Tyres are everything, says James Spender. So why do so many of us do them so badly?
Like a Catholic repenting their sins, tyres are your one way to cycling heaven. They are the only parts of your bike (we hope, genuflect) that touch the road. They roll, grip and cushion. They underpin how well your bike rides.
Admittedly a slow bike shalt not be made fast by tyres alone, but a thoroughbred will feel like a lollopy nag with a poor tyre setup. And looking around at so many bikes on the road, in the words of Alan Partridge, you’re doing tyres wrong !
Puncture dreams
The most important function of a tyre is to hold air, so therefore the best tyres are the most puncture-resistant, right?
It’s a logical notion, and it’s why I spent a long time riding Continental Gatorskins. But while Gators are fine tyres for a zippy commute, such tyres are selling your race bike short.
A 25mm weighs a claimed 240g and has 20.2 watts rolling resistance – so says bicyclerollingresistance.com. A 25mm Continental GP 5000 TR, by contrast, weighs 250g and has 9.3 watts RR. It is also pretty ‘puncture resistant’ in its own right. But wait, it’s 10g more. But wait again, it’s tubeless...
Use what you’re given
Tubeless, again much like God or KITT from Knight Rider, is all around you. It came on your new bike. Check the sidewalls. But brands don’t like sending you a tubeless setup bike – it takes longer to build, time is money, so your tubeless-ready wheels and tyres shipped with inner tubes.
So what are you waiting for? Spend a few quid on tubeless tape, valves and sealant (which might have even shipped with your bike), get a YouTube tutorial and convert those mothers. First, tubeless tyres with tubes feel awful – unsupple and heavy. Second, tubeless tyres feel great. They roll faster – a tube-type GP5000 has 10.7 watts RR – they’re often more supple, and flexible tyres grip better. Then third, I refer you to the puncture discussion above.
The number of would-be ride-halting cuts in my tubeless tyres that didn’t end up halting the ride due to the sealant is mind-boggling. I reckon I should have needed to change at least eight tubes this winter, but I didn’t.
Wide guys
So many people stick with the tyres their bike comes with, then replace like for like. Which makes sense; you wouldn’t fit JCB tyres to your Honda Jazz. But even a decade-old frame likely has space for 28mm tyres unless it is a Colnago, while newer frames will fit 32mm or even 35mm.
