Without air-filled tyres, bikes would be much slower and harsher to ride. But the jargon that swirls around tyres and tyre types can be confusing. Let’s try and clear it up.

The vast majority of bikes around the world use the standard tyre and inner tube combination we’re all familiar with, but when you start looking at high-performance and special-purpose bikes, you run into a few other types. In this article we’ll try and clarify the differences for you. But first, a bit of history.

The history of the tyre

John Boyd Dunlop, inventor of the​pneumatic tyre and inspiration for hipsters

Early cycles had solid rubber tyres, which made them harsh to ride on rough surfaces. In 1887, John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinarian living in Belfast, was the first person to fit pneumatic tyres to cycles, experimenting on his son’s trike before moving to the larger wheels of racing bikes.

The key discovery Dunlop made was that air-filled tyres were not only more comfortable, they were faster. He rolled two wheels across his yard. The wheel without a tyre stopped and fell over while the wheel with a tyre kept going until it hit a gatepost and rebounded. By deforming around the road surface, a pneumatic tyre reduces the wheel’s resistance to rolling to a huge extent. Pneumatic tyres still have rolling resistance, but it’s much less than a solid tyre.

Dunlop was granted a patent on the idea in 1888, but it turned out another Scotsman, Robert William Thomson had patented pneumatic tyres in 1847, invalidating Dunlop’s claim.

The unsung hero of the Dunlop story was the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey Du Cros. After his sons were beaten in races by Willie Hume, using Dunlop’s tyres, Du Cros approached Dunlop and the two created a company to exploit Dunlop’s invention. The withdrawal of his patent was a big blow to Dunlop, but having created a market for their tyres, Du Cros rallied and secured other relevant patents that allowed the Pneumatic Tyre Company to survive.

Dunlop himself retired in 1895, aged 55, while Du Cros remained at the helm of the company under a subsequent change of ownership and a public floatation. In the process, the company’s name became Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre, even though Dunlop himself was no longer involved. The company soon diversified into car tyres and other rubber products to become one of the biggest brand names — and biggest companies — of the 20^th century.

The Dunlop name hasn’t appeared on bike tyres for several decades, but the man himself is still remembered as the father of the pneumatic tyre, and he’d recognise its modern versions as the descendants of the tyres he made to make his son’s trike more comfortable.

Tyre construction

Tyre parts.jpeg

Dunlop’s first prototypes comprised a rubber tube, made by gluing the edges of two strips of rubber, held on to the wheel by linen tape that was itself nailed or bolted into place. Today’s tyres are rather more sophisticated.

Rubber is still used to hold the air in place, though. Usually this is a tube inside the tyre that can be replaced or repaired if it gets punctured. Tubes are made from either synthetic butyl rubber made from petrochemicals or natural rubber made from the latex of the rubber tree.

The inner tube is held in place by a casing made from layers of cloth, which holds in the pressure. The cloth, which usually has unwoven fibres aligned at an angle across the tyre, may be made from nylon, polyester, cotton, or silk. As a rule of thumb, the finer the casing — it’s measured in threads per inch or tpi — the better the quality of the tyre. Basic tyres have 15 or 33tpi casings, while the cloth used in the best casings usually has 120tpi. Larger numbers indicate the manufacturer is adding up the count for each layer.

The sides of the tyre, between the bead and tread, are called sidewalls. City bike tyres often have a reflective layer on the sidewalls for night-time visibility.

The tyre also needs to grip the road, and to do this it has an outermost layer of rubber, the tread. That term refers to the rubber itself, not the pattern moulded into it. Tread rubber is mixed with various additives, including carbon black and silica, to improve its grip and durability.

Many tyres also have an additional layer under the tread to reduce punctures.

One of the objectives of a tyre designer is to reduce rolling resistance to an absolute minimum. To this end, top-quality tyres have thin, supple casings and tread.

Almost all tyres share these features, but the details of how they’re assembled vary. Let’s take a closer look.

Clinchers

Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss Ready 700x38 Tyre - Side.jpg

An off-road clincher like this Specialized Trigger Pro has a knobby tread pattern for grip on loose surfaces

This is the standard tyre we all know, love and curse at when it goes flat. It’s a U-shape in cross-section, moulded into a hoop by machine. A bead at each end of the U hooks into the rim. The casing spans the beads, and wraps round them. The tread is moulded into place when the tyre is made.

The big advantage of this design, and the reason why it dominates, is that fitting and replacing it is a low-skill job so the inner tube can be replaced fairly easily if you get a puncture. The combination of hook on the rim and bead on the tyre provides decent protection against the tyre blowing off too; you can usually inflate a clincher tyre to twice its recommended maximum before it will blow off.

The disadvantages are that it’s inherently heavier than a tubular, because the rim isn’t a simple tube, but needs an extension for the hook, and the tyre has a bead. Inexpensive tyres have steel beads, better ones have beads made of Kevlar or similar, which saves weight and allows them to be folded for storage or to be carried as spares.

A puncture that completely deflates a clincher tyre can be dangerous. The tyre is only held in place by air pressure, and can come away from the rim if it goes flat. That can lead to catastrophic loss of control if it happens to a front tyre at speed.

A disadvantage that’s not inherent to the design but rather a symptom of the slightly anarchic nature of the bike industry is that you can’t be sure just how well any given tyre will fit your rim. The most common tyre size for road bikes is known as 700C, a name that comes from a now-defunct French tyre sizing system. Under the International Standards Organisation system for sizing tyres, all 700C rims and tyres measure 622mm across the bead seat, the section of the rim where the tyre bead sits.

However, if the standard imposes tolerances for this measurement, they’re not widely observed. It’s not unusual to find some tyre and rim combinations go together quite easily, while others are extremely difficult, or even impossible. If you’re fitting new tyres, you’ll find out soon enough if they’re on the tight side. If they’re very hard to fit, they’ll be similarly hard to remove, which can be a big problem if you’re trying to fix a puncture on the way to work on a dark, cold and damp January morning.

Tubulars

vittoria-corsa-cx-tub-white.jpg

A tubular tyre like this Vittoria Corsa has the casing sewn around the inner tube and no beads to hold it in place. Instead it's glued to the rim.

This is the tyre construction that’s most similar to the tyres Dunlop sold back in the 1890s. The casing is wrapped around the inner tube and sewn together, with a tape over the stitching to protect it. The whole thing is then glued to the rim.

The biggest advantage of making a tyre this way is that it’s light. Without the tyre bead or rim hook of a clincher, a tubular and rim will always be lighter than an equivalent clincher, though the gap is now so small as really makes no difference.

If you get a puncture in a tubular while riding, then you’ll need to replace the tyre. That means carrying a spare, traditionally strapped to your saddle rails with an old toestrap. Your spare needs to have been previously mounted on a wheel so it has some glue to key to the rim when you need it.

This is both an advantage and disadvantage of tubulars. You have to replace a whole tyre because a field-repair isn’t feasible, but swapping a tyre is quicker than replacing an inner tube. To repair the tyre you have to find the puncture, remove the backing tape, unstitch the casing and pull out a section of tube. You patch the tube and reverse the process to put it all back together again. This faff is why tubulars have almost vanished outside of elite racing.

Kenda Domestique Tubular Tyres

A tubular tyre folds or easy storage or carrying as a spare

Tubulars are still widely used in pro racing because you can carry on riding with a puncture while a support vehicle gets to you, and of course riders don’t have to repair them, or fit them in the first place.

Nevertheless, some riders swear by tubulars, claiming that high-end, handmade tubulars in particular give a nicer ride than clinchers and get fewer punctures. These tyres get their qualities from their very fine, supple casings — which can be made of cotton, polyester or even silk — and thin tread layers. Instead of the tyre being vulcanised in one piece at high temperature, the tread is glued into place at lower temperature. This is said to make for a more flexible tread because the process doesn’t harden the rubber.

Tubeless

Hutchinson tubeless tyre.jpg

The 'Road Tubeless' logo is the only way to tell that a fitted tyre doesn't have a tube lurking within

The clue’s in the name: these are clincher tyres that don’t have an inner tube. Instead, the tyre seals against the rim, and the air is held in by either a rubber layer on the inside of the tyre or by a liquid sealant.

The main advantage is that these tyres are immune to a certain type of puncture, known as a snakebite or pinch puncture. A snakebite puncture happens when the inner tube is trapped in a fold of the tyre between the ground and the rim, producing a characteristic pair of holes in the tube. If there’s no tube, this can’t happen.

Snakebite punctures are a big problem for mountain bikers, who usually run their tyres at low pressures for maximum grip, so they’ve enthusiastically embraced tubeless tyres. Snakebites are less of an issue for road cyclists, though the deterioration of the UK’s roads in the last decade has seen riders turning to fatter tyres at lower pressures to improve comfort.

Tubeless tyres need a matching rim, either without spoke holes or with a rim tape that seals the spoke holes. The tyre bead is shaped to to seal against the rim, and the sizing is more precise than that of ordinary clinchers.

Tubeless tyres fall into two categories: full tubeless and tubeless ready. Full tubeless have a layer of rubber on the inside of the tyre to retain air. Tubeless ready tyres have the necessary bead shape to seal against a tubeless-compatible rim, but a conventional casing to save weight. With the addition of 30-60g of sealant to keep the air in, this can be lighter than a conventional tyre and tube.

Browse a few mountain bike websites and you’ll likely find instructions for rolling your own tubeless systems using tubeless rim tape and sealant with conventional tyres and rims. This is a bad idea for road bikes. The higher pressures of road bike tyres mean that the accurate fit of a proper tubeless tyre is crucial to success. Without it, a bodged-up system can fail in use.

Hutchinson and Shimano created the original Road Tubeless tyres and rims, and other manufacturers have produced their own interpretation of the idea. Most recently, Mavic has announced a range of wheels and tyres under the Road UST brand, and has submitted the specification to the International Standards Organisation and the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation for ratification as a standard any tyre and rim maker can use.

Open tubulars

Corsa_Speed_tubeless.jpg

With thin tread and only two layers of casing an open tubular uses the same lightweight construction as a tubular

An open tubular is a clincher that’s made with the same construction methods as a handmade tubular. The term is part marketing, part description, as it’s a way of explaining why some high-end clinchers are rather expensive.

Fans of these tyres say they have the ride quality of a tubular, which is what you’d expect as they use the same high-thread-count casing materials and thin, hand-glued tread.

A few years ago it was almost a sure bet that a tyre labelled as an open tubular would be among the fastest, smoothest-rolling tyres.

Solid and foam tyres

Aither 1.1 700x23 b.jpeg

Tannus tyres are made from lightweight foam. The holes are for mounting pins to hold them to the rim.

Over the years there have been many attempts to market puncture-proof tyres that fit conventional rims. These have usually involved tyres made from solid rubber, or tyres with a very thick layer of rubber round a hollow core, or tyres made from some sort of foam.

Without pressurised air in them, such tyres usually give a very harsh ride. In order to keep them on the rim they have to be a very tight fit, which makes them very hard to mount too.

Solid and foam tyres are not made of the same rubber as tyre tread, but are moulded from other materials like polyurethane. However, that can lead to problems with grip, as a slipperier tyre surface won’t stick to the road as well.

The only tyre maker that seems to have overcome some of these problems is Tannus, a Taiwanese division of a chemical company that among other things makes shock-absorbing sole components for sport shoes. Tannus has a proprietary foam it calls Aither 1.1 and claims tyres made from it ride like good quality city bike tyres.

People who’ve used Tannus tyres concur. Rolling resistance is reportedly only a bit higher than a pneumatic tyre and they have decent grip.

However, Tannus has only partially solved the fitting issues, using plastic pins through the tyre to hold it in place. This makes for a time-consuming mounting process best left to a bike shop that has Tannus’ special tools.

road.cc tyre reviews

More road.cc articles on tyres

Road tubeless: everything you need to know
Your guide to road cycling tyres + 17 of the best
Buyer's guide to tubeless tyres — your options in new technology rubber
The best tyres to keep you cycling through winter​

The growing appetite for gravel and adventure bikes and the riding these bikes allows have fuelled an increase in the availability of wide gravel-specific. This guide brings together a variety of 30 to 45mm tyres designed for tackling mixed terrain with a focus on off-road capability.

All about the adventure

What's the difference between gravel and adventure? Not much… The two terms are essentially interchangeable. The US has a popular gravel bike racing scene but it’s been slow to catch on in the UK, mainly down to our lack of endless miles of gravel roads, though there are a few new events that are tapping into this appeal such as the Dirty Reiver, the Dorset Gravel Dash and others. What has caught on over here though on is the desire for adventure, with long distance rides over varying terrain and bikepacking becoming increasingly popular. Events like the Transcontinental Race have certainly helped, putting the adventure back into cycling.

Mason Bokeh - riding 3.jpg

Manufacturers have been quick to cotton onto this desire for bikes that offer more capability to expand riding horizons more than regular road bikes allow. Gravel and adventure bikes can accommodate bigger tyres, the geometry is influenced by endurance bikes, they offer the versatility of a touring bike and there are disc brakes for all-weather control. These traits make a gravel and adventure bike perfect for a wide range of riding, including commuting, touring, Audax, winter training and are ideal for beginners. And the bigger more aggressive tyres provide more comfort and make it possible to get away from congested roads and into the sanctuary of the open countryside. They can be ridden anywhere, and they’re adaptable and versatile.

