Matched Tyres or Not?

custardy

sdavies13 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice all.

Did my usual 28 mile commute on mixed tyres today and so far so good.

Had two slight slides on the rear in the wet. One whilst changing gears and the other when I hit the ridge of a wet manhole cover but no where near as scary as previous incidents. So apart from the ride being a bit harder on the Marathon Plus tyre (compared to the Gatorskin Ultra) so far so good!

Though have been wondering if I should swap the SPD pedals for the standard ones if the weather gets any worse...

I wouldnt bother
for me the gains vs possble slip are worth it

WiggyDiggyPoo

armyknife wrote: »

By the sounds of it, worth making an effort to avoid all road ironwork wherever possible?

custardy wrote: »

thats great
so how do you do that and not get knocked over by traffic?

Lots of shoulder checks and sensible cycling, also know your route so in advance you know where the trouble spots are on the road. Sometimes I have to take the lane to avoid being pushed onto trouble, other times its just easy to avoid.

There's no quick answer to this though, just in the wet take a little more care and know where your going.

Avoriaz

sdavies13 wrote: »

..So apart from the ride being a bit harder on the Marathon Plus tyre (compared to the Gatorskin Ultra) so far so good!...

How noticeably different is the ride and is there noticeably more rolling resistance?

I have just bought but not yet fitted a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700c - 35s for my wife's bike.

We bought the Ridgeback hybrid bike second hand a few months ago. The bike itself is in good condition but the existing tyres are well past their use by date.

The Schwalbes were second hand on Ebay, very lightly used and less than half the price of a new set and also came with two almost new inner tubes.

She is no more than an occasional cyclist and won't do more than maybe 10 miles maximum at a time and that is gently paced with regular stops. Most of her cycling is no more than 3 or 4 miles. We are retired and it is all for pleasure and fitness with no commuting.

I doubt if she will notice much difference but I would welcome your comments.

Thanks

custardy

WiggyDiggyPoo wrote: »

Lots of shoulder checks and sensible cycling, also know your route so in advance you know where the trouble spots are on the road. Sometimes I have to take the lane to avoid being pushed onto trouble, other times its just easy to avoid.

There's no quick answer to this though, just in the wet take a little more care and know where your going.

How do you know the route in advance?
Have i missed the drain cover mapping site or am I to trawl Google Maps going over every foot of a ride?

custardy

Avoriaz wrote: »

How noticeably different is the ride and is there noticeably more rolling resistance?

I have just bought but not yet fitted a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700c - 35s for my wife's bike.

We bought the Ridgeback hybrid bike second hand a few months ago. The bike itself is in good condition but the existing tyres are well past their use by date.

The Schwalbes were second hand on Ebay, very lightly used and less than half the price of a new set and also came with two almost new inner tubes.

She is no more than an occasional cyclist and won't do more than maybe 10 miles maximum at a time and that is gently paced with regular stops. Most of her cycling is no more than 3 or 4 miles. We are retired and it is all for pleasure and fitness with no commuting.

I doubt if she will notice much difference but I would welcome your comments.

Thanks

you have to remember the OP is going from slicks to treaded tyres
so the difference is more noticeable(as i found running marathons from gatorskins
If you are already running similar tyres to the marathons then it wont realy be noticeable

Marco_Panettone

custardy wrote: »

How do you know the route in advance?
Have i missed the drain cover mapping site or am I to trawl Google Maps going over every foot of a ride?

Never ridden the same route more than once? For most people cycling = commuting = home to work on the same route.

There's also the classic 'look where you're going' technique. It works for avoiding potholes and other road users too...

custardy

Marco_Panettone wrote: »

Never ridden the same route more than once? For most people cycling = commuting = home to work on the same route.

There's also the classic 'look where you're going' technique. It works for avoiding potholes and other road users too...

of course I have
for many years
however there are times when its as dangerous to swerve as it is to hit the pothole

WiggyDiggyPoo

custardy wrote: »

How do you know the route in advance?
Have i missed the drain cover mapping site or am I to trawl Google Maps going over every foot of a ride?

Which is why I started my answer with and I quote

WiggyDiggyPoo wrote: »

Lots of shoulder checks and sensible cycling, also know your route so in advance you know where the trouble spots are on the road. Sometimes I have to take the lane to avoid being pushed onto trouble, other times its just easy to avoid.

There's no quick answer to this though, just in the wet take a little more care and know where your going.

Shoulder checks to make sure the road is clear for you to move over if you need to.
Sensible cycling is not going so fast you cannot avoid obstacles and paying attention to what you are cycling over and the conditions.
Knowing your route in advance comes with experience but will help in remember there are obstacles to negotiate.

As I say, there is no easy answer and given we know metalwork in the road can be problematic its just about taking sensible steps to minimize the risk.

armyknife

custardy wrote: »

of course I have
for many years
however there are times when its as dangerous to swerve as it is to hit the pothole

Swerving implies last minute a manoeuvre, I'd suggest spending more effort trying to see obstacles earlier.

sdavies13

Avoriaz wrote: »

How noticeably different is the ride and is there noticeably more rolling resistance?

As Custardy said I've gone from a slick tyre on the rear to a tyre with tread so the difference to myself is very noticable.

Then again due to the material my frame is made from I'm liable to notice the road conditions more anyway (titanium is notorious for flex and transmits the road condition much more when compared to other frame materials).

I'm sure your wife won't notice any difference with the change.