps which makes it octopus-sucker kind of grippy. Not quite what I was looking for and keeping it as a backup tire.
Top CONTACT Winter II Premium
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www.continental-tires.com
This is a passable tread in loose dirt, especially if you are not riding it in its intended cold weather environment. The tread is squirrelly in warmer temps which makes it octopus-sucker kind of grippy. Not quite what I was looking for and keeping it as a backup tire.
john peck
Well-Known Member
Look,I ride with what I´m comfortable; you do the same. I probably have 80 pds. on you & our
riding styles may differ greatly. I think my posts indicate my choice is personal not meant for
everyone. Do I really need to thank you for trying to change my preferences?
john peck
Well-Known Member
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
No. Use 60 psi on both balloon and race tires.
(The former would explode, and the latter collapse).
john peck
Well-Known Member
There you go again
Like I really take that advice. I don´t ride either of those. The horse is dead!R.I.P.
pmcdonald
Well-Known Member
Oh, just the usual general debris: bits of wood, accident aftermaths, the odd item fallen off a tradie Ute, broken glass, sticks and branches blown down from the ubiquitous eucalypts, etc. Keeps the reflexes sharp dodging trash some days!
My last two punctures were a bit of pallet and a screw (post Marathon, pre Armour)
pmcdonald
Well-Known Member
Just an update. I settled on the Schwalbe G-One R tyres. They rate impressively well across the board (see below) and have garnered pretty impressive reviews so far.
I ordered them in 40-622 size. Cost was about AU$95 per wheel, so not cheap. I opted for the 40 over the 45 to keep using my 35-40-622 Tannus Armour inserts. Next time round I'll bump both up to 45-622.
The big caveat with this spec is each tyre is rated for 70 kg load versus 100 kg for the other G-One models. I'm pretty light and got the bike up on the scales with some simulated load before the purchase. I found the rear wheel sat on 50 - 60 kg. This limitation may rule out the R-spec tyres for many.
I switched the Tannus from my Marathons. They've traveled 5,000 km in 18 months. I was quite impressed with the protection they still offered - at least to the touch. They weren't overly flattened and I did find a few little metal shards embedded in the inserts. Whether these would have been enough to puncture the tube I don't know, but it was evidence to me the Armours do offer significant additional protection. I'll continue to run with the inserts, but would consider a Armour tubeless setup with the next set of tyres.
For the record the Marathon Plus tyres had done about 7,500 km. Two punctures prior to fitting the inserts, none after. I'd guess the tread was good for another 3 - 4k at least, so very impressive durability.
Fitting was not what I'd call easy. Out in open air the Armours expanded to about an inch greater circumference than the tyres, which mean a lot of massaging to fit them inside. I used a liberal dose of talc powder to assist. The tyres were also quite hard to fit onto the rims, and required careful use of a tyre lever to ease them in. All up it took about an hour per tyre, about double compared to fitting the Marathons. My fingers are pretty raw after the experience. I don't picture myself doing a field repair with this setup - I'd limp home at 10 km/h on the flat tyres or ditch the inserts and patch the tube.
The single tracks around here are still quite muddy after a recent storm. The tread pattern really doesn't favour mud. I'll take them out for a maiden ride over the next day or two. The tread feels really grippy compared to the Marathons, and up on the stand they feel a lot lighter and easier rolling. I'll report back with my experience.
I ordered them in 40-622 size. Cost was about AU$95 per wheel, so not cheap. I opted for the 40 over the 45 to keep using my 35-40-622 Tannus Armour inserts. Next time round I'll bump both up to 45-622.
The big caveat with this spec is each tyre is rated for 70 kg load versus 100 kg for the other G-One models. I'm pretty light and got the bike up on the scales with some simulated load before the purchase. I found the rear wheel sat on 50 - 60 kg. This limitation may rule out the R-spec tyres for many.
I switched the Tannus from my Marathons. They've traveled 5,000 km in 18 months. I was quite impressed with the protection they still offered - at least to the touch. They weren't overly flattened and I did find a few little metal shards embedded in the inserts. Whether these would have been enough to puncture the tube I don't know, but it was evidence to me the Armours do offer significant additional protection. I'll continue to run with the inserts, but would consider a Armour tubeless setup with the next set of tyres.