Read more: 16 of the best 2017 gravel & adventure bikes

Growing tyre choice

And with the growing bike choice comes a growing tyre choice. The tyre you choose can dictate the sort of riding the bike can be used for. Choosing the right tyre comes down to the style of riding you have in mind. Mostly road? You want a smoother tyre that emphasises low rolling resistance. Want to ride predominantly off-road? A tyre with an aggressive tread pattern to provide grip in dirt, gravel, grass and mud is going to be preferable. And there are many tyres that attempt to bridge these two extremes, with a smooth centre section and bigger shoulder knobs, to provide road and off-road capability. The tyres in this guide lean towards off-road riding where grip on grass, gravel, mud and dirt is important, but most also offer the rolling speed you want for hardpack and tarmac roads, to provide that essential versatility.

Mason Bokeh - fork clearance.jpg

How wide you go comes down principally to what your bike will accommodate and how wide you think is right for the riding you're doing and terrain you're tackling. At the time of writing a 38-40mm tyre is a very popular width for gravel and adventure riding, but there are many options between 30-34mm if clearance is tight on your bike, and you can go up to 50mm if you have space and want the biggest volume. We're mostly concentrating on 700c tyres here, but there's a growing interest in the smaller 650b size, which provides the benefit of a bigger tyre volume with roughly the same outside diameter as a 40mm tyre on a 700c rim.

Read more: Is 650b the future for road bikes? road.cc investigates

Let's take a look at some of your choices.

Compass Steilacoom TC — £56-£70

compass_steilacoom_tyre.jpg

The Compass Steilacoom TC tyre is a fabulously grippy, fast-rolling tyre off-road that displays frankly ridiculous speed on the hard stuff too. The performance comes at a price you'll forget the moment you hit the first transition from tarmac to gravel.

Read our review of the Compass Steilacoom TC

Schwalbe G-One Bite MicroSkin TL-Easy — £42.95

Schwalbe G-One Bite MicroSkin tyres.jpg

The G-One Bite is a more off-road orientated version of the acclaimed G-One All-round, with  bigger knobbles and a more pronounced shoulder making them more suited to gravel and hardpacked trails. They still roll smoothly on Tarmac but when you get to the gravel or hardpacked trails the fun really begins. We've ridden them on 40mph descents and tough climbs and the G-One Bites never put a foot wrong, no matter what type or size of gravel we were riding over.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One Bite MicroSkin TL-Easy
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Kenda Cholla Pro — £27.49

Kenda Cholla Pro Tubeless Ready Tyre.jpg

Kenda's Cholla Pro is a supple tubeless-ready mud-conquering tyre for skinnier-framed bikes at a fairly sensible price. If you like it mucky and flat-free, it's a great option – particularly if you have limited clearance.

The Cholla Pro has a striking squared-off tread profile, with no chance of getting tyre orientation wrong; arrows point forwards folks. Based on "the hooks and barbs of the cholla cactus", says Kenda, this is somewhat ironically not a tyre for the desert – at just under 33mm fitted to a 19mm rim, you're more likely to dig into soft sand than float over it.

Read our review of the Kenda Cholla Pro
Find a Kenda dealer

Schwalbe G-One All-Round — £24.50

schwalbe-g-one-tyre.jpg

German tyre company Schwalbe hit a home run when it introduced the G-One. The close-packed circular knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. They’re tubeless and we’ve never had any problems sealing them on a wide range of rims. It’s available in 35 and 40mm widths.

There's also a MicroSkin TL-Easy tubeless version for £41.50.

Read our Schwalbe G-One Review

Halo Twin Rail — £22.99

halo twin rail.png

The Halo features two central rails (hence the name) along the centre section for fast rolling speed on the straight with raised square blocks of alternating size on either side. They’re directional tyres with a puncture protection system and come in all-black or with tan sidewalls.

Challenge Gravel Grinder — £43.99

01938_Gravel_Grinder120_low.jpg

Challenge offers a couple of gravel tyres but this one is actually named for the riding it’s intended for. It combines tall and long shoulder knobs for cornering grip and a low profile dimpled centre section for fast rolling speed. It’s available in 33 and 38mm widths.

Donnelly/Clement X’Plor MSO — £39.99

MSO_40_1.jpg

Donnelly (the new name for the tyres formerly known as Clement) has designed the X’Plor MSO for mixed conditions with a smooth rolling centre section and bigger shoulder knobs, but it looks more aggressive overall than the Challenge Gravel Grinder. It comes in 32, 36 and 40mm widths and regular clincher and tubeless varieties.

Prices above are for 36mm and 40mm variants. If you need to be UCI-cyclocross-legal, you can pick up Clement-labelled 32mm X’Plor MSO for £30.98. The change of name came about when the brand's licence to Donnelly Sports LLC ended because brand owner Pirelli was returning to the bike tyre sector.

Read our review of the Donnelly/Clement X’Plor MSO

Hutchinson Overide — £34.95

hutchinson-overide-tyre.jpg

The Overide is a brand new tyre from the French company and is its début into the burgeoning gravel and adventure bike market. It comes in 35 and 38mm widths and Hutchinson has opted for a very smooth tread design with low profile diamond shaped blocks of alternating size. It’s tubeless-ready with a dual compound construction.

Maxxis Rambler — £59.95

Maxxis Rambler

The Rambler is Maxxis’ first gravel-specific tyre and it comes in both 38 and 40mm width options with a tightly packed tread design, including ramped centre knobs for improved rolling speed when on the smooth. The side knobs have been spaced out more to improve cornering traction in the loose.

Panaracer Gravel King SK — £29.99

Panaracer Gravelking 700x32c 2.jpg

Panaracer has been quick to offer a wide range of suitable gravel tyres, and it keeps on adding new options. It offers tyres with a smooth file tread pattern up to more aggressive tread pattern such as the one pictured above, and a wide range of widths from 23 to 43 and 700c and 650b options. It’s recently added the first mud-specific gravel tyre we’ve come across and there are new tubeless options being added this year.

Read our Panaracer Gravelking 32mm review

Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss — £40

specialized-trigger-pro-2bliss-ready-700x38-tyre-top.jpg

Specialized has a number of gravel and adventure bikes in its range now (Diverge and Sequoia) and so it has designed the Trigger for dealing with mixed terrain. Tightly packed diamond shape blocks make up the centre section for a fast rolling tyre on tarmac and hardpack dirt roads, and more widely spaced shoulder blocks for leaning the bike over and steering control. The Trigger is available in four widths: 33, 38, 42 and 47mm.

Read our Specialized Trigger Pro review

Surly Knard — £26.99/£44.99

Surly Knard 700 x 41.jpg

Surly’s Knard has a closely spaced tread pattern for providing speed over varied terrain, and there’s enough grip for loose and slippery trail conditions. The tread pattern comprises aggressive square blocks with only the edge knobs being rectangular to allow for lean and grip in the corners. Surly offers the Knard in a variety of wheel sizes, including 650b, 26 and 29in, and a 700x41mm. The cheaper price gets you a 33 threads-per-inch casing; the spendier version is 127tpi.

Read our Surly Knard review

Vee Rubber Rail — £39.99

Vee Rail Tyre -1.jpg

Vee Tire is a relatively young tyre company but its Rail gravel tyre has been gaining quite a few fans in the UK. It’s a 40mm wide tyre that the company has said is designed for speed, and it features a low profile tread design with forward pointing arrows and larger shoulder knobs. A dual compound tread construction and tubeless compatibility complete the details.

Read our review of the Vee Tire Rail

WTB Riddler — £31

wtb riddler

WTB has taken its mountain bike tyre of the same name and shrunk it down to 37 and 45mm widths for gravel and adventure bikes. A fast and low profile tread pattern across the top of the tyre should provide good rolling resistance, while aggressive shoulder knobs deliver cornering grip.

Teravail Cannonball — £54.99

Teravail Cannonball

Teravail is a US company, the home of this whole gravel bike explosion, and its Cannonball is one of three gravel tyres it offers. This one is designed for dealing with any “coarse gravel” and features a closely packed tread pattern, with slightly raised bigger centreline block, and more widely spaced and longer blocks on the edge of the tyre. It has a tough construction, is tubeless ready and is available in 42mm width.

• Your choice of tyres depends on the compromise of speed, longevity and puncture-resistance that works best for you.

• Light, fast tyres — especially in larger sizes like 25mm and 28mm widths — can be a huge improvement to the ride feel of your bike.

• Standard tyres with separate inner tubes — known as clinchers — are the most common type, but tubeless tyres are gaining popularity.

• One-piece tubular tyres are now used almost entirely for racing.

• Anti-puncture belts under the tread reduce flats and in some cases eliminate them almost entirely; they're the way to go for practical bikes.

The perfect tyre for road cycling would weigh nothing, have zero rolling resistance, last forever and make your bike feel like you were floating suspended above the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist, but the best modern tyres manage to excel in one or more categories. Here's a selection of the best.

This selection of the best-rated tyres we've reviewed in the last few years, plus a couple of popular classics, covers the range from sturdy commuting tyres to super-fast race rubber. What features should you look for in choosing a tyre?

Tyre types

There are three types of performance bike tyres: clinchers, tubulars and tubeless. Clinchers are the regular tyre type you're almost certainly familiar with. They have a wire bead that holds their shape and fits in a hook on the rim to hold them in place.

Tubular tyres have the tyre carcass sewn around the inner tube; the whole lot is then glued to a special rim with a concave surface for the tyre. This is still the lightest way to make a tyre and rim combination, but to repair a puncture you have to unstitch and re-sew the tyre, which puts most people off.

Tubeless tyres, as the name suggests, don't have inner tubes. Air is kept in place by a sealing strip in the rim, and either a liquid sealant inside the tyre or a rubber coating.

Rolling resistance

Two main forces work against a cyclist trying to make progress along the road. Air resistance is the most famous, but the other is the rolling resistance of your tyres, and it's much less obvious.

Rolling resistance arises from the tyre flexing where it touches the road. The rubber and casing flex and unflex, and some of the energy needed to flex them is absorbed in the process and turned into heat in the process known as hysteresis. It's much more obvious where bigger forces and energies are involved; it's why your car tyres get warm as you drive.

A number of factors affect rolling resistance, including the tyre's width (see below), tread thickness and material, casing thickness and material, and tread pattern. Tyre makers spend a lot of time and money experimenting with these factors to reduce rolling resistance. Schwalbe claims to have made 50 prototypes before settling on the design of its One tyre, which is noticeably faster than many of its rivals.

Tyre colours (CC BY 2.0 FaceMePLS:Flickr)

Tyre colours (CC BY 2.0 FaceMePLS:Flickr)

The current best performers for rolling resistance are very light tyres with thin treads and casings. According to testing commissioned by VeloNews by the tyre experts at Wheel Energy in Finland, the best performers are various versions of the Specialized Turbo and Continental GP4000S II.

Grip

Grip depends on the rubber compound used in the tread. The rule of thumb used to be that you wanted a compound that contained carbon black — and would therefore be black — for the best grip, especially in the wet. Modern compounds that contain silica are now virtually as good, so if you must have red tyres, look for that in the compound.

Weight

On paper, the lighter a tyre is, the faster it will accelerate. But the tyres are such a tiny part of the total weight of bike and rider that it's very unlikely anyone can actually feel the difference between, say, a 250g tyre and a 200g tyre. However, in their quest for light weight, tyre manufacturers use light casing and thin tread rubber layers, which reduce rolling resistance and that can make a tyre feel faster.

That can mean very light tyres are not very durable, or are so thin they puncture easily. You might be prepared to put up with that for the extra turn of speed when racing, or for that special ride in the sunshine on perfect roads, but most of the time you'll want something beefier.

Folding vs rigid

Giant P SLR1 tyre.

Lightweight tyres almost all have beads made from Kevlar, which allows them to be folded for easy storage and transport. Kevlar is lighter than the traditional steel wire bead, but its resistance to stretch can make folding tyres harder to fit.

Puncture resistance

To stop foreign objects getting through the tyre to the inner tube, tyre manufacturers use various barriers in addition to the tread and tyre carcass. Layers of Kevlar or a related fabric called Vectran are used in lightweight tyres, and when weight is less of a consideration, manufacturers put an extra layer of resistant rubber under the tread. This works well; if you're not in a hurry, tyres like the Schwalbe Marathon are great for round-town peace of mind.

Tread pattern

moto tyre tread (CC BY-SA 2.0 dvanzuijlekom:Flickr)

Unlike this motorcycle tyre, bicycle tyres don't need water-dispersing patterns. (CC BY-SA 2.0 dvanzuijlekom/Flickr)

On tarmac, it really doesn't make any difference to grip what shapes the designer has carved into the tread. Bike tyres are too narrow to aquaplane at speeds below about 200mph. But the lumps of tread in between sipes and shapes can squirm, and that increases rolling resistance. The best tread pattern is therefore a smooth, slick surface, but with rare exceptions tyre company marketing departments can't seem to get their heads around this.

