Hi everyone! When I bought a new bike, it came with very cheap tires (Chaoyang H-473). Unfortunately after about a month of use the rear tire is already going bald. Now, I want to replace them with quality tires for touring. First, my though was to buy Marathons, as I have rolled Marathon Racers sometime ago, and I absolutely loved them. Marathons Plus looked a bit too beefy IMO, so I decided to go for regular Marathons. However, in my area only Green Marathons are available, and those have sizes that aren't compatible with my bike (32 is kinda small, 40 is too large; my bike runs 37-622).
When choosing other tires, I have looked at www.bicyclerollingresistance.com . They have the rating for "touring/ebike" tires, and one tire stands out: Continental Contact Urban. It is one of the best, and it's in my price range (~30$ per tire). They are also E-Bike ready, which suggests they will have more wear-resistant compound.
However, it's almost completely skinny, and I wonder how bad that is for touring. Although I ride 80% road 20% unpaved trails currently, I have never actually toured very much, so I don't know how it is in practice. I am talking touring through central Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy).
Would Continentals be good? Or should I look at a different tire?
Thank you.
Edit: wanted to clarify, that by "Skinny tires" I meant those, that have flat surface without knobs.
by libregrape
2 Comments
Yes, they are great. Good on gravel, in the rain and last year in Austria right after the high water I had no problems even in the fine clay everywhere. Except for some extreme alpine rocky roads, I am not aware of anything better for the usual European touring mix of surfaces.
37mm slicks (i think that’s the word you were looking for) are generally good enough for a lot of road types including gravel, just not very wet or loose, rocky terrain.