What tyres do you use for touring?

[psmiffy]

Except for one occasion I've never found punctures on tour to be a significant problem - however, if you are out in the open and it is 40° or it is raining heavily then it can be not that pleasant - plus a puncture at the end of the day can make the difference between getting to where you want to be in daylight or the dark.

• I started off using the old conti -top touring - good tyre which wore reasonably well and I never never really had that many punctures when they were reasonably new -but tended as the F1 chappies say go over the cliff
• then Pasela -which I found wore too quickly - both the tread and the side wall - only tyres I have ever had to change because the side walls had failed
• replaced on tour with some Kenda touring tyres - did what it said on the tin but the only set of tyres that I have owned that i noticed the weight
• replaced with standard kevler marathons - both tyres rendered unusable for future tours in the single incident with the thorns
• replaced with Marathon plus - never really noticed they were heavy and did the thick end of 10k on them in a single tour without a single puncture - and still a lot of life left in them

 

[sollophonic]

I recently fitted some Schwalbe Mondials to my bike, to replace the 28mm GatorSkins, that rode like garden hoses, jarring, harsh, and with skittery grip round the corners, especially while braking.

Sure the Mondials are bigger, but I would argue that I now ride faster and smoother. I can descend faster, without worrying about loss of traction, I ride over rough patches and potholes rather than round them, they bounce over bumps rather than hit them head on, and I don't think I'll be going back to skinny tyres again anytime soon.

I can also choose to take the odd bridlepath or towpath too!!

 

[hoopdriver]

Marathon Plusses for me, although on my lightweight tourer i have Panaracer Paselas - another excellent tyre.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Transit van tyres. But having not read the entire thread there's a chance I'm talking about a different type of touring.

Up the punks!