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.

• Compared to summer tyres, winter tyres are typically wider, with thicker tread and beefier puncture-prevention under that tread, and usually a bit cheaper — nobody likes trashing expensive tyres

• Fixing a flat in the cold and wet is a miserable job, so it makes sense to use tyres with better puncture resistance to avoid it

• If possible, go for a grippier tread compound too to help keep you rubber-side-down in the wet

• Want to defy even snow and ice? Look at tyres with metal studs that'll grip even the slippery stuff

The best winter tyres in 2021

• Goodyear Vector 4Seasons tubeless — £47.00
• Goodyear Eagle Sport — £20.00
• Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lite — £32.00
• Michelin Protek Urban — £22.99
• Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season 11Storm TR Kit — £89.96
• Schwalbe E-One — £32.99
• Ritchey Alpine JB WCS Stronghold 30mm/35mm — £38-£57
• Panaracer T-Serv ProTite — £33.99
• Rene Herse Barlow Pass TC 38mm — £76 - £96
• Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £39.95
• Pirelli P Zero Velo 4S 28mm tyre — £41.00
• IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard — £55
• Schwalbe Marathon Winter Spiked — £38.00
• Schwalbe G-One Speed tubeless — £29.99 - £40.99
• Donnelly Strada LLG — £24.75 - £35
• Panaracer Gravel King — £27.99 - £40.00
• Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite II — £45.00
• Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £26.99 - £29.99
• Schwalbe Durano (aka One) RaceGuard — £20.00
• Panaracer Race D Evo 3 — £19.99
• Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres — £30
• Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres — £42.98
• Continental Grand Prix 4 Season — £48

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.

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.

The best winter tyres feature a thick reinforced breaker belt sandwiched between the rubber tread and carcass. This prevents 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.

Goodyear Vector 4Seasons tubeless — £47.00

The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Tubeless Complete tyre – as opposed to the Tube Type – is surprisingly quick and supple for something that is also robust enough to deal with all the grit and flint being washed out of the verges this time of year. Its new design makes it a step above the rest too when it comes to tubeless capability.

The Vector 4Seasons are part of Goodyear's Ultra High-Performance (UHP) line-up, which focuses on optimising low rolling resistance and weight, and, in the Vector's case, dealing with year-round road debris. It's quite a difficult balance to achieve but Goodyear has done a good job. The Vectors have proved themselves to be highly durable in all sorts of horrible conditions, and punctures haven't been an issue.

The Dynamic:Silica4 compound has a tacky feel to it and grip levels are very impressive, giving loads of confidence in fast bends or when tackling roundabouts while keeping up with the flow of traffic.

Read our review of the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons tubeless

Goodyear Eagle Sport — £20.00

The Goodyear Eagle Sport is an entry-level road tyre from one of the world's big brands, and it delivers well above its price point.

Now, a low-cost tyre that offers 'durability' is often code for a plasticky compound that lasts forever but sends the rider into the ditch on the first wet corner, so it was with some trepidation that I took the bike out, freshly shod with the Eagle Sports. Happily, it was a dry day and the tyres behaved impeccably. The second outing was on sodden roads with localised flooding. Surely, this would be the litmus test... No, after a few cautious turns I began to trust the Eagle Sports to stick to the line and for the whole of the rest of the test period I never had an anxious moment.

'Aha,' I hear you say, 'but that tenacious grip means the tyres most be slow and draggy.' Again, no. They feel lively from the off and the stats don't lie: up one local Strava climb, the fearsome 'Past the Chinese', I notched up a PB out of 32 passes, without being aware of trying particularly hard. A fortnight later, just to show it wasn't a fluke, I did it again.

Read our review of the Goodyear Eagle Sport

Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lite — £32.00

The Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite Road tyre offers plenty of grip, a supple ride and decent puncture protection. Rolling resistance is impressive too, and it's not a bad price either.

Bontrager says that the R3 is one tyre that can do it all: 'Fast enough for race day, yet durable enough for every day.' That isn't too far off of the mark.

Taking corners and roundabouts flat out, I certainly felt confident that the Bontragers weren't going to wash out when really cranked over onto their edge. The compound really feels like it grabs hold of the asphalt in the dry and it also works in the wet too, although obviously not to the same degree.

Read our review of the Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lite
Find a Bontrager dealer

Michelin Protek Urban — £22.99

Michelin's Protek Urban Aramid tyre offers a fantastic mix of grip, efficiency, comfort and enhanced puncture resistance. For keen commuters and city riders, it's a choice that fulfils all the most important practical criteria while still providing a rewarding ride experience, and all at a very reasonable price.

Available in either 35mm or 40mm, there's more than enough cushioning to deal with rough city streets and broken surfaces. I tested the slightly thinner 35mm option and it seems like the perfect middle option for quick urban riding, with enough insulation from road imperfections to protect without feeling like you're wallowing around.

The tyre's protective qualities don't just extend to your soft bits – underneath the surface is a layer of what Michelin calls 'a new generation of Aramid puncture protection' designed to keep you rolling longer between flats. It's a little hard to gauge exactly how effective this is without trying to wantonly destroy the tyre, but in day-to-day use, they haven't come a cropper yet. Meanwhile, a reflective stripe on the sidewall helps to keep you seen.

Read our review of the Michelin Protek Urban
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Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season 11Storm TR Kit — £89.96

The Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season 11Storm is a fast, grippy and durable tyre with easy tubeless installation at a price that matches key rivals, packaged here as a pair with everything you need to get them up and running.

Hutchinson was a pioneer of road tubeless tyres back in the early 2000s and while it doesn't have the market to itself anymore, it is still producing top-quality tyres. These Fusion 5 All Season 11Storms are ideal for mixed weather conditions, with lots of grip in the wet and durability that should easily cope with the harshest roads.

Although you can buy the tyres separately, for £39.95 each at rrp, the kit includes two tyres and everything you need to get up and running and convert your tubeless-ready wheels to accepting the tyres: tubeless tape to cover the spoke holes, tubeless valves with removable cores and a plastic tool for removing said cores, and a bottle of the company's own Protect'air Max sealant. For £89.95 that's pretty good value.

Read our review of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season 11Storm TR Kit

Schwalbe E-One — £32.99

The E-One is designed specifically for e-bikes, but that doesn't mean it's restricted purely to bikes with batteries. With a new compound that gives excellent grip levels and durability, plus a thicker tread that benefits puncture protection, the only real trade-off is the extra weight. The new Addix Race compound is very sticky and grip is amazing in both the wet and dry. On high-speed descents the way they cling to the road allows you to really let the bike go, and the supple rubber gives plenty of feedback too.

Read our review of the Schwalbe E-One tyre
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Ritchey Alpine JB WCS Stronghold 30mm/35mm — £38-£57

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 you're 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 — £33.99

The Panaracer T-Serv PT Folding tyres are intended for urban city use. We found 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 width makes for decent bump handling if you're unable to avoid a fresh pothole.

Note: the 32mm version we liked is currently out of stock everywhere; link above goes to 35mm tyre

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

Rene Herse Barlow Pass TC 38mm — £76 - £96

The Rene Herse (formerly known as 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 Rene Herse Barlow Pass TC

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £39.95

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
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Pirelli P Zero Velo 4S 28mm tyre — £41.00

The Pirelli P Zero Velo and Velo 4S tyre marks a very impressive return to cycling for Pirelli after a half-century hiatus. This tyre is fast, comfortable and long lasting.