For the record the Marathon Plus tyres had done about 7,500 km. Two punctures prior to fitting the inserts, none after. I'd guess the tread was good for another 3 - 4k at least, so very impressive durability.
Fitting was not what I'd call easy. Out in open air the Armours expanded to about an inch greater circumference than the tyres, which mean a lot of massaging to fit them inside. I used a liberal dose of talc powder to assist. The tyres were also quite hard to fit onto the rims, and required careful use of a tyre lever to ease them in. All up it took about an hour per tyre, about double compared to fitting the Marathons. My fingers are pretty raw after the experience. I don't picture myself doing a field repair with this setup - I'd limp home at 10 km/h on the flat tyres or ditch the inserts and patch the tube.
The single tracks around here are still quite muddy after a recent storm. The tread pattern really doesn't favour mud. I'll take them out for a maiden ride over the next day or two. The tread feels really grippy compared to the Marathons, and up on the stand they feel a lot lighter and easier rolling. I'll report back with my experience.
pmcdonald
Well-Known Member
The tracks had dried, the sun was shining (who am I kidding, it's always shining here in Australia), and I had a rare few hours to myself so I took the bike out for a thorough tyre shakedown.
Riding was a mix of everything: road with steep climbs, multi use sealed rail trail and sometimes rough single track with roots, stones, jumps and drops galore.
The tyres did great. I climbed packed and loose sections of track that I previously had to dismount and do the push of shame up. They gripped much better than the Marathons, to the surprise of no one. They gave me more confidence on steep downhill firetrails with lots of loose surface. And they felt fantastic on tarmac, really really supple yet fast rolling and agile. Goldilocks or unicorn tyres.
There was a limit to the grip, probably in large part to my choice of 1.5 width tyres and partly to the small grip pattern. I had some wheel spin on take off on steep inclines, but then so did my mate with his 2.25 Maxxis tyres. They're not going to change direction fast on loose surface. They hate mud too.
All in all very happy so far with the switch. For someone spending most of their time on tarmac with the odd frolick on MTB tracks they're a really good option.
It's way too early for the all important assessment of puncture resistance and durability. I'll be sure to post back once they have a few thousand kays under the belt.
Riding was a mix of everything: road with steep climbs, multi use sealed rail trail and sometimes rough single track with roots, stones, jumps and drops galore.
The tyres did great. I climbed packed and loose sections of track that I previously had to dismount and do the push of shame up. They gripped much better than the Marathons, to the surprise of no one. They gave me more confidence on steep downhill firetrails with lots of loose surface. And they felt fantastic on tarmac, really really supple yet fast rolling and agile. Goldilocks or unicorn tyres.
There was a limit to the grip, probably in large part to my choice of 1.5 width tyres and partly to the small grip pattern. I had some wheel spin on take off on steep inclines, but then so did my mate with his 2.25 Maxxis tyres. They're not going to change direction fast on loose surface. They hate mud too.
All in all very happy so far with the switch. For someone spending most of their time on tarmac with the odd frolick on MTB tracks they're a really good option.
It's way too early for the all important assessment of puncture resistance and durability. I'll be sure to post back once they have a few thousand kays under the belt.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
What about the tyre noise on tarmac?
pmcdonald
Well-Known Member
Completely silent. Just the hum of the motor and a click of a gear I need to dial in better
john peck
Well-Known Member
That G-one looks perfect, but I try to limit what I spend on a tire to $50. I´ve climbed some very steep
rutted trails on green guards though, granted, it involved panic pedaling & a good deal of fishtailing.
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pmcdonald
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm not to proud to report back on how the experiment went. I've been running the Schwalbe G-One R's in 40-622 size for a month now. I've done about 200 km over that time of mixed riding: sealed road, gravel fire trails, some technical single track and climbs. And it hasn't quite worked out. But first the positives...