Width

Fatter tyres can be run at lower pressures and therefore give a smoother ride, and better grip on bad surfaces. Road tyres have long been 23mm wide, but that standard has given way to 25mm and even wider in recent years. Those extra millimetres make a noticeable difference in ride feel, and aside from a small weight penalty there's no downside.

Many people think fat tyres must be slower, but all other things being equal, the wider a tyre is, the lower its rolling resistance. This may be counter-intuitive, but it's been demonstrated time and again in rolling resistance tests.

For any given tyre pressure, the size of the tyre's contact patch will be the same. But the wide contact patch of a fat tyre has a lower circumference than the long, thin contact patch of a skinny tyre. Because less of a fat tyre flexes, rolling resistance is reduced.

Tube choice

Tubes can make a significant difference to tyre performance. The thinner, lighter and more flexible the tube, the less effect it will have on rolling resistance. That's why high-end tubular tyres have latex tubes instead of the familiar black butyl rubber. Latex tubes also provide a bit of puncture resistance as they are flexible enough to stretch round a sharp object rather than being punctured by it. However, latex is porous and needs pumping up before every ride.

Other inner tube materials occasionally crop up. Polyurethane is the most common and is currently available in tubes from Panaracer and — for mountain bikes — Schwalbe. It has the advantage of being very light and retaining air well, but it's not as stretchy as butyl or latex so needs more precise matching to tyre size. Schwalbe's polyurethane tubes use a BASF plastic called Elastollan which appears from BASF's claims to be stretchier that traditional polyurethane. Schwalbe calls it Aerothan and says 35g road bike tubes are in development, but only for disc-braked bikes.

Shopping

Tyres are typically a bit cheaper in winter. When the good weather arrives prices go up a bit.

29 of the best tyres

Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular — £41.99

challenge_strada_pro_series_tyre.jpg

Challenge's Strada Pro Open Tubular is a super-supple tyre designed for racing on rough roads. It's not the quickest tyre we've ridden, but for the battered B roads of Britain these are ideal for racing, fast riding and even as a summer training tyre.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular
Find a Challenge dealer

Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm —£73

Compass 650B x 48 Switchback Hill TC.jpg

How wide is too wide? The 48mm Switchback Hill is the widest 650B tyre that Compass makes, and too wide it ain't. It's super-comfortable, fast-rolling, tubeless-compatible, off-road-capable and light. There's really not a lot wrong here. At a time when people are doing roll-down tests to see if it's worth switching to 28mm tyres from 25s, my advice would be to skip a few sizes and fit a pair of these, if you can. They're great.

Read our review of the Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm

Hutchinson Fusion 5 11Storm Tubeless Performance — £39.95

Hutchinson Fusion 5 Tubeless Performance Road Tyre.jpg

The latest tyre from tubeless pioneer Hutchinson might just have knocked the Schwalbe Pro One out of the role of benchmark performance tubeless tyre. The traction of the Fusion 5s out of the box in a range of conditions, especially in the wet, surpasses the Pro One's. Factors like speed and rolling resistance are trickier to compare, but they certainly don't feel any slower at all, and puncture resistance is superb.In a nutshell, they're fast, grippy, supple, durable and easy to fit, and a rival for any other tubeless tyre currently available.

That's down to The new ElevenStorm rubber compound that provides the tread for the very latest version of this tyre. Warning to the wise: there are versions of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 available with Hutchinson's old HDF>5.2 tread compound. They're good tyres, but if you want the latest and greatest, look for the 11Storm

Read our review of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 ElevenStorm Tubeless Performance tyre
Find a Hutchinson dealer

Mavic Yksion Pro Road UST — £50

Mavic Yksion Pro Road UST tyre

We haven't tested Mavic's latest tyres yet, but we're hearing good things about this one. It's made in France for Mavic by Hutchinson, who know a thing or two about tubeless tyres, and scores well in Jarno Bierman's rolling resistance and puncture prevention tests. You get a pair of Yksion Pros with all of the Tarmac-orientated wheels in Mavic's new Road UST range, from the £389 Cosmic Elite UST and up.

The tread is made from the same rubber — Hutchinson calls it ElevenStorm — as the super-grippy Fusion 5 tyres, so looks an awful lot like Mavic is throwing in a pair of Fusion 5s with its Road UST wheels.

Read about Mavic's Road UST wheels and tyres

Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy 650B — £37.99

Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy Folding Road Tyre.jpg

Back in 2015 we first reviewed the Schwalbe S-One as it was then called, and it was a revelation: fast, grippy, comfortable. As a 30mm tyre it wouldn't fit in every frame, but our advice was: If you can fit 'em, buy 'em. Fast forward to 2018 and we're riding the new 40mm, 650B G-One Speed, which is every bit as good, and highlights the benefits of Road Plus, as we're now contractually obliged to call 650B, as well as any tyre we've tried.

Read our review of the 650B Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy Folding
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £36.99

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech foldable tyre.jpg

The Corsa Control G+ is the beefed-up version of Vittoria's well-respected Corsa G+. They're a great alternative to many winter-specific tyres, offering levels of rolling resistance and grip seen on your summer lightweights without compromising durability.

Find a Vittoria dealer
Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech

Pirelli P Zero Velo — £35.89

Pirelli P Zero Velo tyres 3.jpg

The Pirelli P Zero Velo tyre marks a very impressive return to cycling for Pirelli after a half-century hiatus. This tyre is fast, comfortable and long lasting, making for a great all-round ride experience on the road.

Out on the road, they are thoroughly impressive at all times, feeling fast and slippery (through the air, not on the road surface!), yet able to take on the often poorly maintained roads that I'm accustomed to in the south west. Cornering in the wet never feels sketchy, and they zip along very nicely on flat roads without giving any unwanted feedback.

I know that they have bad weather in Italy, but I'm still very impressed with how much Pirelli has obviously thought about adverse conditions when developing these tyres. I saw Pirelli testing the wet grip of the tyres on the test track outside of Milan at the launch, and it certainly appears to have paid off.

Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero Velo
Find a Pirelli dealer

Panaracer GravelKing SK — £29.99

Panaracer GravelKing SK tyre - 3.jpg

Japanese tyre company Panaracer has been quick to offer a range of gravel-specific tyres, becoming a significant player in the burgeoning market. Measuring 43mm wide, these GravelKing SK tyres are tubeless compatible and feature a tread pattern that excels both on and off road, with a tough carcass that can withstand some abuse.

The GravelKing comes in a variety of widths and tread patterns, but this SK (Small Knob) is probably the pick of the range for the latest generation of adventure bikes like the Kinesis Tripster AT, Mason Bokeh or Open UP. As well as the 43mm tested here (which was called 40 but actually measures 43mm, and is now labelled as such), the same tread pattern is offered on 26, 32 and 35mm width options if your frame doesn't offer enough clearance.

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing SK
Find a Panaracer dealer

Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm — £25

Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700x32c - Mounted.jpg

Wider road bike tyres are gaining an almost unstoppable momentum as people discover they can be both fast and comfortable, and with the emergence of the endurance road bike genre, Rubenesque road rubber is only going to become more common as bikes are designed to fit fat slicks. The Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700x32c pushes the plump limit to the point where once upon a time it might have been considered a humourously slick cyclo-cross tyre.

The R3 Hard-Case Lite comes in 23, 25, 28 and 32mm widths, and the full fat version here is something to behold, turning your road bike (if the rubber will fit) into something like a SuperMoto bike, although sideways drifts are not required on every corner, however tempting.

Read our review of the Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm
Find a Bontrager dealer

WTB Horizon TCS 650B — £38.99

WTB Horizon tyres - 1.jpg

WTB's Horizon TCS is a fast-rolling, super-grippy and super-comfortable tyre that excels on the road and is capable of tackling dry off-road trails to inject some adventure into your routes.

Tyres have been getting wider over the years, and this trend for chunkier tyres and a growing interest in gravel and dirt riding on road bikes has given rise to the return of 650B, an old standard once favoured by French touring cyclists because it allowed bigger volume tyres for more cushioning on rough and badly surfaced roads. (By shrinking the rim size you can use the bigger volume tyre.)

Read our review of the WTB Horizon TCS
Find a WTB dealer

Clement X'Plor MSO — £13-£34

Clement X'Plor MSO tyre 1.jpg

The Clemént X'Plor MSO Tubeless Folding Adventure Tyre is an excellent tubeless-ready choice for venturing off the beaten track, at speed. At £60 RRP in its tubeless-ready guise it's not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for.

The 36mm MSO measures 35mm wide on a 19mm internal-width rim. Whilst this may seem short change, unless you are 100% certain your frame is capacious enough, being a smidge under is definitely better than over, which may see your frame clogged or rubbed.

Able to be set up tubeless or tubed, there are two sizes of the tubeless MSO variant available: the tested 36mm, and a soon-to-be-launched and frankly whopping 50mm (that's 2in to you mountain bike folks). Also in the MSO range (but not tubeless) are the following variants: 32, 40 & 50mm sizes, available as both single-compound 60TPI (threads per inch) and dual-compound 120TPI casings. There's a 120TPI dual-compound 36mm MSO coming later this year. With so many variants, be sure you're ordering the right tyre.

Read our review of the Clement X'Plor MSO

Clement LCV — £21

Clement LVC Folding Road Tyre.jpg

The LCV is the latest high performance tyre from Clement and with an RRP of nearly 50 quid it's gunning for the big boys like Schwalbe and Continental. Those are pretty huge reputations to challenge, but do you know what? The LCV has them well in its sights.

The LCV is designed for all-out performance, and the moment you pull it out of the box you can feel the stickiness of the rubber so you're pretty much expecting a very grippy ride, and it doesn't disappoint.

Read our review of the Clement LCV
Find a Clement dealer

Michelin Power All Season — £28.99-£33.49

Michelin Power All Season Road tyre.jpg

Since 'four seasons in one day' is a description often applied to the British weather, these Michelin Power All Season Road tyres should be right at home among UK riders. After a typical English June, we're pleased to confirm that the performance is every bit as reliable as Michelin claims.

The All Season is one of three tyres in the Michelin Power range, each promising better performance with less drag than its predecessors, the Pro4 series. In the case of the All Season, it's grip that's the focus of performance claims, and Michelin promises 15% more grip 'on slippery surfaces' but 5% less resistance than the Pro4 Grip. Of course, this is neither here nor there if the Pro4 Grip was a pile of dingoes' kidneys, but back in 2014 our own David Arthur gave them a solid four star rating (read that review here).

At nearly 260g for the 25mm version (slightly less than officially claimed), these are hardly lightweight, but a lot of this is in the thick tread with its Aramid 'Protek +' protection layer. Over the test period I had no punctures and the tyres shrugged off some bad treatment, such as miles of freshly dressed country lanes that had gravel rattling off the down tube.

The only time you should be noticing your tyres when you are out riding is when they are failing you in some way – a puncture, a loss of grip, a noisy tread or a leaden, draggy feel. So perhaps the best thing we can say about these is that I never really noticed them.

Read our review of the Michelin Power All Season
Find a Michelin dealer

Schwalbe G-One — £37.99

Schwalbe G-One.jpg

If you can fit the Schwalbe G-One tyres in your frame, you should get some. As genuine all-rounders they're impossible to beat right now: fast rolling on tarmac and properly capable off-road. They're really, really good.

The G-One is a gravel tyre, according to Schwalbe. It's available in 35mm and 40mm widths and uses Schwalbe's Tubeless Easy construction, which the company claims makes them – you've guessed, right? – easy to set up. And they are. They went on first time every time with a Bontrager Flash Charger pump. And I even fitted them with a track pump, just so I could say I did. And that was fine too.

The close-packed knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. You can lean them right over into the the bends on the road, and they'll grab all sorts when climbing off-road.

We know plenty of people who've tried these tyres now, and we don't know anyone who doesn't love them. Try them. You'll love them.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One
Find a Schwalbe dealer

IRC Formula RBCC —£55

IRC Formula RBCC Tubeless tyres.jpg

IRC’s Formula RBCC Tubeless tyres provide outstanding grip in dry and wet conditions.

Fitting and inflation are straightforward, and once the sealant is in and distributed around the inside of the tyre, all is secure and airtight.

The round-profile tyres sit pleasantly plumply on the rim; and measured with the callipers across their widest point came up at 25.5mm. The large-volume casing certainly holds a lot of air, which is very noticeable in the ride quality. We thought for a while the council had been round fixing the roads, but that was just a dream.

The other great quality in these tyres is the grip. We took them to northwest Scotland for a few days' testing on the steepest, twistiest, wettest, gravelliest, farm-manuriest roads we could find and, honestly, it was all we could do to get them to step out of line. Only when we deliberately braked late and hard into a sharp left-hander at the bottom of a steep hill did we finally coax the back tyre into some sort of skid, and even then it was more of a correction of direction than any cause for alarm. It feels like your brakes have had an overhaul. Most impressive.

Read our review of the IRC Formula RBCC

Schwalbe Pro One tubeless — £38.49-£39.95

ProOne_Close_up

Schwalbe bills this — the improved, lighter and faster-rolling version of the One — as 'tubeless easy', and some people even claim they have managed to get these to go up with a track pump. We found them easy to fit as tubeless tyres go, but they still needed a high-pressure blast to seat them.

