TIRES FOR SPORT TOURING, TOURING AND UTILITY RIDING
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When talking about tire "quality", I think you can focus on the
following categories of performance.  No tire is going to give you
everything.  The best quality tire is going to be the one that gives
you the kind of performance you want at the price you want.

The comments that follow are geared towards sport touring, touring
and utility riding (like commuting).  I do not discuss road racing,
cyclo cross racing or mountain biking.  This article discusses
features of clincher tires but not tubular tires.


COST - The cheapest tires are in the $10 - $15 range.  The expensive
clinchers go up into the $100 range.  In my opinion, you can often 
tell noticable differences as you move up to $40 range.  Beyond that,
I think the law of diminishing returns starts to kick in.  Not saying 
that you can't tell differences above this price range.  Only saying
that you start paying a lot more for smaller differences.

Not all cheap tires stink.  Some are quite good.  I think the 
Panaracer Pasela continues to perform well above it's price in 
terms of comfort and speed.


SPEED - Some tires are faster than others.  Light construction and 
very flexible sidewalls are generally associated with more speed. 
Generally speaking, the faster the tire is the more comfortable it
will be but the less durable it will be.   

Determining what tires are fast is practically impossible for us
as consumers. Publications like Bicycle Quarterly have published
test results which are incredibly helpful. But, tire model names
come and go on yearly basis, so as a rule, we must rely on what we
can determine by looking at a tire (not much), personal experience
and word of mouth.

When looking for a fast tire, I look for the lightest tire with the
thinnest tread. I also check the flexibility of the sidewall looking
for a the most flexible sidewall.  I also look for the widest tire
the bike and rim will take, since numerous studies have shown that
if you have 2 otherwise identical tires, the wider tires offers less
rolling resistance. Studies include a study for Avocet done by 
Jobst Brandt, a study done by Continental and tests done by Bicycle
Quarterly.  Lastly, I also exclude any tire that has a protective
layer in it.  Generally speaking, these make a tire stiffer and less
fast.

For what it's worth, I think Paselas do a fine job in this category
for a fraction of what other tires cost.  Better tires may be 
measurably faster and but they will certainly cost a lot more.



COMFORT - Some tires reduce road shock more than others. Generally 
speaking the lighter the construction and the more flexible the 
sidewall is, the more comfortable the tire will be. Wider tires run 
at lower pressures are also more comfortable (and faster). How wide 
of a tire you can use is limited by your frame (wider tires might 
not fit) and by your rim (too wide relative to your rim can cause 
handling problems). Generally speaking, comfortable tires are 
usually also fast tires but they are often less durable.

When looking for a comfortable tire, I look for the same things that
I look for in a fast tire. I look for tires that lack any puncture
resistent layers and I look for the lightest, most flexible sidewalls.
The thinner the tread area is, the faster the tire will be but the
less durable it will be.  Lastly, I look for the widest tire the bike
will accept.


PAVEMENT TRACTION - Some tires offer better grip on wet roads than
others.  Generally speaking, the softer the rubber the better it will
grip but, the faster it will wear.  Conversely, long lasting rubber 
generally has less grip.  

Surprisingly, tires with no tread at all generally offer the most 
traction on both dry and wet roads. Bike tires can't hydroplane and 
more surface area of the contact patch translates into the more 
grip. Despite the benefits of slick tires, it is hard to find slick 
tires outside of racing tires. I believe this is due to the fact 
that slick tires don't sell well enough (just my conjecture). This 
might be explained by people's carried over assumption that tread 
increases grip - which is true of car tires (on wet roads) but not 
for bike tires.
 
Knobbie tires are the worst in terms of pavement traction in every 
regard. Also, some tires have a center ridge based on the belief 
that it gives you an efficient rolling pattern for straight riding 
while giving tread on the side for traction while turning. This is 
wrong for 2 reasons, in my opinion. First, you don't get extra grip 
from the side tread. Second, the raised center ridge can feel 
squirely when you ride over ridges along the road than run in the 
line of travel like thick paint strips.



DIRT AND OFF ROAD TRACTION - Dirt and off road traction is affected
by tire width and tread pattern.  Full knobbies give the most traction
in loose soil. Hybrid or cyclocross patterns often give a flatter
tread in the middle of the tire with small knobs on the outside of
the pattern in an attempt to balance off road and on road performance.
Inverted treads provide small divots or reverse ridges to give some
dirt traction while trying to still maintaining road performance. 



TREAD DURABILITY - The tread of the tire can wear through.  Usually
the rear tire wears through faster than the front since it carries
more weight.  Generally speaking, the more durable the rubber is
the rougher the tire will ride and less grip it will have.  Also, the
thicker the tread area is, the more durable the tire will be. 

You can get clues as to softness or hardness of the rubber by 
feeling the tire and comparing it to other known tires.  Manufacturers
statement about how a particular model compares to other models
within their product line also give a clue to more durable tires.
Disregard claims that compare their tire to competitors tires.


PUNCTURE RESISTENCE - Tires can go flat because something pokes 
through the tire and punctures the tube. Common culprits include 
shards of glass in urban areas and thorns in rural areas. In in 
portions of the American west a nasty thorn called goat heads are a 
notoriously tough problem.

Tires can be made puncture resistent in 2 ways. First, the tire can 
incorporate a puncture resistent layer, often made of a tough 
material like Kevlar. On some tires, this protective layer is 
positioned only under the tread, allowing the sidewall to kept more 
flexible but vulnerable to puncture. Other tires put this protective 
layer on the whole tire, including the sidewall. This can make the 
tire less comfortable and slower by making the sidewall stiffer. 
Another approach is to make the tire's tread or sidewall thicker by 
using more rubber. As a rule, the more puncture resistent the tire 
is the harsher riding and slower it will be.

Manufacturer's claims can give decent clues about puncture resistence.
If a model incorporates protective layers, they are quick to talk
about it in their marketing materials such as web sites.  Reputation
and word of mouth is another potentially good source of information.
Some very durable tires have survived in product lines for several
years for good reason.


SIDE WALL DURABILITY - Riding in gravel can cause the sidewall of
a tire to be cut by a sharp stone.  The same Kevlar layer used to
add puncture resistence can help, as can thicker rubber on the 
sidewalls.  Again, the more resistent the sidewall is to damage
from being cut, the rougher and slower the tire will be as a 
general rule of thumb.

When sidewall durability is needed, I look for a tire with a 
protective layer that covers the sidewalls.  Manufacturer's literature
is a good way to find this out.  For really harsh conditions, I'll 
also look for thick sidewalls.  The Schwalbe Marathon and Marathon
Plus is a ridiculously durable tire. 

 
BEAD CONSTRUCTION - The bead of a tire can be steel or some bendable
material like Kevlar.  Kevlar beaded tires are more expensive.  The
"advantage" of this more expensive bead is that you can fold the
tire.  This can be helpful if you need to carry a spare tire in a
pannier on a tour.  Kevlar beads are also lighter, which may be
important if you are trying to get the lightest tire possible.


PRESSURE RATINGS - Back in the 1970s, higher pressure ratings on 
tires became associated with better quality tires. As tires got 
thinner through the 1980s and 1990s, the norm in tire pressures also
went up.  

As a rule, I totally disregard inflation ratings on tires since I
generally run my tires well below the maximum ratings given.  One of
the best articles on tire pressure that is on the Web remains
Sheldon Brown's article which is avaialable at:
  http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#pressure


For more information on tires in general, I suggest reading Sheldon's
entire article at:
  http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html


Copyright by Dave Mann, 2008