They're exquisite tyres, as they'd want to be for the price. Rolling resistance is exceptionally good, surface feel is great, and I was satisfied with cornering grip on harder surfaces. In short they're a terrific tread for gravel adventuring without going full MTB.
Now the negatives. In my configuration they failed in the protection stakes. I got a puncture about 3 weeks in, a tiny hole in the tube about a third the way up the rim (eerily similar to the puncture @Dallant reported with his G-One Allroads a while back
). This was a new tube. Huge caveat: I'm running an unorthodox configuration, tyres with Tannus inserts and tubes.
I was hoping that would make up for the weaker protection spec, but in all fairness if I was running the standard tubeless setup with these tyres I guarantee I wouldn't have the flat. So this negative could be explained away with my setup. I've made the call that the risk of gash and tear punctures on my commute is too great to run tubeless so I'm sticking with Tannus for now.
On top of this the tyres with inserts are a bugger to repair. I'd hate to fix the G-One R's in the field with a pressing deadline at the end of the commute.
Secondly, the tread wear is pretty bad. I don't lock the wheels up much at all but there's some serious degradation on the tread pattern beyond what I'd expect after 200 km. A few of the lugs, if that's the term, are almost fully worn away. The tyre feels pretty wafer thin underneath too compared to the burly Marathon's, so at this rate I'd be up for replacements in a few months.
I think this has been a costly but important lesson for me. The tyres as they're intended are awesome. They'd be terrific to run tubeless and blast along fire trails on a lightweight gravel grinder ... really fun, confidence-inspiring tyres. Perfect as a recreational gravel tyre for lightweight setups. What they're NOT are commuter tyres. I've lost that peace of mind that comes with bullet proof tyres. And as primarily a commuter that trust in the setup is critical in my opinion.
For now I've switched back to the 40-622 Marathon Plus on the rear, and kept the G-One up front. I'm running this setup for a little more front end traction. That's typically where it gets sketchy on my rides first. (Rear slide I'm less concerned about.)
So there you have it. TLDR: Nice tyres for play rides, not so much for commuting.
They're exquisite tyres, as they'd want to be for the price. Rolling resistance is exceptionally good, surface feel is great, and I was satisfied with cornering grip on harder surfaces. In short they're a terrific tread for gravel adventuring without going full MTB.
Now the negatives. In my configuration they failed in the protection stakes. I got a puncture about 3 weeks in, a tiny hole in the tube about a third the way up the rim (eerily similar to the puncture @Dallant reported with his G-One Allroads a while back
). This was a new tube. Huge caveat: I'm running an unorthodox configuration, tyres with Tannus inserts and tubes.I was hoping that would make up for the weaker protection spec, but in all fairness if I was running the standard tubeless setup with these tyres I guarantee I wouldn't have the flat. So this negative could be explained away with my setup. I've made the call that the risk of gash and tear punctures on my commute is too great to run tubeless so I'm sticking with Tannus for now.
On top of this the tyres with inserts are a bugger to repair. I'd hate to fix the G-One R's in the field with a pressing deadline at the end of the commute.
Secondly, the tread wear is pretty bad. I don't lock the wheels up much at all but there's some serious degradation on the tread pattern beyond what I'd expect after 200 km. A few of the lugs, if that's the term, are almost fully worn away. The tyre feels pretty wafer thin underneath too compared to the burly Marathon's, so at this rate I'd be up for replacements in a few months.
I think this has been a costly but important lesson for me. The tyres as they're intended are awesome. They'd be terrific to run tubeless and blast along fire trails on a lightweight gravel grinder ... really fun, confidence-inspiring tyres. Perfect as a recreational gravel tyre for lightweight setups. What they're NOT are commuter tyres. I've lost that peace of mind that comes with bullet proof tyres. And as primarily a commuter that trust in the setup is critical in my opinion.
For now I've switched back to the 40-622 Marathon Plus on the rear, and kept the G-One up front. I'm running this setup for a little more front end traction. That's typically where it gets sketchy on my rides first. (Rear slide I'm less concerned about.)
So there you have it. TLDR: Nice tyres for play rides, not so much for commuting.
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