As far as tubeless tyres go, though, these were very easy to fit – as long as you've got some compressed air to hand, in the form of some magic pump, a CO2 inflator or a compressor.

At 291g each (claimed weight 275g each), the Pro One takes tubeless tyres a step closer to rivalling the weight of the lighter clincher and inner tube setups. They feel light and accelerate well.

They needed 60 miles or so to wear in, but then the grip increases to very reassuring levels indeed. Blatting around our local race circuit these tyres go around the very tight corners confidently at any speed.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Pro One tubeless
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Specialized S-Works Turbo — £32.99

sworks-tyre.jpg

Very fast and very light, the S-Works Turbos are tyres you'll want to save for race day or an attempt on a sportive personal best. The Blackbelt puncture protection does a reasonable job of stopping small objects from getting through the tread, but the featherweight sidewalls are easily cut. Jo Burt found that a problem when he reviewed them and I've recently had to bin a pair after forgetfully using them on less-than-perfect roads.

On a sunny day, on good Tarmac, though, they're lovely and the 28mm version could be the perfect UK summer tyre.

Find a Specialized dealer
Read our review of the Specialized S-Works Turbo

Vee Tire Co Road Runner — £34.99

Vee Tire Co Road Runner Tyre

Fast-rolling, supple tyres that offer confidence-inspiring cornering grip, and sensibly priced. Rubbing your thumb over the Road Runner from Vee Tire Co when it's in its box, you just know it's going to be grippy – the compound feels practically tacky against your skin. And it doesn't disappoint once you put tyre to tarmac.

In the dry they really grip well and give you loads of confidence to keep banking the bike over. Mini roundabouts and the like can be taken flat out and we've yet to find their limits of adhesion.

Read our review of the Vee Tire Co Road Runner
Find a Vee Tire dealer

Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm — £30.49

Continental Grandprix 4000s II 28mm

Tyres are getting bigger, and the Continental Grand Prix 4000S II 28mm is a great example of why this is A Good Thing. Assuming you can fit these tyres into your frame, there are plenty of reasons why you should. They're excellent.

Big doesn't necessarily mean slow. It certainly doesn't here. You don't notice the extra bulk of the tyre when accelerating, and once up to speed they have a very supple feel and excellent all-round grip.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm
Find a Continental dealer

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather — £14.99

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather Tyre

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather tyres are intended for use in all weathers and are one of five models in the Dutch rubber-maker's competition line-up. Over weeks of testing in conditions varying from dry to wet to icy, we've been impressed by their sure-footedness. They've also withstood the grit and the best - or worst - of the pot holes around the south-east.

Cornering is assured. The all-weather compound has been designed to provide low rolling resistance with super grip in all conditions and they do just that.

Price is for 25mm versions. If you can live with 23mm rubber, you can get them for just £14.99.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather
Find a Vredestein dealer

Zipp Tangente Speed — £49.30

Zipp Tangente Speed tyre

Zipp Tangentes are pitched as race-day tyres with an impressively low 196g weight in a 25mm size. They are very responsive and fast-rolling tyres, ideal for racing and Sunday best bikes.

They have a 220 tpi rubber/nylon casing, and weight is saved with the absence of the puncture belt that features on Zipp's two other tyres, the Course and SLSpeed tubular. We had no flats during testing. That doesn't tell you much - luck has a huge part to play in punctures as much as anything - but the clean tread with a noticeable lack of cuts and marks suggest good durability from the rubber compound.

Find a Zipp dealer

Read our review of the Zipp Tangente Speed

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite — £58.99/pr

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite tyre

The Fortezza Senso Superlite tyre is aimed at riders who want a fast, grippy tyre for all weather conditions.

The Superlite model uses a fairly fine 220 tpi carcass and is comfortably the lightest of the Fortezza Senso range. At 200g, it's not quite in Continental Grand Prix Supersonic territory, but unlike that featherweight, this tyre still has decent polyamide puncture protection. It's a similar weight to top-end offerings from Michelin and Schwalbe.

With them fitted on a race bike we were impressed by the combination of fast rolling and sure-footedness in the corners; fast hairpins held no fears with these fitted.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite
Find a Vredestein dealer

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme 28mm — £46.49/pr

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyre

The Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres bill themselves as Xtreme (sorry) weather tyres - so perfect, then, for three seasons of UK riding.

They have managed several thousand kilometres without any punctures or slide-outs in the wet, despite our tester donning his old college volleyball knee-pads and seeing if he could lose the front wheel on fast roundabouts. Come rain or shine, they have provided comfortable riding, with smooth rolling and decent acceleration, and while they are not the lightest tyres on the market, they don't seem to suffer because of the extra weight.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme
Find a Vredestein dealer

Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm — £41.99

Challenge Strada Bianca tyre

The Strade Bianche race uses the white gravel roads of Tuscany and this 30mm racing tyre is just what you need for that kind of thing. It's a brilliant all-rounder that's fast enough for nearly any road use, but with hugely improved comfort.

Out on the road they're fantastic. You can run them at hitherto-untried low pressures with little or no danger of flatting them on potholes. They roll extremely well and at 358g they're not heavyweights. It's not like sticking a set of Marathons on. These feel like race tyres, they really do, except loads more comfortable. If you want comfort on long rides but still want to go fairly fast, there aren't many better tyres we can name.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm
Find a Challenge Tyres dealer

Schwalbe One V-Guard — £19.99

Schwalbe One V-Guard tyres

Schwalbe makes the bold claim that its One tyres are the fastest the company has ever manufactured. Our roll-down testing confirms that they're fast and they feel extremely rapid with good traction in a range of conditions, with impressive puncture protection and durability.

They're now available in a wide range of sizes, up to 28mm and in clincher, tubular and tubeless. In normal use, riding the tyres daily in training, the 167km Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive and a road race, the tyres really impress. It's the sensation of speed and lack of resistance that is most noticeable. In a range of conditions too, they show incredible performance, from sun-baked to rain-sodden roads.

The link and price above is for the 23mm version. The 25mm width can be found for £30.99, while the 28mm version is £35.96.

Read our review of the Schwalbe One V-Guard
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite — £27.49

Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyre

Despite a puncture-resisting layer, the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres roll quickly and grip securely in all conditions.

They're secure in wet corners and the Hard Case puncture protection has proved more than capable of dealing with the variety of grit washed onto the roads.

Read our review of the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite
Find a Bontrager dealer

Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £26

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are essentially heavy duty, ultra reliable commu-touring tyres that inspire unprecedented confidence without feeling sluggish or barge-like, as the 970g weight for a pair would imply.

Much of this is attributable to the Smart Guard system. This is essentially a clever subsection of supple rubber designed to force sharps out, rather than drawing them in as deep-treaded Kevlar types can, especially with age.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Vittoria Pave CG Open Clincher — £31.12

vittoria-open-pave-green

Designed for comfort, wet grip and resistance to punctures and impacts, this is a lightweight fat tyre for riders who want speed on poor roads and don't care about a little extra mass.

It uses Vittoria's extremely supple 320tpi casing, Isogrip tread compound and is constructed like a tubular, hence the 'open' designation, short for 'open tubular'. Vittoria tags it as a tyre for extreme conditions, but as far as we're concerned that means British roads all year round.

Find a Vittoria dealer

Continental Grand Prix 4 Season — £31.99

conti-gp-4-season-cut

These popular puncture-resistant tyres from Conti have a Duraskin® cut-resistant layer from bead to bead, and two extra Vectran breakers help increase puncture protection.

They're billed as suitable for wet weather. Call us pessimistic, but to us, European wet weather tyres means year-round UK use, and the GP 4 Seasons are excellent do-everything tyres.

Find a Continental dealer

??>

If you're going to carry on riding through winter, the cold, wet conditions are best handled with heavier, grippier and more puncture-resistant tyres than your summer rubber. Fortunately there are plenty of winter-specific tyres out there.

You'll get more punctures in the winter thanks to the rain. It washes glass, flints and debris into the road, where they lie in wait for an unsuspecting cyclist to trundle over. Water also makes a good cutting lubricant, helping anything sharp cut into your tyres. There's nothing much worse than fixing a puncture when it's lashing down with rain, apart from waiting for a friend to fix a puncture in the rain, that is.

The first aim of winter tyres is puncture resistance. Most manufacturers offer such tyres so there's really no reason not to switch and make your winter riding low-fuss. Such tyres usually have some sort of puncture prevention layer under the tread and beefier sidewalls to stop sharp objects finding a way through.

schwalbe-marathon-deluxe-tyre annotated.jpg

Most winter tyres have some sort of belt under the tread to stop sharp objects from getting through to the inner tube.

There are downsides, and weight is usually one of them, but I'll take extra puncture protection over a bit more weight any day. Tyre makers usually use thicker, firmer rubber for the tread and stiffer sidewalls, which affect the rolling resistance of the tyre and ride comfort.

The sidewall contributes heavily towards the feel of the tyre and so a heavier/thicker sidewall will make for a harsher feel. That's where increasing the width of the tyre can make a difference. All other things being equal, a wider tyre has lower rolling resistance, so going fatter can compensate for the increased resistance of a stiffer tyres. You can run fat tyres at lower pressures too, regaining the comfort lost by the change to stiffer sidewalls.

Look for a tyre with a thick reinforced breaker belt sandwiched between the rubber tread and carcass. This will prevent flints and glass from puncturing the delicate inner tube. The sidewall too can often be reinforced to preview the potholes and large bits of debris ripping through. Lastly, grip is another important consideration. The rubber compound dictates the level of grip for the most part, though if you're riding rough surfaces there's some evidence that a light file tread is better than a slick tyre.

Pressure is important, and especially so in the winter when the roads are most likely to be wet. As a general rule, the wetter it is, the lower the pressure you want to run your tyres at. While it might be fine to ride tyres inflated to 120psi during the summer when the roads are dry, it's a good idea to go a little lower the wetter it is. It's not unknown to go as low as 80-90psi. Many of the tyres below are 25mm wide or fatter and you have to take into account the extra tyre volume when setting the tyre pressure.

Regular cleaning goes without saying, and when you're cleaning your bike pay particular attention to the tyres. Glass and flints can get lodged in there and it's a good idea to remove them. A top tip is to fill the now vacant hole with a little super glue to plug it.

We've focused mostly on robust, puncture-resistant tyres, but as StuInNorway points out in the comments, there are parts of the UK where snow and ice is a big factor too, so to that end we've added a couple of studded options. A tyre with a deep tread pattern will provide some grip on fresh snow, but once it's packed down hard, or turned to ice by a thaw-freeze cycle, the only thing that will grip is a studded tyre.

Ritchey Alpine JB WCS Stronghold 30mm/35mm — £42.50/£57

ritchey_wcs_alpine_jb_120tpi_tlr_stronghold_tyre.jpg

Ritchey has gone inverse with the tread on its Alpine JB WCS Stronghold tyres to create a tyre that grips on light gravel and rough sections of broken country lane while also offering a smooth ride if you want to get a shift on on the tarmac. A very impressive all-round tyre choice indeed.

If youre wondering, 'JB' stands for Jobst Brandt, an engineer and author who was a big influence on Tom Ritchey. Brandt wrote the seminal book on wheelbuilding, The Bicycle Wheel, designed some of the very first electronic bike computers for Avocet, led epic rides in the Santa Cruz mountains that were famous for disregarding the traditional attachment of road cyclists to Tarmac, and spent his summers exploring the minor roads of the Alps, hence Alpine in the name of these tyres.

Brandt was also an advocate for inverted-tread tyres for dirt riding. In the days before website forums he was a prolific poster on the Usenet cycling groups where he detailed a press launch for Avocet's inverted-tread mountain bike tyres in which they proved faster in timed tests. Brandt claimed that finding was glossed over by one of the magazines and not reported at all by the others. We like to think he'd be pleased to see the idea return in these tyres.

Read our review of the Ritchey Alpine JB WCS Stronghold
Find a Ritchey dealer

Panaracer T-Serv ProTite 32mm — £24.99

Panaracer T-Serv PT Folding tyre.jpg

The Panaracer T-Serv PT Folding 700x32C tyres are intended for urban city use. Wefound them to be swift-rolling, comfortable, dependable, middleweight all-rounders: the sort of tyres capable of inducing plenty of smiles and with scope for weekend touring. Puncture resistance and wet grip are both very good, and of course the 32mm width makes for decent bump handling if you're unable to avoid a fresh pothole.

Read our review of the Panaracer T-Serv ProTite
Find a Panaracer dealer

Compass Barlow Pass TC 38mm — £54-£68

Compass Barlow Pass.jpg

The Compass Cycles Barlow Pass tyre is a tubeless-compatible (TC), ultra-supple tyre that delivers an astonishingly smooth and grippy ride. If your bike can't fit them, maybe you need a new bike. They're that good. Their width, puncture resistance and deep tread rubber make them especially suitable for winter, but they're fast and comfy enough to use year-round.

