Tiemeyer Signature ready to ride at Calshot

After contacting David Tiemeyer last year, the first part of my Tiemeyer project was to measure my current position for David to translate into a frame, which involved measuring the bike that I knew fitted. I had some questions for David about forward reach and forward drop on a short track – and I had in mind using a particular stem reach and angle (110mm and -6˚), so wanted to see how that would affect the build. I also gave David details of my weight, height, riding style (not that I really have one…..) and the contact points (saddle, pedals etc.) that I intended to use, as they can all affect frame fitting.

Based on my experience at Calshot track and speaking to Harry Jackson, our coach who was twice in the Great Britain Olympic team, I’ve always set my track bike up exactly the same as my road bike set-up: same measurements and forward reach and drop. David agreed with this, based on his track experience, so this made fitting the frame from my existing numbers a bit easier.

David came back immediately with a frame drawing based on my current road bike. I wanted to see if the stem I wanted to use could work, so David tried a couple more alternate frame designs. Two elements were apparent – firstly, I need a long head tube, so putting a negative rise stem on the frame would mean either a lot of spacers between the headset and the stem, or a frame with virtually no standover height. Also, a 110mm stem for someone my size would slow the handling down a bit (useful for events like Madison, but more stable handling isn’t what you always want in a track bike) and also give me toe overlap (where the front wheel can hit your toes in a really tight turn) due to a shorter front end.

So, back to the drawing board – David advised me that a 100mm stem with 0˚rise would give me less headset spacers, no toe overlap and a ‘classic’ track bike handling feel. Also, because the head tube had to be tall, a sloping top tube would increase standover height. I wondered if we could extend the head tube above the top tube junction, but this is where David’s long experience kicked in: if the head tube extended far above the top tube, the aluminium tube could deform. OK, a sloping top tube on an aerodynamic frame is a little less aero……but having too little standover height is potentially dangerous in a crash. I’ve always liked sloping top tubes, so I was happy to give up some aerodynamics in favour of being able to climb off the saddle in comfort.

This process took about six weeks of transatlantic e-mails and ended up with five frame designs – the final design drawing is shown. Lots of angles and numbers, but I could see that they would fit perfectly, based on my fitting measurements and other bikes.

Three final questions remained. David’s frames come with a Chris King No-Threadset and Edge Composites track fork as standard. Did I want a different fork, like an Oval Concepts? No, as Edge Composites are an awesome company for Carbon components, so I can’t think of a better track fork. What colour did I want the headset? Silver, as I was planning a build using silver components. Finally, I asked for the anodized finish, rather than the standard paint finish. This was because the anodized finish is noticeably lighter (nearly half a pound) and I knew from reading about David’s frames elsewhere that they’re built for strength first and weight second, so being a little guy, I wanted to keep overall weight down if I could. That meant that I had to have a silver frame, as David has found that coloured anodizing discolours around the welds.

The great part of the process was the communication with David. I asked a question; David responded usually same day with a reasoned and sensible answer, often pointing out areas I hadn’t considered. I learnt a lot from the exchange of ideas and we settled on a frame design that we both agreed would be ideal for what I wanted. All the while, David was able to steer some of my less knowledgeable questions into a more sensible design. That experience is the most valuable element of going to a great custom builder – their guidance to make sure you are on a bike that does what you want when you get it, with no hidden surprises.

Building the frame took about ten weeks, which meant that I could choose parts for when it arrived. We’d designed the frame around a 100mm stem with 0˚ rise, so a Thomson X4 stem and a matching Thomson seat post made sense: both rock solid reliable and both in silver to match the frame. I use a Selle Italia SLR XP saddle on all my bikes so no issues there. David and I had also discussed which bars I was intending to use – I always use Deda Newton 40cm anatomic bars, which I find really comfortable, so the frame build had these bars in mind (I also prefer aluminium bars: decent value, decent weight, as stiff as I need and cheap enough to replace if you crash).

Two areas were up for discussion – drive train and wheels. The drive train question was do I use classic 1/8” track chain, sprockets and chainrings, or drop a lot of weight by using a ‘road-sized’ 3/32” chain and drive train? It ended up being 3/32” as I didn’t feel I needed the extra strength of 1/8”. Stronglight track cranks, a Spécialities TA 49 tooth chainring, a Dura-Ace 16 tooth sprocket and a Connex 808 chain were the main drive components and kept cost right down – but all are tried and trusted components, having used all of them before. That gave me some extra to spend on Speedplay Zero pedals with Titanium axles, which I got in a sale, and a Spécialities TA Axix Light bottom bracket with a Titanium axle. I’m OK using Titanium axles on the track (big guys can bend them) because I’m not that heavy and don’t notice any loss of stiffness. I upgraded the bearings on the bottom bracket to Enduro Zero ceramics, as I got the bearings at a good price, with the design of the TA bracket making replacement of the bearings easy.

