Tech
Price: £25.99
per tyre
From Where:
Chain Reaction Cycles (chainreactioncycles.com)
Tech Spec:
700cc by 28
Duration of Test: Rear
approx. 18 months, possibly longer, front 10 months
I’ve
been through a lot of road bike tyres. Living along the route of one of the
country’s longest pub crawls with the largest student population in the country
certainly puts them through their paces. There’s nothing like the howl of
frustration as you pull another shard of broken glass in the heaving February
rain at 7am on a Monday to set the tone for your week. That’s not even taking
into account the appalling quality of the roads in Leeds, and the other general
detritus that is the general enemy of the morning cyclist. However, I genuinely
believe that the search is over for the perfect road/commuting tyre.
Schwable make these tyres in a variety of
sizes and widths ranging from standard road sizes down to 20 and 16 inch for folding bikes, so depending on what you’re looking for, you should be able to
get some that suit your purpose. I’ve got them in 700cc (for a standard road
bike size wheel) and in a 28 width, which is a little wider than your average
road bike tyre, as it takes some of the road buzz out of the ride and it’s a
bit less jarring going through potholes. Schwable say they’ve got something
called “Smart Guard” which basically means that the top of the tyre has about
8mm of extra rubber built into it. Whilst this does increase the weight (see my
coaster brake review for my thoughts about weight freaks), what it basically
means is that you can push a drawing pin all the way into the top of the tyre
without causing yourself a puncture.
In
the 3000 or so miles that I have done on the back tyre and the 1600 on the front I have never (touch
wood!) had a flat. Ever. Not one single puncture, and as anyone who has ever
tried to fix a flat in the snow on his way to work can attest to, you cannot
put a price on that. The tread pattern is excellent, predictable even in the
poorest road conditions (last year’s snow for instance!). I have even taken the
tyres off road at one point (owing largely to some terrible route planning
decisions) and they even performed relatively well in wet and muddy conditions.
The tread is extremely long lasting as well, surviving the last four months of
skids with the coaster brake, with little sign of giving out any time soon.
They
can accept up to 120psi, but I typically keep mine pumped up to 100 and this
seems perfectly adequate. They’re also equipped with a reflective band all the
way round on both sides. I can’t say how well this goes towards upping you’re
visibility, but as far as I’m concerned, the more the merrier when it comes to
stuff like that. My one tiny niggle would be that owing to the extra amount of
rubber that’s gone into their construction, they’re a bit of a nuisance to fit
the first time round, but seeing as you’ll never have to take them off your
bike, this isn’t really a problem.
Score: 10/10
To Sum Up: These tyres are the shit. I cannot sing their
praises highly enough. If they made these in a size that I could put on my
cruiser, I’d be running them on that as well, but unfortunately they don’t. if
you need a dependable road/commuter/fixed tyre, look no further.
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