Read our review of the Compass Barlow Pass TC

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £34.79-£35.19

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech foldable tyre.jpg

The Corsa Control G+ is the beefed-up version of Vittoria's well-respected Corsa G+. It's a great alternative to many winter-specific tyres, offering levels of rolling resistance and grip seen on your summer lightweights without compromising durability.

Compared to the standard Corsa G+ the Corsa Control G+ has a wider tread to protect the sidewalls, and the tread is 0.4mm thicker. There's a breaker belt beneath the tread too, to help reduce punctures. This extra bit of depth does mean the Corsa Control G+ feels firmer to ride than the equivalent Corsa G+ model so you lose a little of the comfort. The high thread count still makes these tyres much more comfortable than many designed for poor conditions. And we had no visits from the puncture fairy during our testing.

Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech
Find a Vittoria dealer

Pirelli P Zero Velo — £35.99

Pirelli P Zero Velo tyres 3.jpg

The Pirelli P Zero Velo tyre marks a very impressive return to cycling for Pirelli after a half-century hiatus. This tyre is fast, comfortable and long lasting.

Out on the road, they are thoroughly impressive at all times, feeling fast and slippery (through the air, not on the road surface!), yet able to take on the often poorly maintained roads that I'm accustomed to in the south west. Cornering in the wet never feels sketchy, and they zip along very nicely on flat roads without giving any unwanted feedback.

I know that they have bad weather in Italy, but I'm still very impressed with how much Pirelli has obviously thought about adverse conditions when developing these tyres. I saw Pirelli testing the wet grip of the tyres on the test track outside of Milan at the launch, and it certainly appears to have paid off.

Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero Velo
Find a Pirelli dealer

IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard — £55

IRC 2017 IRC Formula Pro Fusion X-guard tubeless road tyres.jpg

RC might not be the most familiar tyre brand in the road bike market at the moment, but its Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard road tyres offer exceptionally good performance, with easy tubeless installation and great durability. The price does put them at the top end of the tyre market, though.

The Formula Pro is the Japanese company's high-performance road bike tyre and this version gets added puncture protection. Underneath the tread is the X-Guard belt of cross-woven mesh fibres that boosts puncture protection by 47%, IRC's claim not ours, without compromising rolling resistance and performance.

Read our review of the IRC Formula Pro Fusion X-guard tyres

Schwalbe Marathon Winter Spiked — £32.99

schwalbe-winter-performance-tyre.jpg

You're going to need plenty of room in the frame for these 35mm snow and ice tyres and their steel spikes, but they're renowned for their grip on everything from snow to black ice. If you want a general-purpose winter tyre for your hybrid, crosser, or gravel/adventure bike, these are the way to go.

If you've got a mountain bike, or a gravel bike with lots and lots of room in the frame, and want to go completely hog-wild in the snow, take a look at the Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro Evolution.

If you want a budget option, there's a Schwalbe Winter with fewer spikes in a 30mm width that might even fit many modern road bikes. They'll set you back about £25 with shipping, and you can get away with just running a front studded tyre, though obviously a pair is better.

Schwalbe G-One Speed tubeless — £33.78-£37.20

Schwalbe S-One tyre.jpg

Previously known as the S-One, these 30mm all-rounders from Schwalbe live up to Schwalbe's billing as 'the special one'. They're light, fast and grippy, and thanks to Schwalbe's Tubeless Easy with Microskin feature, they mount tubeless with an ordinary track pump. If you can fit them, you should.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One Speed
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Michelin Power All Season — £28.99-£33.49

Michelin Power All Season Road tyre.jpg

Since 'four seasons in one day' is a description often applied to the British weather, these Michelin Power All Season Road tyres should be right at home among UK riders. After a typical English summer we can confirm that the performance is every bit as reliable as Michelin claims.

Read our review of Michelin Power All Season tyres
Find a Michelin dealer

Clement Strada LLG — £24.99

The Clement Strada LLGs are good, all-round 28mm winter training tyres. They're quick, comfortable and grip well at a competitive price. They roll smoothly too, though the 60 tpi versions we tested aren't quite as smooth as the same tyre in a 120 tpi casing, but they've proven hard-wearing.

Read our review of the Clement Strada LLG

Panaracer Gravel King — £29.50-£29.99

Fast-rolling and capable of tackling bad road conditions and even venturing away from the tarmac, Panaracer's new Gravel King tyres are a really good option for the winter with rugged durability and great traction.

Read our review of the Panaracer Gravel King
Find a Panaracer dealer

Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite II — £40

specialized-all-condition-armadillo-elite-ii-folding-700c-road-tyre-black-Black-EV209827-8500-1.jpg

The Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite II features a Kevlar layer sandwiched inside the tyre and stretches from bead to bead. It goes a long way to prevent sharp objects from penetrating the tyre carcass and deflating the delicate inner tube. This tyre uses a wire bead which does put the weight up, the 23mm is 375g. 25 and 28mm widths are also available.

Find a Specialized dealer

Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £23.99-£27.95

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are essentially heavy duty, ultra reliable commu-touring tyres that inspire unprecedented confidence without feeling sluggish or barge-like, as the 970g weight for a pair would imply.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Schwalbe Durano RaceGuard — £18.99

Schwable have many options and and the Durano RaceGuard Tyres offer really good durability with plenty of grip in all conditions. The grip is good in both dry and wet conditions so would prove a useful addition to any bike during mixed conditions of a typical British winter.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Durano RaceGuard

Panaracer Race D Evo 3 — £26.95

Panaracer Race D Evo 3.jpg

Panaracer's Race D Evo 3 tyres feel confident in the turns and roll well enough, but don't appear to be wildly different to many other tyres with some kind of puncture resistance. Durability does seem very good, though.

The Evo 3s are an update to the Evo 2s tested on road.cc back in 2015 – the price is the same and the weight comparable too. The Evo 3 also gets the same 'hard in the middle, soft on the edge' tread compound which Panaracer is calling ZSG Dual Compound. The main difference with the Evo 3s is the way Panaracer is doing the puncture protection – something it calls 'Protite'. Rather than having a separate breaker strip layer in the tyre, the puncture protection is incorporated into the tread rubber. Panaracer claims this increases puncture protection by 25% and reduces weight.

Read our review of the Panaracer Race D Evo 3
Find a Panaracer dealer

Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres — £17.49-£29.49

bontrager-aw3-hard-case-lite-700c-folding-road-bike-tyre-black-EV201705-8500-1.jpg

Despite a puncture-resisting later, the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres roll quickly and gip securely in all conditions. The tread on the sidewall gives sufficient grip in the corners and the hard case has proven more than capable of dealing with the variety of grit washed onto the roads.

Read our review of the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite
Find a Bontrager dealer

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres — £46.99/twin pack

The Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres bill themselves, as suggested in the name, as extreme weather tyres - so perfect then, for three seasons of UK riding.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme
Find a Vredestein dealer

Continental Grand Prix 4 Season — £31.99

Continental GP 4 season cutaway.jpg

A lighter option is the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season. A tough Duraskin mesh and two Vectran anti-puncture layers beneath the tread make this a good choice. And at 280g for the 28mm version it's a good weight, for the rider wanting a fast winter tyre. Conti's max grip silica rubber compound provides a good level of grip. A good choice for winter and one that can be used in spring and autumn too. If you desire even more protection, the Gator Hardshell is a good option, with a third layer of Polyamide in the sidewalls.

Find a Continental dealer

??>

With winter nearly upon us, and spurred by this forum discussion, it’s a good time to take a look at the current tubeless options for the winter. Swapping lightweight race tyres for sturdier rubber is a sensible idea for riding through the winter, with extra puncture protection and tread compounds designed to provide more traction in the wet. With the rise in popularity of tubeless, there's a growing choice of winter-specific tubeless tyres, we've rounded up eight for your consideration below.

Why tubeless?

Let’s get the why bit out of the way first, just in case you’re not already a fan. Almost zero punctures being the biggest advantage over a regular inner tube clincher setup, and nowhere is that more of a benefit than during winter riding. Okay, so the installation can sometimes be a tricky old mess, but it’s getting easier all the tyre with better tyres, rims, tubeless kits and pumps. This guide below takes you through the tubeless installation steps and shows it doesn't need to be all that difficult.

Read more: How to fit a tubeless tyre

I’ll happily admit to being a road tubeless convert. My personal tubeless epiphany came during one cold and wet winter ride many years ago. Riding along a busy road the rear tyre suddenly burst a leak. Fortunately, the sealant in the tyre quickly plugged the hole (and thanks to mudguards I was suitably protected from a stripe of gunk up my back) and the escaping air quickly stopped with only a small pressure drop. Importantly, I didn’t need to stop while this incident occurred and continued the ride.

Read more: Buyer's guide to tubeless tyres — all your options in new technology rubber

What are your options?

Despite the clear advantages of tubeless tyres, the choice is still somewhat limited, though it does get a bit better every year. There’s still a reluctance from some tyre brands to go near it, while others have fully embraced it, willing to invest in the technology to make it a viable alternative to regular clinchers.

What do you want from a winter road tyre? You want extra durability compared to a summer race tyre, with a carcass and tread that is more resistance to the debris that can litter wet roads during the winter months. You might want a bit of extra width, provided your bike has clearance, for additional comfort and the benefit of lower pressures. Tread materials for winter tyres are often modified to provide better traction when the going it slippery.

Read more: 18 of the best road cycling tyres

Nine tubeless winter tyre options

Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold Tubeless Ready 35mm — ~£40

ritchey_wcs_alpine_jb_120tpi_tlr_stronghold_tyre.jpg

Ritchey has gone inverse with the tread on its Alpine JB WCS Stronghold tyres to create a tyre that grips on light gravel and rough sections of broken country lane while also offering a smooth ride if you want to get a shift on on the tarmac. A very impressive all-round tyre choice indeed.

You'll need room in your frame for 35mm tyres to fit the tubeless version of the Alpine JB WCS Stronghold, as the 30mm version is only available with a conventional casing.

Read our review of the Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold tyre
Find a Ritchey dealer

IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard tyres — £55

IRC 2017 IRC Formula Pro Fusion X-guard tubeless road tyres.jpg

IRC might not be the most familiar tyre brand in the road bike market at the moment, but its Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard road tyres offer exceptionally good performance, with easy tubeless installation and great durability. The price does put them at the top end of the tyre market, though.

Traction is impressive, too, whether in the dry or wet, but it's the latter where they IRC tyres pull ahead of the latest generation Schwalbes. The IRCs feel more predictable and planted in the wet, and handle fast corners superbly.

Read our review of the IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard

Bontrager R3 Hard Case TLR — £38.49

Bontrager R3 Hard Case TLR

Most of the Bontrager wheels are now tubeless-ready, and to complement them the company has started adding tubeless tyres to its range, and there are now quite a few to pick from. The R3 Hard-Case Lite TLR is its flagship road tubeless offering and is designed to be durable thanks to a butyl liner providing the reliability you want and need in the winter. It’s available in 24 and 26mm width options.

We haven’t tested this tubeless tyre yet, but have tested the regular clincher version - you can read that review here

If you crave more width, the cheaper A2 Hard-Case Lite TLR tyre is offered in extra 28 and 32mm width options, and if your bike has space for them, those are probably the ones to pick for winter riding.

Specialized Roubaix Tubeless Ready — £59.95

Specialized-Roubaix-Tubeless-Tyre.jpg

The Roubaix Tubeless tyre from Specialized is pitched as an all-rounder and we reckon it has all the right ingredients for a reliable winter cycling tyre. Of course, we haven't tested it yet but that's something we'll be aiming to address very soon. Why we think the tyre will be good for winter cycling is because it uses the company’s Gripton compound, which we’ve found to be very grippy in a range of conditions, dry and wet, with shoulder sipes to increase traction through the corners. It features a 180 TPI casing with an Endurant flat protection and comes in 25mm width, weighing a claimed 295g.

Hutchinson Fusion 5 All-Season — £38.95

Hutchinson fusion 5

The Fusion 5 is a brand new tyre from the French company that pioneered Road Tubeless many years ago, and with three models to choose from the All Season 11Storm looks the ideal choice for surviving a winter of cycling.

road.cc has tested the Performance version of this tyre. We were highly impressed with the ease of tubeless installation, traction, rolling resistance and durability. The All Season version has a specific tread pattern designed to improve wet cycling performance and has Kevlar reinforcement to prevent punctures.

The new tyre is available in 25 and 28mm widths and weighs a claimed 325g for the former.

Zipp Tangente RT 25 and RT28 — ~£54

Tangente_RT28_30Course_HERO1_800px.jpg

The new Zipp Tangente RT tyre, available in 25 and 28mm widths, isn’t expressly designed as a winter tyre but tubeless goes a long way to reducing flats and the company has added a “water-siping tread pattern” to these new tyres, though there is evidence to suggest such grooves on a road bike tyre are largely pointless.

Further boosting their puncture resistance is a polyamide layer under the tread. The tyres are reasonably light, 292g claimed for the 25mm tyre and 302g for the 28mm version.

Mavic Yksion Elite Allroad — £38.99

Mavic Yksion Elite Allroad Tyre

Not all bikes are going to have space for 30mm wide tyres, but if your bike does, these new Yksion Elite Allroad tyres from wheel specialist Mavic look like being a good option thanks to the tubeless-ready construction and bead-to-bead polyamide casing reinforcement.