The Velo 4S is based on the same technology used to develop the standard Velo tyre that Jack reviewed earlier this year. That includes the company's own SmartNET Silica compound, 127tpi casing and construction in the Hutchinson factory in France. This 'winter' version uses a rubber compound that has been tweaked to improve wet weather grip, and there's extra siping along the top of the tyre, though we all know that such grooves make nada difference.

Pirelli has also increased the thickness of the tread, but underneath there is the same aramid fibre puncture-resistant belt as the regular tyre. This belt is only located underneath the tread and doesn't extend to the sidewalls. This does contribute to the low weight; at 250g this 28mm tyre isn't giving away much to the regular version it's based on, but it won't offer the rugged sidewall of some other tyres.

Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero Velo 4S
Find a Pirelli dealer

IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard — £55

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.

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 — £38.00

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 £40, and you can get away with just running a front studded tyre, though obviously a pair is better.

Schwalbe G-One Speed tubeless — £29.99 - £40.99

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

Donnelly Strada LLG — £24.75 - £35

The Donnelly Strada LLGs are good, all-round 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 Donnelly (known as Clement at the time) Strada LLG

Panaracer Gravel King — £27.99 - £40.00

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

Panaracer initially introduced the Gravel king as a 26mm tyre, but has kept up with the times, producing fatter versions as bikes have evolved to better cope with crummy roads, and to venture away from the Tarmac. The 32mm and 38mm versions are particularly stellar.

Read our review of the 32mm Panaracer Gravel King
Read our review of the 38mm Panaracer Gravel King
Read our review of the 26mm Panaracer Gravel King
Find a Panaracer dealer

Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elite II — £45.00

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, 28 and 32mm widths are also available.

Find a Specialized dealer

Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £26.99 - £29.99 

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 (aka One) RaceGuard — £20.00

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 — £19.99

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 — £30

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 — £42.98

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 — £48

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.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season here

Find a Continental dealer

With fatter tyres on smaller wheels, the 650B standard gives the same rolling size as regular 700C wheels with more cushion and grip. Should you consider a bike with this reborn wheel spec?

12 of the best 650B road, adventure and gravel bikes

• Bombtrack Hook EXT C 2021 — £2,769
• Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty 1 2021 — £7,500
• Ribble CGR 725 1X 650B — £1,899.00
• Whyte Glencoe v3 — £1,598.99
• Merida Silex+ 6000 2021 — £2,700
• Cotic Escapade — from £1,299
• Open WI.DE — £3,200 (frameset only)
• Genesis Fugio — £1,699.99 - £2,999.99
• Kona Rove 2021 — £899-£2,399
• Vitus Substance CRX-1 2021 — £2,199.99
• Ibis Hakka MX — from £3,599
• Mason Bokeh — from £2,795

What is 650B?

This is a wheel size with smaller rims than the 700C road bike standard, but larger than the 26-inch size that was the standard for mountain bikes until a few years ago. Because the rims are smaller, fitting 650B wheels into road and gravel bikes that usually take 700C wheels allows the use of fatter tyres with little or no alteration to the frame design, assuming you have disc brakes.

There used to be loads of French wheel sizes, designated by the rolling diameter of the tyre in millimetres, and a letter. The road bike standard 700C is one of these sizes; it originally had quite fat tyres that bulked things out to a rolling diameter of 700mm.

Wheel size designations are a proper omnishambles. The only way to be sure a tyre will fit a particular rim is to look at the size of the bead seat, the part of the rim where the tyre fits when inflated. Your 700C wheels have a bead seat diameter of 622mm; for 650B it's 584mm.

The 650B wheel size was popular with French touring cyclists back in the 60s, and has been brought back from the brink of extinction by the mountain bike industry. It has pretty much replaced the original mountain bike 26-inch wheels, which have a bead seat diameter of 559mm. Also referred to as 27.5in, the wheel size is now found on bikes from entry-level hardtails to downhill bikes.

But 650B is no longer just on mountain bikes. Road bike manufacturers from small independent frame builders like Hallett Handbuilt Cycles to mainstream brands like Cannondale have adopted it for all-purpose and gravel bikes.

The combination of a 650B wheel's 584mm rim and a tyre width of between 30 and 50mm gives about the same overall wheel size as a regular 700C rim and 25mm tyre, so the rolling speed and handling characteristics will be similar to a regular road bike.

- Trend spotting: Why you need to switch to wider tyres

Benefits include additional cushioning from the bigger volume of air, providing a smoother ride, and a larger contact patch which boosts traction, ideal for mixed terrain and slippery roads.

Do we need a new wheel size?

There has been a move to wider tyres on endurance and sportives bikes over the past few years, with bikes like the Cannondale Synapse and Giant Defy, which both cater for fat tyres, proving incredibly popular with cyclists that want a bit of extra comfort.

- Buyer's guide: sportive and endurance road bikes + 15 of the Best

Even professional road race cyclists, once wedded to skinny 22 and 23mm tyres, are now switching to 25mm and 26mm tyres as standard. But it's arguably cyclists seeking comfort, especially with road conditions deteriorating due to lack of maintenance, that have been pushing manufacturers to develop bikes with space for wider tyres.

The adoption of wider tyres has been swift. With many cyclists cottoning onto the benefits of wider tyres, many are seeking bikes capable of taking even wider tyres. A mere 28mm just doesn't cut it anymore. The latest crop of gravel and adventure bikes massively increase clearance over the endurance bikes, accepting tyre widths between 30 and 50mm.

- Buyer’s guide to gravel and adventure bikes plus 13 of the best

One significant benefit of 650B bikes is to do with geometry. A 42mm tyre on a 650B rim provides about the same outside diameter as a 23mm tyre on a 700C wheel, so you can fit much wider tyres to the bike without requiring any drastic changes to the geometry of the frame and fork.

A bigger tyre on a 700C rim requires changes to the frame and geometry. The chainstays need to be longer, and with it the wheelbase and the fork needs to be taller. This can impact the handling of the bike and takes it further away from the responsiveness and agility that is the hallmark of a road bike.

Why now?

Wider tyres are becoming more and more popular. Gravel and adventure bikes offer a new option for the growing number of cyclists that want a versatile bike to cover different road surfaces and terrain (and previously might have chosen a cyclocross bike) and 650B is back in fashion in the mountain bike world. All of that has made bike makers look again at a wheel size alternative.

With the mountain bike industry geared up to developing 650B bikes, there’s now a lot bigger choice of wheels. There’s also a cross-pollination of ideas and engineering, especially with the growing gravel and adventure bike sector, which owes a lot to the mountain bike world. It was really only a matter of time.

How Cannondale went 650B with the Slate

When it launched the Slate in 2015, Cannondale reckoned that a 650B rim with a 42mm tyre was the perfect pairing for a bike designed to be fast and agile on the road, like a regular road bike, but capable when the surface turns to dirt and gravel.

- Cannondale Slate - First Ride Review

“On Slate, the decision to go for 650B was natural for us,” Cannondale's David Devine says. “We knew which tyre size we wanted, 42mm. We knew which chainstay length we wanted, 405mm. When we discovered the rollout of 700x22mm and 650x42mm were roughly the same, we decided it was the best wheel size for achieving our desired tyre volume within the set geometry. Traditional 700C wheels, paired with the 42mm tyre would have driven a longer chainstay length, and would have necessitated a higher frame stack while maintaining the same 30mm Lefty Oliver Suspension fork.