Now, I build wheels, mainly for myself, but also for friends. The wheel build took ages to decide. You can spend a fortune on wheels, but I didn’t want to – I wanted something reliable, reasonably light weight, reasonable cost and aero. That’s quite a hard ask, to be honest. I was able to get some unbranded Gigantex 50mm deep carbon rims from another UK wheelbuilder (Gigantex make rims for many better known brands). Sapim CX-Rays are my favourite spokes to build with, so they were a no brainer. I used hexagonal alloy spoke nipples to push the nipples onto the spokes, giving less wind up at the nipple and a secure grip on a tiny component. Hubs were the last thing. I’ve often used Goldtec hubs before and generally never had any issues. Goldtec also distribute Enduro bearings in the UK. They set me up with a custom drilled 20 hole front hub and 24 hole rear hub, both upgraded to include Enduro Zero ceramic bearings. When they arrived, both hubs span for ages with finger pressure alone. The last thing were tubulars – I’d heard good things about Schwalbe Milano tubs as a decent all round training tub (no point using race tyres until you are going to race) and I found somewhere selling these for about half the price of Vittorias. A bit more cash saved…….all in all, I’m very happy with the wheels – they feel as stiff as wheels I’ve used with a lot more spokes and are noticeably quicker to get up to speed, with the Schwalbes proving a very good tubular indoors. Cost was about the same as a pair of Campagnolo Pista wheels.

Finally the frame arrived. It was very silver. It was very aero. The seatstays were the widest I’d ever seen. The downtube was beyond belief. The aero edges are so sharp compared to other aero tubes that you could imagine taking a grinding stone to them. The rear wheel cut-out looks as if it’s been hewn from solid metal.

The frame was a delight to build – what you get with a custom builder are the extra touches. The bottom bracket shell was threaded and faced perfectly, so the TA bottom bracket glided into place. The frame takes a standard sized 27.2 mm seatpost – no weird seatpost diameters here – and has a cunning seatpost bolt that slots into place for a single 5mm allen key to tighten both sides of the seat-tube equally. The dropouts are solid titanium plate with an inch of adjustment, so it’s easy to set your chain tension and not worry about marking the dropouts. The headtube is reinforced with rings at each end and the headset was fitted by David perfectly. David has said in a past interview with Velonews that he doesn’t ‘do’ pretty welds, but the standard of welding on the massive tubes is top-notch. Ever the perfectionist, I took a tape measure to the frame to check the dimensions – it was built millimetre perfect.

I had a couple of issues in building the bike, but both were to do with components, not the frame. Firstly, the Stronglight cranks have an extra ring of material on the inside of the left hand crank that is just decorative and not part of the crank structure – this caught the shell of the TA bottom bracket and prevented the cranks spinning freely. 20 minutes careful grinding took this ring off so that the cranks span as they should. Secondly, once I tightened up the dropout bolts on the front hub, the hub wouldn’t spin freely – the hub shell was a bit wide and caught on the hub’s end caps, so I had to grind the hub shell down a bit to get the wheel spinning right.

But that’s it – I set the bike up according to the measurements and drawing that David and I had agreed on. Every measurement was spot on, a real testament to a precision build from a great frame builder. My weight weenie tendencies also worked out – the entire bike is 14.7lbs. Not bad for a 2kg frame made from ‘old-school’ aluminium…….
I’ve now ridden the bike around six times, enough times to get a handle on it. First impressions are that the combination of the correct position, aerodynamic frame and wheels and lighter overall weight mean that it’s definitely faster than my previous track bike. Most of that is due to the better position, but the other elements help get up to speed and help me stay there. Rather than moving all over the bike, I’m finding I can stay in the drops for a long period of time – no feeling of stretching or discomfort, but a comfortable position with arms that aren’t locked and rigid. I’m also finding that when at the front of a line of riders, the bike is almost laser guided down the line you want – there’s far less effort at keeping a line. The standover height and lack of toe overlap when moving on and off the track are also noticeable – the frame just feels ‘right’.