The tyres also have a tread pattern designed to ramp up traction in adverse conditions, with side grooves for extra cornering grip on dirt and loose surface roads, while the centre section is smooth for fast rolling on the hard stuff.

Schwalbe G-One — £44.99

Schwalbe G-One.jpg

Not so much a winter tyre as an adventure and gravel tyre, but we’ve been impressed with the rolling speed of this dimpled tyre on the road, and if the roads are covered in mud thanks to local farmers then they do offer a compelling benefit over narrower slicks.

Once you're off the good roads and onto the average ones – and we have plenty of them around here – any conceivable difference in rolling speed is easily outweighed by the comfort of the big air chamber, and the fact that you don't have to ease off and pick your line: just batter on through. I've not managed to put a hole in them that the sealant hasn't immediately coped with. Plus you can take them off-road as well, and they’re right at home on the canal towpaths, bridleways and trails like the South Downs Way.

There's now a road version of the G-One Allround pictured and reviewed above, called the G-One Speed. It comes in a narrower 30mm width with V-Guard protection that could be a good choice for more road-based riding, providing your frame has space for them.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One

WTB Horizon TCS Road Tyre — £37

WTB Horizon tyres - 1.jpg

Throwing a bit of a curve ball into the short list here, the fat WTB Horizon is another possible contender. Granted, it won’t fit all bikes and it might require a new set of wheels, but if it fits this is a durable, grippy, comfortable and fast rolling tyre that might, as the name suggests, open up new horizons…

It’s a 47mm wide tyre which is simply massive compared to everything else in this article, but on a 650b wheel (an old French standard resurrected by the mountain bike industry) the outside diameter is roughly the same as a regular 700c wheelset.

The tread pattern is mostly slick save for a few grooves and chevrons on the shoulders, and the grip is impressive in the wet. They instil bags of confidence on treacherous roads covered in water, mud or wet leaves.

Read our review of the WTB Horizon

Related reading: How to winterproof your bike — protect your ride from the wet, salt and crud

• Your choice of tyres depends on the compromise of speed, longevity and puncture-resistance that works best for you.

• Light, fast tyres — especially in larger sizes like 25mm and 28mm widths — can be a huge improvement to the ride feel of your bike.

• Standard tyres with separate inner tubes — known as clinchers — are the most common type, but tubeless tyres are gaining popularity.

• One-piece tubular tyres are now used almost entirely for racing.

• Anti-puncture belts under the tread reduce flats and in some cases eliminate them almost entirely; they're the way to go for practical bikes.

The perfect tyre for road cycling would weigh nothing, have zero rolling resistance, last forever and make your bike feel like you were floating suspended above the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist, but the best modern tyres manage to excel in one or more categories. Here's a selection of the best.

This selection of the best-rated tyres we've reviewed in the last few years, plus a couple of popular classics, covers the range from sturdy commuting tyres to super-fast race rubber. What features should you look for in choosing a tyre?

Tyre types

There are three types of performance bike tyres: clinchers, tubulars and tubeless. Clinchers are the regular tyre type you're almost certainly familiar with. They have a wire bead that holds their shape and fits in a hook on the rim to hold them in place.

Tubular tyres have the tyre carcass sewn around the inner tube; the whole lot is then glued to a special rim with a concave surface for the tyre. This is still the lightest way to make a tyre and rim combination, but to repair a puncture you have to unstitch and re-sew the tyre, which puts most people off.

Tubeless tyres, as the name suggests, don't have inner tubes. Air is kept in place by a sealing strip in the rim, and either a liquid sealant inside the tyre or a rubber coating.

Rolling resistance

Two main forces work against a cyclist trying to make progress along the road. Air resistance is the most famous, but the other is the rolling resistance of your tyres, and it's much less obvious.

Rolling resistance arises from the tyre flexing where it touches the road. The rubber and casing flex and unflex, and some of the energy needed to flex them is absorbed in the process and turned into heat in the process known as hysteresis. It's much more obvious where bigger forces and energies are involved; it's why your car tyres get warm as you drive.

A number of factors affect rolling resistance, including the tyre's width (see below), tread thickness and material, casing thickness and material, and tread pattern. Tyre makers spend a lot of time and money experimenting with these factors to reduce rolling resistance. Schwalbe claims to have made 50 prototypes before settling on the design of its One tyre, which is noticeably faster than many of its rivals.

Tyre colours (CC BY 2.0 FaceMePLS:Flickr)

Tyre colours (CC BY 2.0 FaceMePLS:Flickr)

The current best performers for rolling resistance are very light tyres with thin treads and casings. According to testing commissioned by VeloNews by the tyre experts at Wheel Energy in Finland, the best performers are various versions of the Specialized Turbo and Continental GP4000S II.

Grip

Grip depends on the rubber compound used in the tread. The rule of thumb used to be that you wanted a compound that contained carbon black — and would therefore be black — for the best grip, especially in the wet. Modern compounds that contain silica are now virtually as good, so if you must have red tyres, look for that in the compound.

Weight

On paper, the lighter a tyre is, the faster it will accelerate. But the tyres are such a tiny part of the total weight of bike and rider that it's very unlikely anyone can actually feel the difference between, say, a 250g tyre and a 200g tyre. However, in their quest for light weight, tyre manufacturers use light casing and thin tread rubber layers, which reduce rolling resistance and that can make a tyre feel faster.

That can mean very light tyres are not very durable, or are so thin they puncture easily. You might be prepared to put up with that for the extra turn of speed when racing, or for that special ride in the sunshine on perfect roads, but most of the time you'll want something beefier.

Folding vs rigid

Giant P SLR1 tyre.

Lightweight tyres almost all have beads made from Kevlar, which allows them to be folded for easy storage and transport. Kevlar is lighter than the traditional steel wire bead, but its resistance to stretch can make folding tyres harder to fit.

Puncture resistance

To stop foreign objects getting through the tyre to the inner tube, tyre manufacturers use various barriers in addition to the tread and tyre carcass. Layers of Kevlar or a related fabric called Vectran are used in lightweight tyres, and when weight is less of a consideration, manufacturers put an extra layer of resistant rubber under the tread. This works well; if you're not in a hurry, tyres like the Schwalbe Marathon are great for round-town peace of mind.

Tread pattern

moto tyre tread (CC BY-SA 2.0 dvanzuijlekom:Flickr)

Unlike this motorcycle tyre, bicycle tyres don't need water-dispersing patterns. (CC BY-SA 2.0 dvanzuijlekom/Flickr)

On tarmac, it really doesn't make any difference to grip what shapes the designer has carved into the tread. Bike tyres are too narrow to aquaplane at speeds below about 200mph. But the lumps of tread in between sipes and shapes can squirm, and that increases rolling resistance. The best tread pattern is therefore a smooth, slick surface, but with rare exceptions tyre company marketing departments can't seem to get their heads around this.

Width

Fatter tyres can be run at lower pressures and therefore give a smoother ride, and better grip on bad surfaces. Road tyres have long been 23mm wide, but that standard has given way to 25mm and even wider in recent years. Those extra millimetres make a noticeable difference in ride feel, and aside from a small weight penalty there's no downside.

Many people think fat tyres must be slower, but all other things being equal, the wider a tyre is, the lower its rolling resistance. This may be counter-intuitive, but it's been demonstrated time and again in rolling resistance tests.

For any given tyre pressure, the size of the tyre's contact patch will be the same. But the wide contact patch of a fat tyre has a lower circumference than the long, thin contact patch of a skinny tyre. Because less of a fat tyre flexes, rolling resistance is reduced.

Tube choice

Tubes can make a significant difference to tyre performance. The thinner, lighter and more flexible the tube, the less effect it will have on rolling resistance. That's why high-end tubular tyres have latex tubes instead of the familiar black butyl rubber. Latex tubes also provide a bit of puncture resistance as they are flexible enough to stretch round a sharp object rather than being punctured by it. However, latex is porous and needs pumping up before every ride.

Other inner tube materials occasionally crop up. Polyurethane is the most common and is currently available in tubes from Panaracer and — for mountain bikes — Schwalbe. It has the advantage of being very light and retaining air well, but it's not as stretchy as butyl or latex so needs more precise matching to tyre size. Schwalbe's polyurethane tubes use a BASF plastic called Elastollan which appears from BASF's claims to be stretchier that traditional polyurethane. Schwalbe calls it Aerothan and says 35g road bike tubes are in development, but only for disc-braked bikes.

Shopping

Tyres are typically a bit cheaper in winter. When the good weather arrives prices go up a bit.

29 of the best tyres

Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular — £42

challenge_strada_pro_series_tyre.jpg

Challenge's Strada Pro Open Tubular is a super-supple tyre designed for racing on rough roads. It's not the quickest tyre we've ridden, but for the battered B roads of Britain these are ideal for racing, fast riding and even as a summer training tyre.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular
Find a Challenge dealer

Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm —£73

Compass 650B x 48 Switchback Hill TC.jpg

How wide is too wide? The 48mm Switchback Hill is the widest 650B tyre that Compass makes, and too wide it ain't. It's super-comfortable, fast-rolling, tubeless-compatible, off-road-capable and light. There's really not a lot wrong here. At a time when people are doing roll-down tests to see if it's worth switching to 28mm tyres from 25s, my advice would be to skip a few sizes and fit a pair of these, if you can. They're great.

Read our review of the Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm

Hutchinson Fusion 5 11Storm Tubeless Performance — £39.95

Hutchinson Fusion 5 Tubeless Performance Road Tyre.jpg

The latest tyre from tubeless pioneer Hutchinson might just have knocked the Schwalbe Pro One out of the role of benchmark performance tubeless tyre. The traction of the Fusion 5s out of the box in a range of conditions, especially in the wet, surpasses the Pro One's. Factors like speed and rolling resistance are trickier to compare, but they certainly don't feel any slower at all, and puncture resistance is superb.In a nutshell, they're fast, grippy, supple, durable and easy to fit, and a rival for any other tubeless tyre currently available.

That's down to The new ElevenStorm rubber compound that provides the tread for the very latest version of this tyre. Warning to the wise: there are versions of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 available with Hutchinson's old HDF>5.2 tread compound. They're good tyres, but if you want the latest and greatest, look for the 11Storm

Read our review of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 ElevenStorm Tubeless Performance tyre
Find a Hutchinson dealer

Mavic Yksion Pro Road UST — £42.49

Mavic Yksion Pro Road UST tyre

We haven't tested Mavic's latest tyres yet, but we're hearing good things about this one. It's made in France for Mavic by Hutchinson, who know a thing or two about tubeless tyres, and scores well in Jarno Bierman's rolling resistance and puncture prevention tests. You get a pair of Yksion Pros with all of the Tarmac-orientated wheels in Mavic's new Road UST range, from the £389 Cosmic Elite UST and up.

The tread is made from the same rubber — Hutchinson calls it ElevenStorm — as the super-grippy Fusion 5 tyres, so looks an awful lot like Mavic is throwing in a pair of Fusion 5s with its Road UST wheels.

Read about Mavic's Road UST wheels and tyres

Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy 650B — £37.99

Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy Folding Road Tyre.jpg

Back in 2015 we first reviewed the Schwalbe S-One as it was then called, and it was a revelation: fast, grippy, comfortable. As a 30mm tyre it wouldn't fit in every frame, but our advice was: If you can fit 'em, buy 'em. Fast forward to 2018 and we're riding the new 40mm, 650B G-One Speed, which is every bit as good, and highlights the benefits of Road Plus, as we're now contractually obliged to call 650B, as well as any tyre we've tried.

Read our review of the 650B Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy Folding
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £35.99

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech foldable tyre.jpg

The Corsa Control G+ is the beefed-up version of Vittoria's well-respected Corsa G+. They're a great alternative to many winter-specific tyres, offering levels of rolling resistance and grip seen on your summer lightweights without compromising durability.

Find a Vittoria dealer
Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech

Pirelli P Zero Velo — £35.89

Pirelli P Zero Velo tyres 3.jpg

The Pirelli P Zero Velo tyre marks a very impressive return to cycling for Pirelli after a half-century hiatus. This tyre is fast, comfortable and long lasting, making for a great all-round ride experience on the road.

Out on the road, they are thoroughly impressive at all times, feeling fast and slippery (through the air, not on the road surface!), yet able to take on the often poorly maintained roads that I'm accustomed to in the south west. Cornering in the wet never feels sketchy, and they zip along very nicely on flat roads without giving any unwanted feedback.

I know that they have bad weather in Italy, but I'm still very impressed with how much Pirelli has obviously thought about adverse conditions when developing these tyres. I saw Pirelli testing the wet grip of the tyres on the test track outside of Milan at the launch, and it certainly appears to have paid off.

Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero Velo
Find a Pirelli dealer

Panaracer GravelKing SK — £29.99

Panaracer GravelKing SK tyre - 3.jpg

Japanese tyre company Panaracer has been quick to offer a range of gravel-specific tyres, becoming a significant player in the burgeoning market. Measuring 43mm wide, these GravelKing SK tyres are tubeless compatible and feature a tread pattern that excels both on and off road, with a tough carcass that can withstand some abuse.