“650B wheels offer our desired geometry and tyre volume together in one package, rather than having to make a compromise with smaller tyres or longer chainstays,” explains Devine.

The bespoke option

It’s not just the big players in the cycling industry that are paying attention to the benefits of 650B. Bespoke frame builders have been closer to the cutting-edge of bicycle design than many of the bigger corporations for some time, with a closer relationship to their customers and able to produce one-off frames much more quickly.

Richard Hallett of Hallett Handbuilt Cycles has been dabbling with the 650B wheel size and appears convinced of the benefits, saying that ride comfort and grip are the big advantages.

“650B road tyres such as the Grand Bois Cypres and Hetre offer demonstrable improvements over 700C tyres up to 28c in rolling resistance, ride comfort, grip, all-roads riding and, importantly, safety,” says Hallett, “so using 650B wheel and tyres I can build a touring, audax, utility or training bike that offers superior performance in these respects.

“There is a weight penalty, the amount depending on tyre size, which is why they aren't used in racing. If someone wants a racing or sportive bike, I recommend 700C, up to 25mm.”

Road.cc took a closer look at one of Richard Hallett’s bespoke bikes last year, a steel frame and fork with 650B wheels and 42mm tyres. His aim was to build a fast, comfortable and fine-handling bike and put it through its paces in the 300km Dragon Ride sportive, a stern test indeed for any road bike.

We’ve been here before haven’t we?

Sort of, yes. Using smaller mountain bike wheels on a road bike is nothing new of course. There have been many road bikes designed with 26-inch mountain bike wheels that allow clearance for larger tyres: the Surly Long Haul Trucker is one such bike that can, as well as regular 700C wheels, take a 26in rim with a tyre width up to 62mm.

While such bikes have been a quirky oddity to most regular road cyclists, the growing popularity of wider tyres on all road bikes and a shift towards comfort over outright speed, could mean we'll be seeing a lot more new bikes that take a fresh look at the advantage of combining a smaller wheel with a bigger tyres.

Was Cannondale’s Slate the start of a new trend or simply a one-off? David Devine thought at the time that we were likely to see more manufacturers take an interest. time has proved him at least somewhat correct.

“I do anticipate that other bike companies will trend toward making 650B road bikes,” said Devine. “Already, we have some tyre manufacturers approaching us to make sure they are opening moulds that will be compatible with Slate. In addition to the tyres available from Panaracer, you will see tyres from some of the main brands already coming to the market in this size. The Slate will help broaden the tyre selection for 650B x 42mm tubeless, all-road tyres. It’s something that has been around in the hand built community for some time.”

While there are clearly some very good reasons for going to a 650B bike wheel size, there are some downsides. A 42mm tyre is heavy, about 400g, about twice the weight of a regular narrow road tyre, and that extra weight at the outside of the wheel could impact acceleration and speed. Those concerns might be easily outweighed by the comfort, durability and robustness for tackling rough roads and gravel paths and off-road tracks, though. 650B could make sense to a lot of cyclists.

Perhaps the mainstream bike brands won’t have it all to themselves, argued Richard Hallett.

“The large-scale manufacturers seem to have put all their eggs in the 700C wheel basket so we see everything from race and sportive bikes on 700Cx23/25 to gravel and adventure bikes with 700Cx32/35 tyres,” he said. “These are inevitably heavier than 650Bx32 with no appreciable performance advantage, but investment in 650B would cost money, so I suspect 650B road bikes will remain a small part of the market for the moment.”

The latest 650B bikes

Three years later, it looks like Hallett was more or less right: The biggest brands, Trek, Specialized and Giant have all stuck with 700C. But a few more manufacturers have taken the plunge and added a 650B bike to their ranges. Canadian brands Kona and Norco both have gravel bikes with 650B wheels, as do the UK's Genesis, Chain Reaction Cycles house brand Vitus and boutique marque Mason Cycles.

As for the Slate, it was perhaps too far ahead of its time and was quietly discontinued, replaced by the mostly-700C Topstone range. But you can't keep a good idea down for long.

Bombtrack Hook EXT C 2021 — £2,769

Bombtrack's carbon fibre 650b Hook EXT-C is a highly capable, comfortable and great handling adventure bike if you really want to delve deep into the woods and escape the congested roads and plan an ambitious adventure into the unknown wilderness.

The Hook EXT-C displays a really fine handling balance and an exciting ride. It’s a huge bundle of fun and just encourages you to explore and get away from it all.

Read our review of the Bombtrack Hook EXT C
Find a Bombtrack dealer

Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty 1 2021 — £7,500

The Slate may be gone, but its spirit was reborn in 2020 with the advent of Cannondale's carbon fibre Topstones with Lefty fork, exemplified here by the top-of the range version. The Slate was ahead of its time in its wheel size choice; the Topstone Carbon pushes the envelope with 30mm of rear suspension achieved with flexible stays and seatpost rather than heavy suspension pivots and shocks.

Like so many current top-of-the-range bikes, the Topstone Carbon Lefty 1 has SRAM's AXS 12-speed wireless electronic shifting, in this case controlling an X01 Eagle mountain bike rear mech across a 10-50 cassette with a single 40-tooth chainring, for a bigger gear range than most bikes with a double chainset.

Read about the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty

Ribble CGR 725 1X 650B — £1,899.00

Ribble's CGR 725 1X 650B is a hugely versatile bike that offers incredible value to boot. The combination of steel frame and plump but fast-rolling 47mm tyres deliver a comfortable ride on dirt while still being plenty quick on road, with sorted handling that's a happy medium between stability and steering agility; it's quite possibly all the drop bar bike you need for gravel, road or commuting.

While 'jack of all trades and master of none' is usually levelled as an insult, it's probably the CGRs main strength. Unless you're lucky enough to have a wallet deep enough and garage large enough to house every subset of riding niche from pure road to pure gravel, having one bike that's equally happy taking care of the daily commute plus weekend gravel or road riding adventures is a strong plus.

Read our review of the Ribble CGR 725 1X 650B

Whyte Glencoe v3 — £1,598.99

Whyte's Glencoe combines an aluminium frame with 650B tyres and a very different approach to geometry to provide a supremely relaxed, comfortable and confidence-inspiring ride that excels on rough roads and fast descents. It's decently equipped for the money but it is a little on the heavy side, though that doesn't ruin its appeal.

Some bikes are easy to pigeonhole. Some are not. The new Whyte Glencoe is a case in point. Whyte pitches it primarily as a road bike, albeit one that is intended, with its big tyres and relaxed geometry, to be able to tackle the poorly surfaced roads most of us have to contend with better than a conventional road bike.

Read our review of the Whyte Glencoe v3
Find a Whyte dealer

Merida Silex+ 6000 2021 — £2,700

The Merida Silex+ 6000 is a nimble-handling gravel/adventure bike that offers plenty of versatility along with a comfortable ride courtesy of chunky 650B tyres.

The Silex+ 6000 offers quick handling, making it feel superbly controllable on demanding terrain. Quite an upright riding position helps here too. Rather than going into technical sections head first, you feel like you're sitting high, easily able to survey everything ahead of you and react accordingly.

You might have heard people describe gravel bikes as essentially rigid mountain bikes with drop bars. It's usually not particularly accurate but the Silex+ 6000 matches this description more closely than any other bike I've ridden. Some gravel bikes are great at bowling along at high speed but feel ponderous and awkward through tight twists and turns and steep descents; they'll grudgingly get involved, but they're not really into it. In contrast, the Silex+ feels ideally suited to this stuff. The more mountain bike-ish the tracks and trails you're riding, the better it feels.