There’s only one area which was noticeably different and that was going round steep banking on the inner black line at speed. On the first few rides, I found the bike was a bit harder to control and tended to ‘go wide’ up the banking. I don’t think that’s the frame – I think that’s the wheels. They’re about a kilogram lighter than the previous wheels I used and I think it’s the lower rotating mass that makes the bike a bit livelier in corners. But – I’m going into the corners faster, because my speed has gone up due to the overall effect of the bike, so the difference is like steering an oil tanker (my previous bike) and steering a fighter plane. I had a period of readjustment to concentrate more in corners, but now its flying and I actually have to back off the power a little bit in corners. I wanted a frame that would help me go faster through a better position and better function and that’s exactly what I got. Handling, comfort and stiffness are all top notch – the bike does what you want it to do.

So was it worth it, compared to getting something off-the-peg and about four months quicker? An undisputed yes. I’ve learnt a lot about my bike fit; I’ve learnt more about how bikes work; I’m going faster due to the overall effects; I feel far more comfortable; and the length of time to build the bike meant I could spread the cost. Moreover, the frame, forks and headset cost less than an equivalent Dolan and far less than an equivalent Cervelo, Principia, Bridgestone or other frame. And whilst this wasn’t the main object of the build, I look at the bike and think it not only looks great, but it also looks ‘right’. When I looked at my previous bike, I used to notice all the things that had been bodged to fit.

That’s not to say that everyone needs or wants a custom built frame. But if you’re concerned about your position or body and have some nagging doubts, you could potentially end up wasting a lot of money on an off-the-peg bike that isn’t doing you any good without you realising. I learnt that talking to the experts took away that uncertainty and I’m a better rider as a result. Putting all the pieces together – a good position, a more efficient frame, greater aerodynamics, better wheels – has all worked for me.

David Tiemeyer’s frame was the final piece of the jigsaw. David is one of the unsung heroes of the many American custom framebuilders: unassuming, helpful, technically-driven and a real expert in his field. His frames are not built for decoration and you won’t find him making weird and wonderful showcase bikes for the North American Handmade Bike Show. But if you want a frame for a purpose – to go faster, more comfortably, for longer – he’s your man. Very few people have his experience or expertise. I can’t recommend talking to David enough.

A final point – my odd legs needed a custom frame. But David also builds track frames in ‘standard’ sizes that come with forks, headset and a choice of paint finish for a lower price than his custom frames. If you’re a serious track, time trial or road rider in the market for a new frame, you might want to speak to David first. You can contact him at www.tiemeyercycles.com.

Rob MacCulloch's Tiemeyer Track Bike

TIEMEYER SIGNATURE TRACK FRAME – part 1

Before writing about my new track frame, I’m going to write a first part about why I went the custom route, instead of buying one of the many off-the-peg track frames available in the UK, and why many of the VC10 and Calshot regulars like Greg Lewis had to put up with my talking about a track frame choice for about a year before I made a decision.

A couple of years ago, I had a suspicion that the bikes I owned didn’t fit. I felt like I was “pedalling squares” and had quite a lot of lower back pain during a ride. After years of learning how to fix bikes, I realised that I didn’t actually know why or how my bikes fitted – I knew how they worked, but that’s a totally different thing.

I took myself off to Rock’n’Road Cycles in Southampton, who are well known in my local area for bike fit. That’s mainly due to the owner, James Huggins, who had his racing career ended by a broken kneecap and who learnt – courtesy of many intensive courses – the physiology of cycling and putting riders straight onto bikes. I’m fairly (very) inquisitive, so a two hour fitting session with James one Saturday ended up at four and a half hours. It was the best four and a half hour investment of time I have ever spent – it turned out that my normal position was useless and, in fact, damaging my knees, back, neck and feet long-term.

A painful lesson was that I have a few fitting problems. Short femurs, long calves, inflexible hamstrings, over-pronation, different leg lengths……I didn’t think things were that bad, but the numbers from the fitting jig and its power meter didn’t lie. Turns out that I need – for any bike – a seat angle of 75˚ to get my short femurs in the right place over the pedals. Then I need a tall head tube to ease the strain on my inflexible hamstrings. My saddle came down, my bars went forward, insoles went into my shoes, my back straightened out, my feet stopped flopping……all very positive changes, resulting in an immediate 20-25 watt gain just on the fitting jig in the shop.

