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What bicycle tyres for long distance riding?

First of you need to know what size of tyres your bike will fit. I will talk about 700x28c road bicycle tyres as that's what I use on my road bike. Although most of the tyres I use can be found on different sizes too.

I find 28c tyres pretty good. They can handle some gravel roads OK while they are nice to ride on paved roads, which I prefer.

Fixing puncture on bicycle tyre
Sometimes punctures can't be avoided

Durability vs low rolling resistance?

For long distance riding I personally think that durability is more important than low rolling resistance. As I gain a lot of kilometers per month I don't want to be buying new tyres every other month. Usually good quality tyre will last around 2000-4000 kilometers depending on riders weight, condition of the roads and whatnot.

However, even though I want durability rather than low rolling resistance I will always try to use tyres that have the best from the both worlds. I usually look up some reviews, check the weight of the tyres and make up my mind based on the reviews. Also, grip is something to keep in mind on wet autumn/winter roads. Some ultra durable tyres have fairly bad grip because of the hard materials used in them.

Nowadays I always use couple of different tyre models which I have found to be good so I don't test new tyre models all that much anymore.

So, what tyres I use?

At the moment I have Vittoria Rubino Pro tyres in use. I have used a lot of tyres during the years, several different Continental models, BLB Black Mamba tyres, Shwalbe... Vittoria Rubino Pros are good, they are reasonably lightweight, durable and they have reasonably good puncture resistance too. They are not the cheapest tyres, but good ones usually aren't that cheap. One thing I think is important is that how easy the tyres are to mount on to the rims. I've stopped using some fairly good tyres because how hard they were to mount. When it's cold, rainy and dark I don't want to be fighting when fixing a puncture.

Couple of other tyres which I like are Maxxis Re-Fuse and Pirelli P Velo 4s. I always use folding tyres, they are usually easier to fit on to the rims and it's easy to carry a spare tyre (for really long distances). For more than 300-400km rides, especially if the roads are bad, I carry an extra tyre with me. Just in case.

Tubeless?

That's something I've been thinking about, but honestly I don't think it's worth it. I ride mostly on paved roads and punctures are very rare. If I were riding offroad or bad small gravel roads I would probably go with a tubeless setup.

What's your favorite bicycle tyres for long distance riding?

Cheers,
Niko
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Location: Finland

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