Read our review of the Merida Silex+ 6000
Find a Merida dealer

Cotic Escapade — from £1,299

One of the early adopters of the whole gravel/adventure/do-it-all bikes, the Cotic Escapade has had a few upgrades since its inception a good five or six years ago. Larger tyre clearances, a new carbon fork and a tapered head tube have now upped the performance and dropped the weight, making the new model an absolute joy to ride whether on or off road.

Read our review of the Cotic Escapade

Open WI.DE — £3,200 (frameset only)

The WI.DE (Winding Detours) gravel bike from Open takes wider tyres than the company’s original UP from 2015 and is all the better for it, with supreme speed over all sorts of surfaces, infused with great handling and low weight.

Gravel bikes have been edging closer to the territory occupied by mountain bikes for a few years now, leading to many accusations they are nothing but glorified rigid mountain bikes with curly bars. The WI.DE suggests there's some truth in these accusations; it has space for up to 60mm (2.3in) tyres on 650b rims, as wide as many cross-country mountain bikes.

Our David Arthur rode the WI.DE with 57mm tyres and reports that it was nimble at low speed when swerving around trees on singletrack, while stable at higher speeds on loose gravel tracks. The steering is calm at high speeds making it a relaxing bike to ride on long distances because it’s not twitchy.

If you think the big tyres will mean a sluggish ride, think again. The WI.DE is stupendously quick over all terrain, whether it’s a road where it manages to not give out much speed to a pure road bike, or along rough gravel roads or forest tracks. The speed of the Open was its defining feature. The high stiffness of the frame delivers a sprightly uptake of speed and the low weight - 8.75kg for the pictured size medium test bike - ensures there’s no hill too steep or tough for the WI.DE to conquer.

Read our review of the Open WI.DE

Genesis Fugio — £1,699.99 - £2,999.99

The Genesis Fugio is solidly a gravel bike, with 50mm tyres. It’s almost a mountain bike with drop bars, and fits the growing trend for big tyred drop bar road bikes that can go almost anywhere. The frame is made from chromoly double butted tubing, with a full carbon fibre fork.

There are two models, Fugio 20 and Fugio 30. Both have 1 X 11 transmissions with 11-42 cassettes. The Fugio 20 in Genesis' Mjolnir chromoly has SRAM Apex components, cable-actuated disc brakes and WTB Venture TCS tyres, with a 42-tooth chainring.

The more expensive Fugio 30 is made from Reynolds 725 heat-treated tubing, which sheds a bit of weight. The Fugio 30 is hung with Shimano's new GRX 810 groupset and drops the gearing slightly with a 40-tooth chainring.

A Fugio frameset is £699.99 if you want to start from scratch and build your own.

Find a Genesis dealer

Kona Rove 2021 — £899-£2,399

Four models of Kona's venerable Rove adventure/touring bike come with 650B wheels, though the frame will also accommodate 700C wheels. There's an aluminium-framed bike, the Rove 650 AL, and three with steel frames, including the Rove Ltd, above.

Can't live without composites? Kona's Libre carbon gravel bike continues with 650B wheels 2021.

Vitus Substance CRX-1 2021 — £2,199.99

This update of the gravel/adventure bike Vitus launched in 2018, the latest Substance has a carbon fibre frame and fork and SRAM Rival 1X11 gearing.

Ibis Hakka MX — from £3,599

The Ibis Hakka MX is a descendant of the US company’s previous Hakkalugi cyclocross bike but geared much more towards the gravel and adventure riding, rather than racing in the mud. Like most of the bikes here it will take 650B or 700C wheels, though you get the fattest tyre option with 650B: the stock Schwalbe Thunder Burt tyres are 54mm wide. It's a long way from cheap even in the base SRAM Rival 1X spec above, but you're getting a frame from one of the best-regarded carbon shops in the business.

Read our review of the Ibis Hakka MX

Mason Bokeh — from £2,795

From the detail-obsessed mind of Dom Mason comes a highly capable adventure bike with a feature-packed aluminium frame, splendid aesthetics, and handling that ensures it's as at home on the road as it is on the trail.

Read our review of the Mason Bokeh Force

With the return of wet weather (who are we kidding, when does it really go away?), and spurred by this forum discussion, it’s a good time to take a look at the current tubeless options for wet weather (and of course these tyres are especially useful in the winter).

Swapping lightweight race tyres for sturdier rubber is a sensible idea for riding in wet weather and 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- and wet-weather-specific tubeless tyres. We've rounded up our favourites for your consideration below.

• Reduced susceptibility to punctures makes tubeless tyres a good choice for wet weather.

• Most of the tyres here also come in wide versions for better cushioning and grip when road surfaces are obscured by water.

• Thicker tread, tougher carcasses and anti-puncture layers also help ward off flats.

• It's debateable whether the wet actually increases your chances of a puncture, but it's not debateable that changing a tube in the wet is a dirty, unpleasant task best avoided.

• Unless you like getting covered in road crud in which case, well, YKIOK.

17 of the best wet-weather tubeless tyres for 2021

• Hutchinson Fusion 5 Performance — £33.50
• Goodyear Vector 4Seasons — £47.00 - £49.99
• Vittoria Corsa Control TLR G2.0 — £47.86
• Maxxis High Road Tubeless — £30.00
• Vittoria Rubino Pro TLR G2.0 — £39.00
• Goodyear County Ultimate — £60.00
• Vittoria Terreno Zero TNT G2.0 — £34.00
• Panaracer GravelKing Slick 38mm — £31.00
• Pirelli Cinturato Velo — £43
• Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold Tubeless Ready 35mm — £51.99
• IRC Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard tyres — £57
• Bontrager R3 Hard Case TLR — £38.49
• Specialized Roubaix Tubeless Ready — £35
• Hutchinson Fusion 5 All-Season — £34
• Mavic Yksion Elite Allroad — £53.99
• Schwalbe G-One — £32.99
• WTB Horizon TCS Road Tyre — £40.00

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 a bit limited, though it does get better every year. There’s still a reluctance from some tyre brands to fully embrace tubeless, though the last major hold-outs, Continental and Michelin, are now on board with performance-orientated tyres. Many others have been willing to invest in the technology to make it a viable alternative to regular clinchers.

What do you want from a wet-weather 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 is slippery.

Read more: 18 of the best road cycling tyres

17 wet-weather and winter tubeless tyre options

Hutchinson Fusion 5 Performance — £33.50

The Hutchinson Fusion 5 Performance is an excellent all-rounder at a good price. For fast group rides, commutes and café rides, they don't skip a beat regardless of weather. It provides plenty of speed yet good puncture protection, and is reminiscent of the excellent Continental GP 4000 II – with the added benefit of being tubeless ready without extra podge.

The Fusion 5 Performance feels fast and grips well whatever the conditions, and even on greasy lanes.

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

Goodyear Vector 4Seasons — £47.00 - £49.99

The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Tubeless Complete tyre is surprisingly quick and supple for something that is also robust enough to deal with all the grit and flint being washed out of the verges this time of year. Its new design makes it a step above the rest too when it comes to tubeless capability.

The Vector 4Seasons makes up part of Goodyear's Ultra High-Performance (UHP) line-up, which focuses on optimising low rolling resistance and weight, and, in the Vector's case, dealing with year-round road debris. It's quite a difficult balance to achieve but Goodyear has done a good job. The Vectors have proved themselves to be highly durable in all sorts of horrible conditions, and punctures haven't been an issue.

