Been given a bike - now what?

[Sigmund Fraud]

Cheers - The spare tube is the kind of practical tip I woldn't think of - I see kevlar mentioned above, that seemed the way to go but now armadillos or gatorskins . . . so much to learn . . .

Gatorskins are shitty tyres imho - their performance is extremely variable according to batch (like a lot of Conti tyres sadly) but their grip is consistently poor. Persoanlly I think Conti UK bung the mags a ton of money to review them positively, everytime someone punctures on a club runs its a fucking gatorskin.

Armadillos are very, very hard to puncture but grip again aint great and feel is worse than shagging with four johnnys on. And they are a bastard to fit to most 700c rims.

The whole Kevlar tyre thing is really overplayed imho. Kevlar is no replacement for pumping up your tyres to the correct pressure. There are lots of cheap, non Kevlar tyres with enviable reps for puncture resistance on the market.

But then I am a fucking cumudgen and would say all of the above...

 

[Herbsman.]

What's your choice of tyre, sigmund?

 

[Herbsman.]

I've had Schwalbe puncture-resistant tyres for a year now and not had a single puncture. Reccomended

I've not used any other type of tyre for 15 months and I think I have had a maximum of about five punctures. Considering how often I am riding my bike (and how infrequently I pump my tyres up), that is pretty good.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

What's your choice of tyre, sigmund?

For training / town riding Panaracer Stradius Sport TG in 700x25: £12 a go, get about 5k from a rear and 6 from a front. I've gone through maybe 5 sets of these in 4 years and had 1 puncture - a bit of glass that would have defeated any tyre. 320g so about 180g lighter than an armadillo per wheel and not a kevlar belt in sight.

Aldo very impressed with Michelin Speedium 2s in 700x23 - have these on 1 of my fixies, so far superb, plenty of grip and only £12 a set on ebay.

Also love Vittoria Evo CG Pave in 700x24 (expensive but great for hitting cobbles at 30mph) and Vredestein Fortezza tricomps...tricomps are probably the best tyres I've ever ridden, the grip is ridiculously good but reflected in tyre life of only about 1000 miles.

Got some Panaracer Paselas on my bling fixie - so far about 500 miles with no problems, comfy as fuck too.