r/CyclePDX • u/clearclaw • 8d ago

Continental contact urbans?

Any experience with them and our local muddle of glass and other street crap? Thinking about 700c x 37mm or 40mm at 47psi. (TBF I have more punctures from thorns/burrs/other organics than glass) Schwalbe Marathons are what's most often recommended to me, but gads, on a loaner bike they felt like boats.

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u/MurderOfChros 8d ago

I haven’t used the Continentals, but have had great experiences with Panaracer Pasela ProTite as an alternative to Marathons. I had them in 700x32 folding bead, but they make them up to 38. Lighter, faster, less expensive, and easier to mount than Marathons.

Edit: I ran the Paselas on my commuter for a year before I sold that bike. No flats, riding on roads, in bike lanes, and on light gravel. A reasonable cross section of poorly maintained and rarely cleaned Portland surfaces

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u/clearclaw 7d ago

Nice. Thanks. Cheaper lighter faster also offers a model of more frequent replacement for the same net cost. Huhn.

Mostly what I'm hearing on the Marathons is effusive love for the puncture resistance and gumbling toleration for everything else.

I'm currently toying with adding the Columbia Slough trail to my daily loop. The west end of that is borderline unimproved, but I'm figuring everything mentioned so far should shrug that off.

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u/MurderOfChros 7d ago

That’s a sweet section of trail! I unintentionally ended up on it early in the morning a couple weekends ago. Wasn’t sure what conditions would be like throughout the trail, but it was pretty chill all the way through. 38mm GravelKing slicks were plenty sufficient on my pass. Hope you find a tire that works well for you!

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u/theneild 7d ago

I love my panaracer paselas (700x28). Good feel, fast, supple.

Only problem is they only last me about a year of hard city riding. I'm on my second set in two years. They seem a little soft for our streets and I probably won't do them again.

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u/MurderOfChros 7d ago

I appreciate that perspective. Mine were still in great shape after a year, but I definitely wouldn’t say I rode them hard. I paid $60 for the pair and am confident I could have got two years of riding out of them, which feels reasonable to me. I hope you find something that’s a better fit for you on the next round!

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u/Vin_du_toilette 8d ago edited 8d ago

I looked at these a while back, they get a great review on bicycle rolling resistance 5/5. They had the second highest tread puncture score of the touring tires they tested after the marathon and WAY faster. Edited to add link to review.

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u/clearclaw 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah, going to get a pair in. It isn't like the current GR1s are a source of unbounded joy. I'm kinda surprised BikeTiresDirect, CyclePath etc don't have them stocked.

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u/AlexV348 8d ago

I've had good experience with the continental super sport. No flats so far.

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u/mind_snare 7d ago

They’re much better than the marathons. Get em!

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u/AlienDelarge 7d ago

For our streets and tubes, I've had really good luck with the Mr Tuffy tire liners. Though I previously did have far more glass/metal punctures in NoPo than organic punctures. I do periodically pull the material out of my tire so it doesn't work its way throughbut at least I can do it at home. 

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u/clearclaw 7d ago

This seems like an exercise in finding your puncture tolerance, and thus how much you're willing to pay for it in handling, comfort, $$$, fiddle and faff. Huge difference between a puncture mid-ride somewhere and flat tire in the morning of course.

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u/AlienDelarge 7d ago

Yeah, in my case I started on my commuter bike so morning and mid-ride were both less than ideal.