The Dynamic:Silica4 compound has a tacky feel to it and grip levels are very impressive, giving loads of confidence in fast bends or when tackling roundabouts while keeping up with the flow of traffic.

Read our review of the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons tubeless

Vittoria Corsa Control TLR G2.0 — £47.86

Vittoria's Corsa Control TLR G2.0 tyre is a fast wet weather option. Grip is very good in the wet, and the supple casing gives a really nice ride feel. Tubeless setup is easy, and the tyres perform well on faster rides.

At 323g, this isn't the lightest tubeless option out there, but it does come with the added casing reinforcement and thicker tread. If you compare these to summer race tyres then you will notice that the Corsa Control TLR feels a little slower, but we'll trade that for the increased mileage and added protection against punctures.

Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Control TLR G2.0
Find a Vittoria dealer

Maxxis High Road Tubeless — £30.00

One to consider for wet-weather racing as Maxxis bills them as a performance tyre, the High Road Tubeless have carried over all the great points from the non-tubeless version, such as excellent grip levels and great durability, but with the added bonus of not having to stop and fix a puncture.

Puncture protection is taken care of by Maxxis' K2, a layer of Kevlar composite under the rubber, and it does a very good job. With a test period that's included heavy, sustained rain washing the debris and hedgerow cuttings into the road, I haven't had a single issue with cuts or punctures.

Read our review of the Maxxis High Road Tubeless
Find a Maxxis dealer

Vittoria Rubino Pro TLR G2.0 — £39.00

The Vittoria Rubino Pro TLR G2.0 is a very good general riding tubeless road tyre or even wet weather race tyre. It is designed for high miles on poor road surfaces and this is where it shines, though it isn't as fast as others.

Vittoria made a big thing about its use of graphene in its tyre compound when it first used the technology. This 2.0 version features a similar compound, but with enhanced wet weather grip, according to Vittoria.

The '3C' compound feature, Vittoria says, increases wear life and provides better rolling resistance, though it doesn't specify what that's in comparison to. I found the tyres to be grippy, with plenty of traction on both wet and dry roads. On steeper climbs in wet weather, there was no slipping from the rear wheel.

Read our review of the Vittoria Rubino Pro TLR G2.0
Find a Vittoria dealer

Goodyear County Ultimate — £60.00

The Goodyear County Ultimate gravel tyre, which uses a specially developed Silica4 compound, offers a decent performance across road and light off-road, with good puncture resistance but perhaps a bit less suppleness than the best tyres of this type.

Goodyear describes the County as "multi-surface", which could describe its intended use as well as its tread design. Goodyear has really crammed in all the different types of tread across its 35mm width. In the centre, across around 8mm of the tyre, it's fully slick. Either side, there's about 5mm of diagonal file tread, which then segues into a fine hexagonal stipple. The outer edge of the tyre adds some square tread blocks, designed to cling on when you're cornering on a loose surface.

Read our review of the Goodyear County Ultimate

Vittoria Terreno Zero TNT G2.0 — £34.00

The Vittoria Terreno Zero tyre is nominally a gravel tyre, but it's fast-rolling on tarmac, with good puncture resistance and a reasonably grippy compound.

The Zero tyre uses a lot of the technology from Vittoria's established cyclo-cross range – the Terreno Dry, Terreno Mix and Terreno Wet models – but with a tweaked tread pattern more suitable for hardpack gravel without sacrificing performance on the road sections in between them.

Pumped up firm, they're good for pure road use, and would make for a great commuter tyre through the winter thanks to their wide profile and plenty of rubber on the road.

Read our review of the Vittoria Terreno Zero TNT G2.0
Find a Vittoria dealer

Panaracer GravelKing Slick 38mm — £31.00

The Panaracer GravelKing will take some beating on rough roads in this whopping 38mm size. We've already reviewed both the 26mm and the 32mm versions of these tyres and this pothole-conquering, gravel-busting 38mm version in Nile Blue is just as impressive. It's light for a 38mm at 337g, is very easy to set up tubeless and comes in restrained black as well as blue, green and ivory. What more could you want from a winter tubeless tyre?

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing Slick 38mm
Find a Panaracer dealer

Pirelli Cinturato Velo — £43

The Pirelli Cinturato Velo TLR is a very good tyre, especially during the winter months, offering plenty of cold and wet weather grip while also providing loads of puncture proofing. The small cost to the rolling resistance is worth it for the durability.

Read our review of the Pirelli Cinturato Velo
Find a Pirelli dealer

Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold Tubeless Ready 35mm — £51.99

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 — £57

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

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 — £35

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 tubeless 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 31mm width, weighing a claimed 375g.

Hutchinson Fusion 5 All-Season — £34

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.

Mavic Yksion Elite Allroad — £53.99

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 — £32.99

Not so much a winter tubeless 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 — £40.00

Throwing a bit of a curve ball into the 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

Explore the complete archive of reviews of tyres on road.cc

Over the years we've clocked up hundreds of thousands of miles in all weathers, reviewing almost 300 of the best road bike tyres. With an eclectic selection of everything from sturdy commuting tyres to super-fast race rubber, these are our picks of the best road bike tyres you can buy. 

As Specialized famously said: "Whether you're riding a 2000-mile route of Le Tour de France or 40 miles on a Saturday, only one inch really matters—your contact patch".

Here at road.cc we reckon tyres are one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make to a bike, whether you're searching for "free" speed, more grip, increased durability or just fewer of those dreaded punctures.

Even the very best bike wheels can be let down when clad in poor rubber, but before purchasing there is a couple of things to check:

Firstly, will you be fitting your tyres to tubeless wheels? Most will require special rim tape to stop the sealant and air from escaping. Secondly, how much clearance does your frame have? Many bikes designed for racing, especially models with rim brakes, will be limited to 28mm; but as the trend for wider rubber really accelerated in the 2020s, we've found that more and more of the best road bikes have space for 30mm or more nowadays. 

If you've already decided on your next tyres and want to take your upgrading even further, then read on to check out our recommendations of the best road bike wheels, plus some handy tips underneath them...

With the recent gravel riding boom and the inaugural UCI gravel World Championships taking place in 2022, it’s no surprise that more and more of us are hopping on gravel bikes. But, once you are set up with a set of the best gravel wheels, what are the best gravel tyres that you can get to really get the most out of your off-road adventures? 

Whether you are looking to head off bikepacking, race or swap your road bike for gravel in order to mix up training, our selection of gravel tyres will help you to find more grip, speed and comfort no matter what the condition or terrain. 

In recent times gravel tyres have been getting wider, with 38mm and 40mm tyres replacing the previous standard size of 33mm and 35mm; there are even 50mm and 55mm gravel bike tyres, though not as many bikes will be able to take them and still offer clearance. 

If you really want to go fat, see if your bike can take 650B wheels. The smaller rim size makes room for the largest volume gravel bike tyres.

The sheer number of options now is welcome, of course, as it allows for variety to suit everyone's gravel riding needs. Without further ado, here are our top gravel tyre picks... 

The Exposure TCS Fast Tyre is designed for adventure/road according to WTB, and a pair of them in this 36mm width will turn your gravel bike, hybrid or all-road bike into a smooth-rolling machine on any hardpacked surface. Rolling resistance is great, and they feel supple too. Just put aside a bit of time to fit them though, as I found them a tight fit to get on the rims.