The GravelKing comes in a variety of widths and tread patterns, but this SK (Small Knob) is probably the pick of the range for the latest generation of adventure bikes like the Kinesis Tripster AT, Mason Bokeh or Open UP. As well as the 43mm tested here (which was called 40 but actually measures 43mm, and is now labelled as such), the same tread pattern is offered on 26, 32 and 35mm width options if your frame doesn't offer enough clearance.

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing SK
Find a Panaracer dealer

Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm — £35

Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700x32c - Mounted.jpg

Wider road bike tyres are gaining an almost unstoppable momentum as people discover they can be both fast and comfortable, and with the emergence of the endurance road bike genre, Rubenesque road rubber is only going to become more common as bikes are designed to fit fat slicks. The Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700x32c pushes the plump limit to the point where once upon a time it might have been considered a humourously slick cyclo-cross tyre.

The R3 Hard-Case Lite comes in 23, 25, 28 and 32mm widths, and the full fat version here is something to behold, turning your road bike (if the rubber will fit) into something like a SuperMoto bike, although sideways drifts are not required on every corner, however tempting.

Read our review of the Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm
Find a Bontrager dealer

WTB Horizon TCS 650B — £35.99

WTB Horizon tyres - 1.jpg

WTB's Horizon TCS is a fast-rolling, super-grippy and super-comfortable tyre that excels on the road and is capable of tackling dry off-road trails to inject some adventure into your routes.

Tyres have been getting wider over the years, and this trend for chunkier tyres and a growing interest in gravel and dirt riding on road bikes has given rise to the return of 650B, an old standard once favoured by French touring cyclists because it allowed bigger volume tyres for more cushioning on rough and badly surfaced roads. (By shrinking the rim size you can use the bigger volume tyre.)

Read our review of the WTB Horizon TCS
Find a WTB dealer

Clement X'Plor MSO — £9.99-£29.99

Clement X'Plor MSO tyre 1.jpg

The Clemént X'Plor MSO Tubeless Folding Adventure Tyre is an excellent tubeless-ready choice for venturing off the beaten track, at speed. At £60 RRP in its tubeless-ready guise it's not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for.

The 36mm MSO measures 35mm wide on a 19mm internal-width rim. Whilst this may seem short change, unless you are 100% certain your frame is capacious enough, being a smidge under is definitely better than over, which may see your frame clogged or rubbed.

Able to be set up tubeless or tubed, there are two sizes of the tubeless MSO variant available: the tested 36mm, and a soon-to-be-launched and frankly whopping 50mm (that's 2in to you mountain bike folks). Also in the MSO range (but not tubeless) are the following variants: 32, 40 & 50mm sizes, available as both single-compound 60TPI (threads per inch) and dual-compound 120TPI casings. There's a 120TPI dual-compound 36mm MSO coming later this year. With so many variants, be sure you're ordering the right tyre.

Read our review of the Clement X'Plor MSO

Clement LCV — £19.99-£29.99

Clement LVC Folding Road Tyre.jpg

The LCV is the latest high performance tyre from Clement and with an RRP of nearly 50 quid it's gunning for the big boys like Schwalbe and Continental. Those are pretty huge reputations to challenge, but do you know what? The LCV has them well in its sights.

The LCV is designed for all-out performance, and the moment you pull it out of the box you can feel the stickiness of the rubber so you're pretty much expecting a very grippy ride, and it doesn't disappoint.

Read our review of the Clement LCV
Find a Clement dealer

Michelin Power All Season — £28.99-£33.49

Michelin Power All Season Road tyre.jpg

Since 'four seasons in one day' is a description often applied to the British weather, these Michelin Power All Season Road tyres should be right at home among UK riders. After a typical English June, we're pleased to confirm that the performance is every bit as reliable as Michelin claims.

The All Season is one of three tyres in the Michelin Power range, each promising better performance with less drag than its predecessors, the Pro4 series. In the case of the All Season, it's grip that's the focus of performance claims, and Michelin promises 15% more grip 'on slippery surfaces' but 5% less resistance than the Pro4 Grip. Of course, this is neither here nor there if the Pro4 Grip was a pile of dingoes' kidneys, but back in 2014 our own David Arthur gave them a solid four star rating (read that review here).

At nearly 260g for the 25mm version (slightly less than officially claimed), these are hardly lightweight, but a lot of this is in the thick tread with its Aramid 'Protek +' protection layer. Over the test period I had no punctures and the tyres shrugged off some bad treatment, such as miles of freshly dressed country lanes that had gravel rattling off the down tube.

The only time you should be noticing your tyres when you are out riding is when they are failing you in some way – a puncture, a loss of grip, a noisy tread or a leaden, draggy feel. So perhaps the best thing we can say about these is that I never really noticed them.

Read our review of the Michelin Power All Season
Find a Michelin dealer

Schwalbe G-One — £37.99

Schwalbe G-One.jpg

If you can fit the Schwalbe G-One tyres in your frame, you should get some. As genuine all-rounders they're impossible to beat right now: fast rolling on tarmac and properly capable off-road. They're really, really good.

The G-One is a gravel tyre, according to Schwalbe. It's available in 35mm and 40mm widths and uses Schwalbe's Tubeless Easy construction, which the company claims makes them – you've guessed, right? – easy to set up. And they are. They went on first time every time with a Bontrager Flash Charger pump. And I even fitted them with a track pump, just so I could say I did. And that was fine too.

The close-packed knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. You can lean them right over into the the bends on the road, and they'll grab all sorts when climbing off-road.

We know plenty of people who've tried these tyres now, and we don't know anyone who doesn't love them. Try them. You'll love them.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One
Find a Schwalbe dealer

IRC Formula RBCC —£55

IRC Formula RBCC Tubeless tyres.jpg

IRC’s Formula RBCC Tubeless tyres provide outstanding grip in dry and wet conditions.

Fitting and inflation are straightforward, and once the sealant is in and distributed around the inside of the tyre, all is secure and airtight.

The round-profile tyres sit pleasantly plumply on the rim; and measured with the callipers across their widest point came up at 25.5mm. The large-volume casing certainly holds a lot of air, which is very noticeable in the ride quality. We thought for a while the council had been round fixing the roads, but that was just a dream.

The other great quality in these tyres is the grip. We took them to northwest Scotland for a few days' testing on the steepest, twistiest, wettest, gravelliest, farm-manuriest roads we could find and, honestly, it was all we could do to get them to step out of line. Only when we deliberately braked late and hard into a sharp left-hander at the bottom of a steep hill did we finally coax the back tyre into some sort of skid, and even then it was more of a correction of direction than any cause for alarm. It feels like your brakes have had an overhaul. Most impressive.

Read our review of the IRC Formula RBCC

Schwalbe Pro One tubeless — £39.73-£39.95

ProOne_Close_up

Schwalbe bills this — the improved, lighter and faster-rolling version of the One — as 'tubeless easy', and some people even claim they have managed to get these to go up with a track pump. We found them easy to fit as tubeless tyres go, but they still needed a high-pressure blast to seat them.

As far as tubeless tyres go, though, these were very easy to fit – as long as you've got some compressed air to hand, in the form of some magic pump, a CO2 inflator or a compressor.

At 291g each (claimed weight 275g each), the Pro One takes tubeless tyres a step closer to rivalling the weight of the lighter clincher and inner tube setups. They feel light and accelerate well.

They needed 60 miles or so to wear in, but then the grip increases to very reassuring levels indeed. Blatting around our local race circuit these tyres go around the very tight corners confidently at any speed.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Pro One tubeless
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Specialized S-Works Turbo — £25.99

sworks-tyre.jpg

Very fast and very light, the S-Works Turbos are tyres you'll want to save for race day or an attempt on a sportive personal best. The Blackbelt puncture protection does a reasonable job of stopping small objects from getting through the tread, but the featherweight sidewalls are easily cut. Jo Burt found that a problem when he reviewed them and I've recently had to bin a pair after forgetfully using them on less-than-perfect roads.

On a sunny day, on good Tarmac, though, they're lovely and the 28mm version could be the perfect UK summer tyre.

Find a Specialized dealer
Read our review of the Specialized S-Works Turbo

Vee Tire Co Road Runner — £34.99-£39.99

Vee Tire Co Road Runner Tyre

Fast-rolling, supple tyres that offer confidence-inspiring cornering grip, and sensibly priced. Rubbing your thumb over the Road Runner from Vee Tire Co when it's in its box, you just know it's going to be grippy – the compound feels practically tacky against your skin. And it doesn't disappoint once you put tyre to tarmac.

In the dry they really grip well and give you loads of confidence to keep banking the bike over. Mini roundabouts and the like can be taken flat out and we've yet to find their limits of adhesion.

Read our review of the Vee Tire Co Road Runner
Find a Vee Tire dealer

Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm — £31.99

Continental Grandprix 4000s II 28mm

Tyres are getting bigger, and the Continental Grand Prix 4000S II 28mm is a great example of why this is A Good Thing. Assuming you can fit these tyres into your frame, there are plenty of reasons why you should. They're excellent.

Big doesn't necessarily mean slow. It certainly doesn't here. You don't notice the extra bulk of the tyre when accelerating, and once up to speed they have a very supple feel and excellent all-round grip.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm
Find a Continental dealer

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather — £9.99

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather Tyre

Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather tyres are intended for use in all weathers and are one of five models in the Dutch rubber-maker's competition line-up. Over weeks of testing in conditions varying from dry to wet to icy, we've been impressed by their sure-footedness. They've also withstood the grit and the best - or worst - of the pot holes around the south-east.

Cornering is assured. The all-weather compound has been designed to provide low rolling resistance with super grip in all conditions and they do just that.

Price is for 25mm versions. If you can live with 23mm rubber, you can get them for just £14.99.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather
Find a Vredestein dealer

Zipp Tangente Speed — £49.30

Zipp Tangente Speed tyre

Zipp Tangentes are pitched as race-day tyres with an impressively low 196g weight in a 25mm size. They are very responsive and fast-rolling tyres, ideal for racing and Sunday best bikes.

They have a 220 tpi rubber/nylon casing, and weight is saved with the absence of the puncture belt that features on Zipp's two other tyres, the Course and SLSpeed tubular. We had no flats during testing. That doesn't tell you much - luck has a huge part to play in punctures as much as anything - but the clean tread with a noticeable lack of cuts and marks suggest good durability from the rubber compound.

Find a Zipp dealer

Read our review of the Zipp Tangente Speed

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite — £19.99/pr

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite tyre

The Fortezza Senso Superlite tyre is aimed at riders who want a fast, grippy tyre for all weather conditions.

The Superlite model uses a fairly fine 220 tpi carcass and is comfortably the lightest of the Fortezza Senso range. At 200g, it's not quite in Continental Grand Prix Supersonic territory, but unlike that featherweight, this tyre still has decent polyamide puncture protection. It's a similar weight to top-end offerings from Michelin and Schwalbe.

With them fitted on a race bike we were impressed by the combination of fast rolling and sure-footedness in the corners; fast hairpins held no fears with these fitted.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Superlite
Find a Vredestein dealer

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme 28mm — £22.99/pr

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyre

The Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres bill themselves as Xtreme (sorry) weather tyres - so perfect, then, for three seasons of UK riding.

They have managed several thousand kilometres without any punctures or slide-outs in the wet, despite our tester donning his old college volleyball knee-pads and seeing if he could lose the front wheel on fast roundabouts. Come rain or shine, they have provided comfortable riding, with smooth rolling and decent acceleration, and while they are not the lightest tyres on the market, they don't seem to suffer because of the extra weight.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme
Find a Vredestein dealer

Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm — £41.99

Challenge Strada Bianca tyre

The Strade Bianche race uses the white gravel roads of Tuscany and this 30mm racing tyre is just what you need for that kind of thing. It's a brilliant all-rounder that's fast enough for nearly any road use, but with hugely improved comfort.

Out on the road they're fantastic. You can run them at hitherto-untried low pressures with little or no danger of flatting them on potholes. They roll extremely well and at 358g they're not heavyweights. It's not like sticking a set of Marathons on. These feel like race tyres, they really do, except loads more comfortable. If you want comfort on long rides but still want to go fairly fast, there aren't many better tyres we can name.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm
Find a Challenge Tyres dealer

Schwalbe One V-Guard — £29.99

Schwalbe One V-Guard tyres

Schwalbe makes the bold claim that its One tyres are the fastest the company has ever manufactured. Our roll-down testing confirms that they're fast and they feel extremely rapid with good traction in a range of conditions, with impressive puncture protection and durability.

They're now available in a wide range of sizes, up to 28mm and in clincher, tubular and tubeless. In normal use, riding the tyres daily in training, the 167km Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive and a road race, the tyres really impress. It's the sensation of speed and lack of resistance that is most noticeable. In a range of conditions too, they show incredible performance, from sun-baked to rain-sodden roads.

The link and price above is for the 23mm version. The 25mm width can be found for £30.99, while the 28mm version is £35.96.

Read our review of the Schwalbe One V-Guard
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite — £27.49

Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyre

Despite a puncture-resisting layer, the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres roll quickly and grip securely in all conditions.

