Have I been sold a crap tyre?

[RichardWHardwick]

Got a puncture this morning, a couple of pieces of glass in my back wheel, so took it off and drove to Edinburgh Cycles in Newcastle and asked if I needed to get a new tyre. The bloke said not for local riding but yes, because we're doing the coast and castles in less than three weeks.
Anyway, they didn't have any of the same Schwalbe tyres in there - so the choice was between a £35 puncture resistant one and a £10 Zaffiro Vittoria one. Then they didn't have the right size in the more expensive one so sold me the Zaffiro for a tenner and said it was a good tyre.
Not put it on yet but it doesn't feel as flexible as the one that came off it.
And so, I'm wondering, is it a crap tyre or is it fine?
I ride a Canondale Synapse 150 Disc - my first road bike. I don't plump for super expensive stuff, but would usually go for mid-range items.....

 

[vickster]

The Rubinos are good, the Zaffiros are not by all accounts, so yes, possibly. It's very much entry level if £10 from a shop (the Rubinos are a tenner or so from Wiggle etc)

I'd order something better online in prep for your long ride, although I am sure any tyre should hold up ok for 3 weeks!

 

[I like Skol]

My roadbike came with the same Zaffiro tyres you have just bought and I have never thought they were lacking in any way. In fact I recently bought another pair so I could swap my part worn ones on to my sons bike and replace the perished tyres his secondhand bike came with. These tyres are good for 100 mile rides and fast Peak District blasts.

The best bit is that they can be bought for less than £10 so represent fantastic value for money.

 

[Drago]

You got a tenners worth of tyre.

 

[martint235]

I rode with a rear Zaffiro for about 500 miles. Never had an issue or a puncture, I only changed it due to a perverse (and probably incorrect) feeling that it wasn't right to ride hundreds of miles on a £10 tyre. It's still in the shed somewhere

 

[Arthur]

I ran Zaffiros on one of my bikes for about a year without picking up any punctures. I may have just been lucky.

 

[puffinbilly]

No they're fine and Edinburgh coop in Newcastle are good. I had a Continental tyre completely shredded when up near the Scotswood bridge about a month ago and the Cycle Hub helped me out by fitting a Schwalbe Lugano - which I thought was rubbish - but turns out the problem was a slow p in the tube they fitted. I've just bought some Rubinos for a tenner after my experience with the Continental that cost three times what the Rubinos did.

 

[Torvi]

i got myself rubinos for 15 quids for pair at halfrauds and you guys keep on overpaying at wiggle

 

[jay clock]

I used a pair on my winter bike with very few "issues". Good value and seemed fine. In fact I also had a pair on my summer bike a couple of years ago, and all fine. Come in lovely range of colours too

 

[Nigelnaturist]

No they're fine and Edinburgh coop in Newcastle are good. I had a Continental tyre completely shredded when up near the Scotswood bridge about a month ago and the Cycle Hub helped me out by fitting a Schwalbe Lugano - which I thought was rubbish - but turns out the problem was a slow p in the tube they fitted. I've just bought some Rubinos for a tenner after my experience with the Continental that cost three times what the Rubinos did.

Well my front Gatorskin has done 8,000 miles without a puncture, and still miles left on it., usually around the £22 on the net, though I got a bargain from halfords last year, £28 for two, the rear died after hitting a stone pretty hard, only real damage a chunk of rubber off it, and it still ran a few hundred miles, but I hit the stone so hard it dinged my rim, so can't fault the tyre.

 

[RichardWHardwick]

thank you everyone. I'm still a numpty when it comes to most things about bikes - though I am getting faster and better at riding it. Good to know that some of you are quite happy with such a tyre. It's on and I had a quick blast down the road and back a few times in the dark (I love riding in the dark!) and it feels alright ...