We are seeing road bikes such as the Mason SLR, the Fara F/AR, and the currently being reviewed J.Guillem Major coming fitted with large-volume tyres, ranging from 35mm to 47mm wide in these cases, and these are exactly the sort of bikes the Exposure is pitched at, especially in this 36mm size. That and the fact that you can easily convert your gravel bike into a road machine or make it more suitable for commuting on the tarmac. If you're after new gravel tyres why not check out our best gravel tyres buyer's guide, or our best road bike tyres buyer's guide for slicker rubber.

Weighing 424g on the road.cc scales the Exposures aren't exactly light compared to some others on the market. For example, a 35mm Panaracer GravelKing Slick TLC weighed in at just 309g.

That extra mass does blunt acceleration a bit, especially from a standing start, but that is offset by what I felt to be good rolling resistance. For such a large tyre they zing along the road and with its 120TPI (threads per inch) casing they feel reasonably supple too, a suppleness hardened just a little by the bead-to-bead SG2 puncture protection layer.

This layer is designed to keep deep cuts and holes at bay, and over the winter review period the tyres seemed tough enough to be used on hardpacked surfaces such as towpaths or shared-use paths.

The Exposures use WTB's Dual DNA compound. This has firmer rubber in the centre for durability and that reasonable rolling resistance, while the shoulders use a finely textured, softer rubber for improved grip in the corners.

The result is a set of tyres that gripped well even when both the tyres and the road surface were cold. They don't have the performance of a lightweight race tyre, but when you ask them to, they track well through the bends and give you plenty of confidence when you push on a bit.

One of my test routes has an off-camber chicane on a fast downhill, and in this section, I found the tyres positive even when they were firmly pumped up. I found they offered a decent level of bite on the asphalt, and when transferring the weight from one side of the tyre to the other without breaking traction as they passed through the firmer centre section.

Feedback levels are also good.

The main downside of the tyres is that I found them far from easy to fit. I tried them on a couple of rims with internal widths of 21mm and 23mm, and on both of these I had to really push the final section of the bead over with a tyre lever. These aren't tyres you want to run with an inner tube, as it would be very hard to fit without causing a pinch puncture.

The much better news was that after a week mounted on the rim the Exposures had stretched enough that they were easy to remove, easing my concerns over having to take them off while in the middle of nowhere to fix a puncture.

I have found that with lot of WTB tyres I have used in the past, especially those with tan walls, they weep like mad when you first fit them tubeless with sealant. I had no such issues with these, though, as once I'd inflated them using an Airshot no sealant came out of the sidewalls, and they maintained pressure with barely any drop over time.

Value

They are priced at £55 each, which is just a fiver dearer than the Panaracer GravelKing Slick TLC tyres mentioned earlier, which Hollis found tough, light and grippy.

If you want something light and fast at this size, the Challenge Strada Bianca tyre is a great choice as we've found each time we have reviewed various iterations and sizes. Dave was certainly impressed with the 36mm Challenge Strada Bianca Pro TLR when he put it through its paces, but you're now looking at £83 per tyre in this width. Even if it is a handmade classic that is a lot of money.

Conclusion

Overall, the WTB Exposures are a competent all-rounder. They are carrying a bit of weight which blunts acceleration, but for a tyre that is reliable over various surfaces I wouldn't say that is a dealbreaker.

Verdict

A bit weighty, but this is a smooth-rolling tyre that delivers confidence-inspiring grip levels

The Giant Gavia Course 1 Tubeless Tyre has proven to be a durable tyre – and one that was pleasingly simple to fit. But it does have quite a firm carcass, which impacts on comfort and delivers a firm ride and a reduced feel. But if you value puncture protection over speed and comfort, it's certainly a tyre worth considering.

And if you are looking to upgrade your rubber for summer, check our best road bike tyres buyer's guide, which covers tyres from around £30 to over £80.

The Gavia Course 1 in this tubeless form is one of the cheaper options in Giant's tyre range – in fact, if you buy a set of the Giant SLR 2 50 wheels that I reviewed recently, Giant throws these in for free. And with its claims of 'ultimate low rolling resistance' ands 'a high level of puncture resistance', Giant is making some bold claims for these tyres.

The tyre is tubeless compatible, features a 60 TPI (threads per inch) casing, and is made from what Giant calls the RR-S compound. It also has the R-Shield puncture protection layer, which is only on the central strip of the tyre that's in contact with the ground, and not around the sidewalls.

The 700x25mm tyres tested weighed 357g and 373g, slightly under the 375g claimed weight. The SLR 2 50 wheels have a hookless rim and fitting the tyres and adding sealant proved very easy.

I inflated the tyres using a track pump, with no air leaking, and when fully inflated they measured 28mm, with the extra width almost certainly down to the wheels' 22.4mm inner rim width, which is reasonably ride. This rim width and tyre size pairing is close to the limit that ETRTO provide.

The tyre sidewalls recommends a pressure of 85-125 PSI, though I used the tyre pressure guide on Giant's UK website, which gives a lower recommendation of 73 PSI.

> Video: Learn the easy way to change a tubeless tyre

That pressure was probably about right, as this pressure is virtually the same as I run on other tubeless tyre and wheel combinations – but despite a similar pressure and tyre size, there was a noticeable difference in the feel and comfort. This is probably because of the carcass, which has a quite modest 60 TPI construction.

A lower TPI can mean a firmer sidewall that is less able to absorb road imperfections, which gives a harsher feel than a tyre with a higher thread count. Larger bumps and small holes felt okay, which is probably down to their largish volume and wider rim width having some effect. It was on smaller bumps and over rougher roads where the differences were most noticeable and they felt harsher.

Another area that can reduce your comfort is the addition of puncture protection layers, which do of course come with an obvious benefit. I've put in over 1,000km so far without suffering any punctures, and they're also unmarked with no noticeable signs of wear.

Speed or rolling resistance is something that is difficult to test accurately without a lab or specialised equipment (come on, guys, where's our lab?) – but the Course 1 tyres didn't feel too slow or draggy at any point.

Another area where these tyres surpassed expectations was the level of grip they provide on the green backroads that are plentiful in winter. On several steep climbs where I was anticipating wheel slip, they kept going without slipping whether I was riding in or out of the saddle.

Value

When purchased with some Giant wheels, the Gavia Course 1 is provided free as an extra – but if you are buying them, you'll be stumping up £44.99 each.

This prices them competitively against other tubeless tyre options that aren't all-out performance tyres. This includes the £54.99 Vittoria Rubino Pro IV that Stu found to be a fast and grippy all-rounder.

At the same price there's also the Bontrager 3 Hard-Case Lite that VecchioJo thought was a great long-distance tyre.

A little more expensive still, for £59.99 you've got the likes of the Panaracer Agilest TLR tyres that Steve really rated.

If performance is more important for you than durability, then Giant also makes the Gavia Course 0. This has a more supple 170 TPI casing, a lower claimed weight of 315g for a 25mm tyre and at £54.99 they're a tenner more expensive.

Conclusion

The Giant Gavia Course 1 tyres have proven to be durable and capable of taking on the worst winter weather and roads despite their at least nominally quite narrow size. While puncture resistance seems great, this does seem to come at the compromise of comfort and weight compared to some of the competition.

But if you're looking for a for a tough and dependable tubeless road tyre for long rides through winter and beyond, they're worth considering. There are other tyres around that will offer you more comfort and feel and equal levels of puncture protection, but you're likely to have to spend a bit more for them.