They're secure in wet corners and the Hard Case puncture protection has proved more than capable of dealing with the variety of grit washed onto the roads.

Read our review of the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite
Find a Bontrager dealer

Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £26

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are essentially heavy duty, ultra reliable commu-touring tyres that inspire unprecedented confidence without feeling sluggish or barge-like, as the 970g weight for a pair would imply.

Much of this is attributable to the Smart Guard system. This is essentially a clever subsection of supple rubber designed to force sharps out, rather than drawing them in as deep-treaded Kevlar types can, especially with age.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Vittoria Pave CG Open Clincher — £31.48

vittoria-open-pave-green

Designed for comfort, wet grip and resistance to punctures and impacts, this is a lightweight fat tyre for riders who want speed on poor roads and don't care about a little extra mass.

It uses Vittoria's extremely supple 320tpi casing, Isogrip tread compound and is constructed like a tubular, hence the 'open' designation, short for 'open tubular'. Vittoria tags it as a tyre for extreme conditions, but as far as we're concerned that means British roads all year round.

Find a Vittoria dealer

Continental Grand Prix 4 Season — £32.49-£35.27

conti-gp-4-season-cut

These popular puncture-resistant tyres from Conti have a Duraskin® cut-resistant layer from bead to bead, and two extra Vectran breakers help increase puncture protection.

They're billed as suitable for wet weather. Call us pessimistic, but to us, European wet weather tyres means year-round UK use, and the GP 4 Seasons are excellent do-everything tyres.

Find a Continental dealer

Without air-filled tyres, bikes would be much slower and harsher to ride. But the jargon that swirls around tyres and tyre types can be confusing. Let’s try and clear it up.

The vast majority of bikes around the world use the standard tyre and inner tube combination we’re all familiar with, but when you start looking at high-performance and special-purpose bikes, you run into a few other types. In this article we’ll try and clarify the differences for you. But first, a bit of history.

The history of the tyre

John Boyd Dunlop, inventor of the​pneumatic tyre and inspiration for hipsters

Early cycles had solid rubber tyres, which made them harsh to ride on rough surfaces. In 1887, John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinarian living in Belfast, was the first person to fit pneumatic tyres to cycles, experimenting on his son’s trike before moving to the larger wheels of racing bikes.

The key discovery Dunlop made was that air-filled tyres were not only more comfortable, they were faster. He rolled two wheels across his yard. The wheel without a tyre stopped and fell over while the wheel with a tyre kept going until it hit a gatepost and rebounded. By deforming around the road surface, a pneumatic tyre reduces the wheel’s resistance to rolling to a huge extent. Pneumatic tyres still have rolling resistance, but it’s much less than a solid tyre.

Dunlop was granted a patent on the idea in 1888, but it turned out another Scotsman, Robert William Thomson had patented pneumatic tyres in 1847, invalidating Dunlop’s claim.

The unsung hero of the Dunlop story was the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey Du Cros. After his sons were beaten in races by Willie Hume, using Dunlop’s tyres, Du Cros approached Dunlop and the two created a company to exploit Dunlop’s invention. The withdrawal of his patent was a big blow to Dunlop, but having created a market for their tyres, Du Cros rallied and secured other relevant patents that allowed the Pneumatic Tyre Company to survive.

Dunlop himself retired in 1895, aged 55, while Du Cros remained at the helm of the company under a subsequent change of ownership and a public floatation. In the process, the company’s name became Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre, even though Dunlop himself was no longer involved. The company soon diversified into car tyres and other rubber products to become one of the biggest brand names — and biggest companies — of the 20^th century.

The Dunlop name hasn’t appeared on bike tyres for several decades, but the man himself is still remembered as the father of the pneumatic tyre, and he’d recognise its modern versions as the descendants of the tyres he made to make his son’s trike more comfortable.

Tyre construction

Dunlop’s first prototypes comprised a rubber tube, made by gluing the edges of two strips of rubber, held on to the wheel by linen tape that was itself nailed or bolted into place. Today’s tyres are rather more sophisticated.

Rubber is still used to hold the air in place, though. Usually this is a tube inside the tyre that can be replaced or repaired if it gets punctured. Tubes are made from either synthetic butyl rubber made from petrochemicals or natural rubber made from the latex of the rubber tree.

The inner tube is held in place by a casing made from layers of cloth, which holds in the pressure. The cloth, which usually has unwoven fibres aligned at an angle across the tyre, may be made from nylon, polyester, cotton, or silk. As a rule of thumb, the finer the casing — it’s measured in threads per inch or tpi — the better the quality of the tyre. Basic tyres have 15 or 33tpi casings, while the cloth used in the best casings usually has 120tpi. Larger numbers indicate the manufacturer is adding up the count for each layer.

The sides of the tyre, between the bead and tread, are called sidewalls. City bike tyres often have a reflective layer on the sidewalls for night-time visibility.

The tyre also needs to grip the road, and to do this it has an outermost layer of rubber, the tread. That term refers to the rubber itself, not the pattern moulded into it. Tread rubber is mixed with various additives, including carbon black and silica, to improve its grip and durability.

Many tyres also have an additional layer under the tread to reduce punctures.

One of the objectives of a tyre designer is to reduce rolling resistance to an absolute minimum. To this end, top-quality tyres have thin, supple casings and tread.

Almost all tyres share these features, but the details of how they’re assembled vary. Let’s take a closer look.

Clinchers

An off-road clincher like this Specialized Trigger Pro has a knobby tread pattern for grip on loose surfaces

This is the standard tyre we all know, love and curse at when it goes flat. It’s a U-shape in cross-section, moulded into a hoop by machine. A bead at each end of the U hooks into the rim. The casing spans the beads, and wraps round them. The tread is moulded into place when the tyre is made.

The big advantage of this design, and the reason why it dominates, is that fitting and replacing it is a low-skill job so the inner tube can be replaced fairly easily if you get a puncture. The combination of hook on the rim and bead on the tyre provides decent protection against the tyre blowing off too; you can usually inflate a clincher tyre to twice its recommended maximum before it will blow off.

The disadvantages are that it’s inherently heavier than a tubular, because the rim isn’t a simple tube, but needs an extension for the hook, and the tyre has a bead. Inexpensive tyres have steel beads, better ones have beads made of Kevlar or similar, which saves weight and allows them to be folded for storage or to be carried as spares.

A puncture that completely deflates a clincher tyre can be dangerous. The tyre is only held in place by air pressure, and can come away from the rim if it goes flat. That can lead to catastrophic loss of control if it happens to a front tyre at speed.

A disadvantage that’s not inherent to the design but rather a symptom of the slightly anarchic nature of the bike industry is that you can’t be sure just how well any given tyre will fit your rim. The most common tyre size for road bikes is known as 700C, a name that comes from a now-defunct French tyre sizing system. Under the International Standards Organisation system for sizing tyres, all 700C rims and tyres measure 622mm across the bead seat, the section of the rim where the tyre bead sits.

However, if the standard imposes tolerances for this measurement, they’re not widely observed. It’s not unusual to find some tyre and rim combinations go together quite easily, while others are extremely difficult, or even impossible. If you’re fitting new tyres, you’ll find out soon enough if they’re on the tight side. If they’re very hard to fit, they’ll be similarly hard to remove, which can be a big problem if you’re trying to fix a puncture on the way to work on a dark, cold and damp January morning.

Tubulars

A tubular tyre like this VittoriaCorsa has the casing sewn around the inner tube and no beads to hold it in place. Instead it's glued to the rim.

This is the tyre construction that’s most similar to the tyres Dunlop sold back in the 1890s. The casing is wrapped around the inner tube and sewn together, with a tape over the stitching to protect it. The whole thing is then glued to the rim.

The biggest advantage of making a tyre this way is that it’s light. Without the tyre bead or rim hook of a clincher, a tubular and rim will always be lighter than an equivalent clincher, though the gap is now so small as really makes no difference.

If you get a puncture in a tubular while riding, then you’ll need to replace the tyre. That means carrying a spare, traditionally strapped to your saddle rails with an old toestrap. Your spare needs to have been previously mounted on a wheel so it has some glue to key to the rim when you need it.

This is both an advantage and disadvantage of tubulars. You have to replace a whole tyre because a field-repair isn’t feasible, but swapping a tyre is quicker than replacing an inner tube. To repair the tyre you have to find the puncture, remove the backing tape, unstitch the casing and pull out a section of tube. You patch the tube and reverse the process to put it all back together again. This faff is why tubulars have almost vanished outside of elite racing.

A tubular tyre folds or easy storage or carrying as a spare

Tubulars are still widely used in pro racing because you can carry on riding with a puncture while a support vehicle gets to you, and of course riders don’t have to repair them, or fit them in the first place.

Nevertheless, some riders swear by tubulars, claiming that high-end, handmade tubulars in particular give a nicer ride than clinchers and get fewer punctures. These tyres get their qualities from their very fine, supple casings — which can be made of cotton, polyester or even silk — and thin tread layers. Instead of the tyre being vulcanised in one piece at high temperature, the tread is glued into place at lower temperature. This is said to make for a more flexible tread because the process doesn’t harden the rubber.

Tubeless

The 'Road Tubeless' logo is the only way to tell that a fitted tyre doesn't have a tube lurking within

The clue’s in the name: these are clincher tyres that don’t have an inner tube. Instead, the tyre seals against the rim, and the air is held in by either a rubber layer on the inside of the tyre or by a liquid sealant.

The main advantage is that these tyres are immune to a certain type of puncture, known as a snakebite or pinch puncture. A snakebite puncture happens when the inner tube is trapped in a fold of the tyre between the ground and the rim, producing a characteristic pair of holes in the tube. If there’s no tube, this can’t happen.

Snakebite punctures are a big problem for mountain bikers, who usually run their tyres at low pressures for maximum grip, so they’ve enthusiastically embraced tubeless tyres. Snakebites are less of an issue for road cyclists, though the deterioration of the UK’s roads in the last decade has seen riders turning to fatter tyres at lower pressures to improve comfort.

Tubeless tyres need a matching rim, either without spoke holes or with a rim tape that seals the spoke holes. The tyre bead is shaped to to seal against the rim, and the sizing is more precise than that of ordinary clinchers.

Tubeless tyres fall into two categories: full tubeless and tubeless ready. Full tubeless have a layer of rubber on the inside of the tyre to retain air. Tubeless ready tyres have the necessary bead shape to seal against a tubeless-compatible rim, but a conventional casing to save weight. With the addition of 30-60g of sealant to keep the air in, this can be lighter than a conventional tyre and tube.

Browse a few mountain bike websites and you’ll likely find instructions for rolling your own tubeless systems using tubeless rim tape and sealant with conventional tyres and rims. This is a bad idea for road bikes. The higher pressures of road bike tyres mean that the accurate fit of a proper tubeless tyre is crucial to success. Without it, a bodged-up system can fail in use.

Hutchinson and Shimano created the original Road Tubeless tyres and rims, and other manufacturers have produced their own interpretation of the idea. Most recently, Mavic has announced a range of wheels and tyres under the Road UST brand, and has submitted the specification to the International Standards Organisation and the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation for ratification as a standard any tyre and rim maker can use.

Open tubulars

With thin tread and only two layers of casing an open tubular uses the same lightweight construction as a tubular

An open tubular is a clincher that’s made with the same construction methods as a handmade tubular. The term is part marketing, part description, as it’s a way of explaining why some high-end clinchers are rather expensive.

Fans of these tyres say they have the ride quality of a tubular, which is what you’d expect as they use the same high-thread-count casing materials and thin, hand-glued tread.

A few years ago it was almost a sure bet that a tyre labelled as an open tubular would be among the fastest, smoothest-rolling tyres.

Solid and foam tyres

Tannus tyres are made from lightweight foam. The holes are for mounting pins to hold them to the rim.

Over the years there have been many attempts to market puncture-proof tyres that fit conventional rims. These have usually involved tyres made from solid rubber, or tyres with a very thick layer of rubber round a hollow core, or tyres made from some sort of foam.

Without pressurised air in them, such tyres usually give a very harsh ride. In order to keep them on the rim they have to be a very tight fit, which makes them very hard to mount too.

Solid and foam tyres are not made of the same rubber as tyre tread, but are moulded from other materials like polyurethane. However, that can lead to problems with grip, as a slipperier tyre surface won’t stick to the road as well.

The only tyre maker that seems to have overcome some of these problems is Tannus, a Taiwanese division of a chemical company that among other things makes shock-absorbing sole components for sport shoes. Tannus has a proprietary foam it calls Aither 1.1 and claims tyres made from it ride like good quality city bike tyres.

People who’ve used Tannus tyres concur. Rolling resistance is reportedly only a bit higher than a pneumatic tyre and they have decent grip.

However, Tannus has only partially solved the fitting issues, using plastic pins through the tyre to hold it in place. This makes for a time-consuming mounting process best left to a bike shop that has Tannus’ special tools.

road.cc tyre reviews

More road.cc articles on tyres

Road tubeless: everything you need to know
Your guide to road cycling tyres + 17 of the best
Buyer's guide to tubeless tyres — your options in new technology rubber
The best tyres to keep you cycling through winter​