But, there was a catch. None of my bikes had a 75˚ seat angle. Few of them had a tall head tube. And more to the point, have you ever tried to buy a road or mountain bike with a 75˚ seat angle? They don’t exist. Sadly, I am one of the few people who actually, really, seriously need a bike frame custom made to fit, in an ideal world.I say sadly, because most riders don’t need a custom fit and most bike shops tend to tell you that you definitely don’t need a custom fit, so it really does make life more difficult. Conversations in bike shops nowadays generally involve me having an argument with a bike shop guy when they don’t believe that such-and-such a component won’t fit me. To be fair, I was sceptical myself at first. So, as a double check and after a bit of frantic E-baying, I went to see Dave Yates to get a standard steel training frame to ‘re-build’ my bike fleet. Dave Yates is a British framebuilding legend, a totally straightforward bloke and his frames are seriously good value, in the custom scheme of things, as they last forever with care. I told him about my fitting session and fitting results – he said “I doubt it” – then he sat me on his frame fitting jig and he said “whoever measured you is right. You need a 75˚ seat angle”.

There you go – that’s why I now have a couple of custom made frames. It’s all about the fit and nothing to do with flash: for me, going custom was a necessity if I wanted to ride a bike and not worry about my kneecaps disappearing in an arthritic blizzard. I now spend about 95% of my cycling time riding just two frames – my Dave Yates trainer (steel, heavy as sin, bombproof, ideal trainer) and my very new, very fast Tiemeyer Signature Track.

Most track bikes have a 75˚ seat angle or thereabouts. Problem is, they tend to have short head tubes to compensate for a rider with a position moved forward by the steeper seat angle. So – Dolans don’t fit me. Cervelo’s really don’t fit me and I can’t afford them. Most of the other track frames I’d like to ride – like a Bridgestone – don’t fit me. More to the point, Cervelo aside, very few track bikes used for mass start events, like points races, are aerodynamic. But take a look at the Olympic Points race in 2008 – lots of aero frames and wheels. Track is a cycling discipline where I certainly believe that aerodynamic gains are an advantage. I’d seen from my fitting session that I was now positioned lower and with a flatter, straighter back, so it seemed sense to extend my position’s aerodynamic gain to a frame as well.
So seeing as I’d wanted to replace my bodged-to-fit steel track bike for some time, I wanted two things from a new frame: the best fit and good aerodynamics.

There are often a lot of reasons for going custom – take a look at the North American Handmade Bike Show, for example – but I’m a bit of a purist, as I really think the purpose of a bike is to get you from A to B, so what I want from a track bike is pretty simple – function. To my way of thinking, function on the track revolves around the fit first and the aerodynamics second.

As far as I know, there is only one frame builder who regularly makes custom aerodynamic track frames – David Tiemeyer of Estes Park, Colorado.

A bit of history on David’s frames. The fastest time trial in history (the Giro d’Italia prologue in 2001) was on a Tiemeyer painted up as a GT and ridden by Rik Verbrugghe on the Lotto team. Kristen Armstrong, current world elite time trial champion, used to ride a Tiemeyer before big sponsorship came her way. Jason Sprouse, current holder of the World Masters Hour Record set his record on a Tiemeyer. The UK’s own Matt Haynes rode a Tiemeyer to his National Kilo win a few years back. David’s provided frames to riders and track squads in the last four Olympics……these are fast frames with a great pedigree, no question.

I’m not exactly in that league of rider, but David’s frames were exactly what I was looking for. A couple of other things made the decision easy – firstly, David also makes the innovative PositionCycle™ and works with elite level USA cyclists to refine fit, so I was confident he would be able to have a good discussion on my fitting needs. Secondly, his local velodrome is the 142m Boulder Velodrome – mine is the 142m Calshot Velodrome – so he also understands the geometry and handling of a bike on a short indoor track.

There was one final thing that I really liked about David’s frames from a distance – they’re all made from aluminium. My ‘serious’ cycling started in the early 1990’s with the mountain bike explosion, so I’ve always liked aluminium frames with big welds and big tubes from that era and frankly, having never ridden a carbon frame (because of that fit thing), all the aluminium bikes I’ve ever owned have been fantastic. I’ve owned some legendary aluminium frames (which, needless to say, ended up not fitting): Santa Cruz, Principia, Spooky and perhaps most legendary for aluminium, a Pace RC200 with square tubes (sold, after my fitting session. It didn’t fit. I’m still sad about that).

That might sound as if David Tiemeyer’s aluminium-only frames are old-style technology, but that’s far from the case. David has his aerodynamic frame tubes custom manufactured for him and the frame designs have been tested at the Colorado Ambient Air Tech wind tunnel, where David’s frames record fast numbers alongside other better known frames. Aluminium is also easier to fabricate for a custom build – no one-off carbon moulds to fit one-off riders – and the stiffness of the material is ideal for track frames, which is about 60% or more of the frames David builds. There’s a lot of thought and technological research behind what appears a fairly simple design. That’s not surprising when you learn that David was an aeronautical engineer before starting his frame building career.

