Armadillos for commuting, Randonneurs for skidding, Rubinos for cheapness and accessibility and colours, Gator skins for durability…
I’ve been using Zaffiro’s and Ultra sports and i’m starting to look afield, thoughts…
Michelin carbon on the front, Grippy and fully slick 
Everwear on the back, 4 months of skidding around and I’m only just going to replace it now.
yeh, everwear for skidding!!
these days due to my more trick orientated riding style, im running 30mm tioga commuter/dirt road/ kinda things.
helps stop pinch flats when jumping 
Gatorskin 23mm on the front.
Rear varies depending on what is stocked, but highlights include Rubino Tech, Stelvio Plus and even the poor mans gatorskins something something sport.
I’m running a 23mm schwalbe blizzard on the back at the moment that seems ok.
Rando’s for the rear. Because i heart mash hahaha Nah got em diiirt cheap.
Conti’s are a great tyre. Love them on my roadie. Going to try those Tioga Commodo’s in the near future b’cos they are a nice wide 700x30c.
Whatever really…
At the moment on the Malvern Star Vittoria Rubino (700x23c) on the front (it was on sale) and a Conti Ultra-Race (700x23c) on the back. I didn’t pay anything for the Conti except postage. On the Europa it’s a Michelin Speedium 2 on the front (700x23c) and a Vittoria Rubino (700x23c) on the back. Once again, the rear tyre was free and the front was on sale through Torpedo 7 and I wanted a red tyre.
I pretty much run whatever I can get for free (and matches my bike) on the rear.
Had Conti Ultra Sports which seemed to last well until the rear buckled, (stretched side wall?) The front is still going fine.
Put a Vittoria Rando on the rear, didn’t last very long. I’ve been on the nylon for a couple of weeks now but it just won’t die!
Keen to try the Stelvios or Schwalbe Marathons next.
Same.
I am actually going to try double tyres before that though. I have been reading up on it on other forums. So i’ll let you’ll know how it goes.
White vittoria rubino pro on the front (700x23).
Schwalbe durano plus (new name for stelvio plus) 23mm on the rear. Wears well, rides well, skids well, and good puncture protection.
Schwalbe Stelvio Plus (now Durano Plus). NEVER had a puncture in 3.5 years on these and don’t hesitate to ride over glass etc.
Best street tyre EVER!
Sorry to threadjack, but I’m also interested in what sort of life fixed gear riders get out of their tyres. I was surprised that my Vittorias went through to the inner rubber after only about a month, and I’ve only got a short commute and only skid when necessary (or when asked.)
when asked like so? http://vimeo.com/3657415?pg=embed&sec=
EDIT - also, for the record I use Michelin Lithions on my pub thrasher bike (rubbish for skids, but I dont do skids so no loss there) and Panaracer T-Serv messenger tyres on my commuter fixed gear.
The Panaracers are amazing, highly recommended in my opinion! They really take a hammering. If they are still on my bike come next roobaix I will test them over the cobbles.
vittoria open paves (the ones with the green stripe) for commuting, Melburn cobbles, rail cinders/gravel - good for puncture resistance;
Vittoria rubino pros for training;
Veloflex paves for racing/training on the roadies;
Deda tres for training on one of the roadies;
Have used conti gp 4000s on the roadie and maxxis slicks of some sort;
vittoria evo cs pista tubulars on the track bike.
Vittoria Rubino Pros for commuting. Have lasted ages on both bikes and never seem to puncture.
I just picked up some Vittoria Diamante Pros that where 40% off. We’ll see how they go.
If yer interested I’ve done 2 years and going strong on a pair of Rubino’s. 25 minutes or so of riding a day. Riding over glass and all sorts of other shit that seems to be on the road. Average about 2 punctures a year. Which I always thought was pretty good but I don’t know maybe thats a lot.
+1 everwears are great for skidding BUT WATCH THE SIDE WALLS mine has a slight hole and another two friends had to get theirs replaced it got that bad.
Funny you should mention that. Me and Bender! found a little snick outta his sidewalle the other day . 5mm of rubber in the middle but they got dick all rubber on the walls. even brand new.
Will not when any beauty pageants, but the Bontrager Hardcase Racelite seem to have fantastic puncture resistance. Was running 32mm on the steamroller for a while (because I could!) and have recently dropped back to 23mm to save a bit of weight. so far, still no punctures, but I don’t hit the gutters as hard as I did on the 32’s.
I reckon 25-28 would be the almost perfect commute tyre.
-J.B.
currently have a panaracer t-serv for messenger on the front (700x25) that i put on for the roubaix. ran it at 75psi and it was amazing… currently have it up at ~110psi and its been great in the rain and for sucking up extra bumps.
i have an eversquare on the back that i got for cheeep, and it reminds me why i dont like them. they do last, but im not a fan of the way they feel when skipping/skidding but freely admit ymmv. they do skid for ages, but i find them kinda sketchy when they have squared out.
a side note about the sidewalls: the first batch(es) of everwears released (not sure if they made it to australia) were notorious for blowing sidewalls. from what i understand its more to do with the fact that you have a big thick piece of rubber (tread) bonding/transitioning to a thinner piece (sidewall). when pumped to standard pressure the rubber in the sidewall is absorbing a disproportionate amount of force. over time (this could be as little as a month, but seemed to be more around the 3-6mth mark) the sidewall started to crack or fail as it didnt deal with this extra force well. it wasnt a universal problem but from what we saw in vancouver it affected about 1/3rd of the tyres. soma/panaracer stopped production for a while and i had heard/thought that the issue had been fixed, but perhaps not.
im a fan of gatorskins for a front tyre… they seem to last and last for me, but im curious about how they ‘stick’ in the real wet. when i was living in canada i ran 25c commuter tyres (vredestein/panaracer/WTB) on the front through winter for the extra traction/rubber you get, without trading rolling resistance off too much.
i used to run whatever i could get cheap on the back, but living back in the land of broken bottles in the street im now spending a bit more for rear protection.
i love vredesteins (fortezza tri-comp especially) for feel (wet or dry), but they seem to cut up really easy whenever ive run them. :x
pretty keen to try duranos… but they were out of stock when i went for new tyres for the roadie.
Commuter/Fixie: 25c Gatorskin/35c Conti Sport Contact/35c Vittoria Cross - depending where I’m heading for the day.
Love the gators, mine are cut up to buggery and still going (I don’t skid, not deliberately anyway)
Roadies: Conti GP4000 - got onto a bulk lot a while ago and slowly working through them.
i’ve been using maxxis detonators, they’re cheap but seem to be pretty good quality rubber. last for ages. they have a grippy rubber stripe down each side which is awesome on corners in the rain.
also tried vittoria rubinos, (not the pro kind) they were good and cheap, but still preferred the maxxis on corners.
got some second hand hutchinsons once, they were total rubbish.
i’ve always just gone for 23c. i guess 25 or 28 might handy for polo, maybe i’ll try that next.