Verdict

A well-priced tyre for those of us who value durability over other factors

The new Cadex Aero Tubeless Tyre comes with claims that it has boosted aerodynamic performance and speed and taken aero optimisation to a new level – with a compound, shape and tread pattern designed to 'improve the aero performance of many commercially available wheels'.

> Buy now: Cadex Aero Tubeless Tyre for £64.99 from Cadex Cycling

Our best road bike tyres buyer's guide will give you an idea of some of the top alternatives out there.

The Cadex Aero Tubeless tyre was designed to work with the Cadex 65 and other Cadex-branded wheels to create an 'aero optimised profile'– but you can also use the tyre with other companies' wheels, with Cadex making similar performance claims.

The tyre comes in a single 700x25mm size, with a 170 TPI casing, a 'Race Shield' puncture protection layer, and the Cadex RR-A compound [TPI stands for 'threads per inch', and broadly speaking the higher the thread count, the more supple the tyre will be]. Although there is no information on the comparative tyre, the compound is reported to reduce rolling resistance by 15%.

Our pair weighed in at 289g and 290g, which is as close to the 290g quoted weight as you're ever likely to see. Cadex also makes the Race model, which has a lower claimed weight of 270g for a tyre in the same 25mm width.

The test tyre's slightly higher weight could be down to the different compounds used or the Aero tyre's taller sidewalls, as shown in this image from Cadex.

According to Cadex's claims, the taller sidewall creates a more oval shape, which results in a seamless profile when you pair it with the Cadex 65 wheels.

Installation

These tyres originally came with the Cadex 65 wheels and I found them easy to fit to those using the tyre lever supplied with the wheels.

The 65 wheels have a 22.4mm inner diameter, and when inflated, the tyre measured 26.0mm, with a flush appearance from the tyre to the rim.

> How do you choose the right tubeless tyre pressure

After testing the tyres with the 65 wheels I fitted them to a pair of Cannondale Hollowgram 64 wheels that have a slightly narrower 21mm internal width. Surprisingly, despite the narrower internal rim, the tyres actually came in a little wider at 27.2mm. As with the Cadex wheels, it was a simple task fitting the tyres, and they kept their air well with both sets of wheels.

Performance

Cadex claims that the RR-A casing improves rolling resistance by 15%, which may be aided by the 170 TPI casing, which is a higher thread count than you'll see on several other brands' models. Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres are 127 TPI, while Pirelli P Zero tyres are 120 TPI.

The higher thread count should allow for a supple casing that reacts well to the road surface, and when riding, I did find the tyres performed impressively, delivering a smooth ride with plenty of feedback. Comfort is relative, as these days 25mm is quite a modest width for a road tyre, but I felt their comfort was similar to that of the Continental GP5000S TR tyres, although not quite matching the Pirelli P Zero TLR Race I was riding around the same time, which enabled me to make direct comparison.

> How do you choose the right tubeless tyre pressure

One area where the Cadex Aero Tubeless tyre proved impressive was in their grip, both in the dry as you'd hope, but also on wet roads. Cadex doesn't make any specific claims about grip, but this is the one area I felt they really excelled, and riding on wet, green back lanes in summer when I expected to slip, they retained traction throughout.

I experienced one major puncture, which was a slash to the sidewall caused by a sharp impact, and I doubt it's a puncture that any sealant would have sealed. Puncture resistance will always be a trade-off between performance and protection, and other race tyres may have punctured with the same impact.

The Aero Tubeless features Race Shield puncture prevention, which is a lightweight Kevlar coating that runs across the top of the tyre but does not extend all the way to the sidewall.

Wear had been excellent up until the puncture, and having racked up nearly 2,000km wear was minimal on both tyres with no noticeable flat spots – and only that one puncture.

Cadex provides no independent information regarding rolling resistance but bicyclerollingresistance.com tested the Cadex Race Tubeless 25 and found it gave away around five watts compared with a Continental GP5000S TR, a difference that very few of us would be able to discern while riding. Yes, there are small differences between the Race and Aero models, but this should provide a general indication of their performance on the road.

Value and verdict

The tyres come as standard on some Cadex wheels – and in those cases I wouldn't look to change them as their performance has been good. But do they work well as a standalone purchase? There are quite a few choices available if you still want a 25mm tyre, though many of them are more expensive than the Cadex Aero.

The Pirelli P Zero Race TLR tyre that so impressed Stu comes in at £78.99, and while it trumps the Cadex on suppleness and feel, it can't match the Cadex's impressive grip in the wet.

Stu was pretty much as positive about the popular Continental Grand Prix 5000 AS TR but he couldn't get over the £89.99 price. The Challenge Criterium RS TLR are a tad more at £90, but Jamie was wowed by their looks and ride quality – provided money is no object.

There are, though, a couple of tyres at similar prices to the Cadex. Georg tested the £55 Specialized S-Works Turbo 2BR 2Bliss Ready T2/T5 and liked it a lot, particularly praising its grip, ease of installation and low rolling resistance – and it's available in 26mm, 28mm and 30mm widths.

Aaron found the £64.99 Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR G2.0 Tyre fast, grippy and impressively resistant to punctures and it's available in no fewer than six sizes from 24-32mm in width.

Both the Specialized and Vittoria look like they'd give the Cadex a run for their money.

Conclusion

Cadex has designed a tyre with the goal of making it faster by reducing rolling resistance and altering the shape of the tyre. However, while the Aero Tubeless is only available in one width, which doubtless limits its market appeal, its overall performance surpassed my expectations, with traction and grip being standout traits. If only it was available in a 28mm or wider size...

Verdict

Grippy, smooth and better-than-expected durability – but they're only available in a 25mm width

The Pirelli P Zero Race TLR 4S tyres are excellent all-rounders that'll cope with winter conditions and feel fast and grippy on long summer rides too.

Our best road bike tyres buyer's guide covers our top rubber choices from under £30 to £80.

Pirelli is keen to paint the P Zero TLR 4S as some kind of diamond-encrusted unicorn of a tyre in its blurb. 'The P Zero Race 4S TLR is our first ever year-long racing tyre with a tubeless technology able to provide high grip in all kinds of weather and offers increased puncture protection, whilst still maintaining the racing feeling characteristic of our P Zero Race range'. So: it's a year-round tyre with winter levels of grip and puncture resistance and summer levels of fast for racing. Sounds good, right?

This tyre is one of the new batch of Pirelli cycling tyres that the Italian company has moved in house; where before the P Zeros were made in France or China depending on the build, now they're coming out of Pirelli's own Italian facility. The tyres use Pirelli's SpeedCORE™ construction, which is a 120TPI casing with a bead-to-bead aramid inner layer, plus another aramid layer under the tread for better puncture resistance. On top of that there's a tread made from SmartNET™ compound (more on that later).

You can have this more burly 4S build in 25mm, 28mm and 30mm widths; our 30mm test tyres weighted in at 380g an end, which isn't especially light but is lighter than the 395g that Pirelli claims.

> How to choose the best width road tyres for your riding

They're hookless compatible for the bigger two sizes, and tubeless ready. I set them up tubeless on three different rims with just a track pump. Which was nice. They hold air pretty well too, better than most tubeless tyres, though not as well as a butyl tube.

And what are they like to ride? Well, back about a million years ago (well, 2009), Jo described some Conti tyres as having a 'reassuring gummy lean' when turned over into corner, a phrase that has for whatever reason stuck with me all these years. Anyway, these P-Zeros are that. They never scrabble or stutter, they're just planted and they grip like crazy. The slightly wider 30mm carcass and the correspondingly lower pressure is helping I'm sure, but mostly this is about the compound which is among the very best I've tried for grip in all conditions.

Stand up on a steep gritty back lane climb and you might expect a tyre to chatter and complain a bit, and even slip out on a greasy section, but these tyres never have. Not even once. On a dry downhill corner on nice tarmac the level of grip is astonishing: At some point they'd give out but it's a point well above what my handling skills and attitude to risk would ever allow me to approach.

What's the secret? Well, Pirelli says that its SmartNET™ Silica compound 'features microscopic rod-shaped particles, that are arranged systematically, rather than chaotically' and that 'the wide surface of the silica rod molecules enhances its natural water affinity, delivering confident handling in wet conditions.'

So anyway, there's all that. Whatever they've done it works, because grip is right up there. We don't empirically test things like grip and puncture resistance but Bicycle Rolling Resistance does, and its results for the non-four-season version of this tyre with the same tread compound put wet grip and puncture resistance up near the top. And this 4S tyre has a hardier casing, so it should be even better at shrugging off flats.

In the 1,500km I've done so far on the tyres the puncture count is holding steady at zero. Looking at the tread there are a few places where it looks like a thorn or other sharp might have had a go, but I've never noticed any loss of pressure on a ride. And that amount of riding has made a negligible difference to the tread: you can just about see the back tyre starting to smooth along the centre line now, but the front is as good as new. There's no 'tread' to speak of on the centre line of the tyre but it is a textured finish out of the mould and that's still there.

These tyres feel pretty fast for a big slick. Again, rig data from BRR puts the non-4S tyre a lot nearer the top than the bottom in that regard. This four-season build has more material in it and won't be quite as efficient as the lighter summer tyre, but even so they nip along just fine.

> Video: Learn the easy way to change a tubeless tyre

The first big ride I did on the P Zeros was a 400km audax across the flatlands of Suffolk and Essex, and they were a perfect choice for that: efficient-feeling with enough air chamber to knock the edge off rough bits and bad line choices when you're tired, and it's dark.

I swapped out some bigger Schwalbe G-One Allrounds – which I don't think are as good as they used to be in terms of rolling – and the difference was immediately noticeable. Pirelli says that its SmartNET™ Silica technology 'delivers high rolling efficiency, thanks to its natural anisotropic orientation, which reduces heating while increasing elasticity, to help minimise energy dissipation.'

Value

Overall, they've been excellent. And I guess for £80 an end you should be expecting that: these P Zeros are up amongst the more expensive offerings out there. Stu was impressed with the Conti equivalent, the GP5000 AS TR, which is £90 per tyre and performance overall is on a par.

George rated the excellent Michelin Power Cup, which comes in a 30mm width and is £15 less than the Pirelli, although it's a lighter build. The Vittoria Corsa N:EXT costs about the same and Aaron described it as fast, grippy and puncture resistant.

The Specialized S-Works Turbo 2BR 2Bliss Ready T2/T5 is even cheaper, and George recommended it when he reviewed it.

Conclusion

Would I buy them? Well, not as a race tyre, because the non-4S version – and the competitor tyres – are hardy enough for that already, and the 4S is a bit heavy. As a fit-and-forget tyre for year-round use on a fairly fast bike, though, they're definitely a good investment. You're not losing out much in terms of speed, and you're gaining a bit of extra durability. And the level of grip you get is certainly right up there with the best.

Verdict

Really good fit-and-forget tyres for fast riding year round

The Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport R is a tyre for those of us for whom speed and grip are our highest priorities. With a super-supple compound, they are grippy and comfortable and roll very well indeed. Going lightweight often means a compromise when it comes to durability, but I haven't found that an issue with these, even after rides on wet and detritus-strewn British roads.

Looking for new rubber? Check out our best road bike tyres buyer's guide.

Emily recently tested the Goodyear Eagle F1 R tyre and was very impressed. These SuperSport offerings take the performance up a notch, which is mostly down to coming in at a lower weight and having an increased thread count in the casing, which should give you more feedback and greater suppleness than the F1 R's lower count.

Both tyres share Goodyear's all-new Dynamic: UHP compound, which has a tacky feel to it out of the box and you know straightaway it is going to grip very well. And it does too, with a reassuring connection to the road surface that gives you confidence to chuck your bike into bends at speed and not feel that dreaded sensation of your tyres scrabbling for bite as you lean the bike over

Video: Learn the easy way to change a tubeless tyre

Side by side against the Continental GP 5000, which I regard to be one of the best race tyres on the market, the Goodyears perform very well, although they just come up a tiny bit short across the board against the GP5000s.

That said, I am talking pretty minimal margins. In isolation I'd say that the Eagle F1 SuperSport R is a very capable tyre and probably all the rubber you are ever going to want whether it comes to racing or just riding fast.

They grip very well in the dry and I have no qualms with using them with confidence in the wet too – and considering how wet July has been the Goodyears have seen plenty of rain. That's tested the durability too, and even with all sorts of road grit being washed out into the road the tyres have stayed pleasingly free of punctures.

The treads have picked up a couple of nicks over the last couple of months though, so they aren't the type of tyre I'd run all-year-round. This is more a tyre to keep for race day and predominantly dry conditions.

At 264g this 28mm option is relatively light too. It's only 10 to 20 grams lighter than the competitors so it's not like you'll feel the difference, but they feel light enough to aid acceleration and climbing.

The 150TPI (threads per inch) casing isn't anywhere near as high as you'll find on something like an open tubular tyre, where the thread count can reach as high as 320TPI, but the Goodyears do still respond well to the bumps and variations you'll find on the road surface, which means they feel comfortable even when I'm riding them at my preferred high pressures.

Performance aside, I found the SuperSport an easy tyre to live with – they're easy to fit and to set up tubeless. All they took was a bit of help from some tyre levers the first time I fitted them and they seated easily. The tubeless version is available in 25, 28 and 30mm widths and the clincher version, shown below, is available in 25 and 28mm widths. Both the tubeless and clincher tyres are available with black or tan sidewalls.

Thanks to an inner liner the tubeless tyres' sidewalls aren't porous, so once seated they maintained pressure from the off.

After they had been on the rims for around six weeks, they were also easy to remove, which gives me confidence that should you have a non-sealing puncture out in the wild, it wouldn't be an issue to whip the tyre off and fix it or fit an inner tube.

Value

As for price, while they aren't necessarily cheap, they aren't as expensive as their main rivals.

Those Continental GP 5000 S TR tyres that I mentioned earlier were £69.95 when Jamie reviewed them a couple of years ago and they're now £79.95 each. That's nearly forty quid a pair more expensive than the Goodyears.

Pirelli's P-Zero Race TLRs are also nearly £80 and at 305g are about 40g heavier than the SuperSports. I found their grip awesome and their feel very supple, but they're also nearly £80 and at 305g are about 40g heavier than the SuperSports.

The Michelin Power Cups are a slightly more reasonable £69.99, weigh much the same as the Goodyear and George was very, very impressed with them.

Conclusion

While the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport R isn't necessarily the fastest, grippiest tyre out there – in my opinion it's very, very close indeed. The fact they're forty quid a pair cheaper than the GP5000s offsets that, as you're getting virtually all the performance at a price that won't require a meeting with the bank manager first when they need replacing.

Verdict

Impressive grip and overall performance – for a lot less than some of the competition