So that’s the story of why I’ve ended up with the new frame I’ve been lucky enough to buy and have a great custom builder make for me. It all began with a search for the best fit and has ended up getting to that point. I’d agree that not everyone needs or wants a custom build, but for me, it was really the only answer and the process of making those decisions was really informative.

Next up, part 2 and the build itself – because that was the really fun part, where I learnt even more from David Tiemeyer about bike fit and function.

With the VC10 trip to Majorca looming the problem of getting my bike there had to be solved. Last year I borrowed a bike box from Greg which proved to be excellent, easy to pack, simple and robust, but with more travel with my bike expected I decided to bite the bullet and buy my own.

If  you’ve ever looked at bike boxes you’ll know there is an incredible choice from very basic plastic boxes for a few pounds through a variety of hard and soft cases and bags to all singing and dancing hard cases that cost as much as a bike.  I was looking for a wheeled hard case that would pack the bike securely and should be tough enough to last a few trips and cost no more than £175. I spent a while surfing the net and looking at reviews, eventually opting for the dhb Elstead Bike Box from Wiggle, which came within my budget at  just over £150 including delivery.

dhb Elstead Bike Box

This review will be in three parts – I’ll start with my first impressions and a description of the box followed by packing my bike ready for the trip and concluding with an update on how it faired.

First Impressions:

As usual with Wiggle the service was excellent, I purchased the box online on Wednesday opting for the free delivery option and it arrived on the Friday morning. It was well packed in a cardboard box with large polystyrene packing pieces to ensure no damaged in transit.

It’s not an excessively large box and looks very neat resembling a large dark grey suitcase. The shell is made from a dense textured plastic which appears robust and should absorb most impacts from careless baggage handlers.

There’s a spring loaded handle on the side for pulling the box along and another on the top for carrying. It has two lockable catches on the top, either side of the handle, with keys supplied together with an additional central three digit combination lock which can be reset from inside the case.

Top handle with combination lock

There are also two more catches on either side which help to keep the case closed and although these catches are not lockable they do have latches to secure them and prevent accidental opening. These catches at first sight seem quite flimsy but when closed they do fit quite flush so shouldn’t be too vulnerable.

Spring loaded handle and one of the additional, and suspect, side catches.

Along the bottom edge are three steel hinges riveted to the shell and two large plastic fixed wheels at one end with two casters the other for easy mobility.

Casters and riveted hinges seem robust.

Inside, the box is lined top and bottom with 25mm thick ridged foam, straps for securing the frame and two large blocks of foam for extra protection. There are also two soft wheel bags for keeping the wheels safely away from the frame and visa versa together with a small zipped bag for pedals, tools etc.

What's in the box? Wheel bags, pedal bag, keys and additional foam.

To sum up – the box is compact and tidy and seems fairly well made without being too expensive. I like the added security of the combination lock as the suitcase type locks are easily picked. It rolls well on it’s wheels and isn’t too heavy at 13.5kgs. I’m a bit wary of the catches on the side but I’ll make my mind up about them once I’ve packed the bike. Looking at the case I can’t imagine the bike fitting however it is a bike case, so it should!

Packing the Bike:

This is a rough guide to how I will pack my medium framed Planet X road bike into the dhb Elstead box in the simplest way that will hopefully give it enough protection to survive all but the clumsiest baggage handlers. All boxes and bikes are different so this can only be used as a basic guide.

The first thing I did was to make sure the bike was clean and I had all the necessary tools. I thought it best to use the tools I’ll take with me, so I know there’ll be no problem assembling the other end.

I also got together some gaffer tape, cable ties, dropout spacers, axle protectors and additional foam for added protection. I find pipe lagging to be good for the job as it easily wraps around tubes.

I used a piece of the gaffer tape to wrap around my seat post to mark it’s position then removed it and put it to one side. I shifted into the big ring on the front and small on the back and removed both wheels, skewers, pedals and bars complete with stem.

I placed the wheels with the axle protectors fitted (these come with new wheels to  prevent the axles damaging the packaging, if you haven’t got any contact your LBS) together with a spare tyre  into the supplied wheel bags, which seemed well padded and generously sized. There’s no need to let air out of the tyres unless they’re massively over inflated as an unpressurised hold on a plane can only increase the relative pressure within a tyre by 1 bar or around 15psi, at the very most. Inflated tyres will also help to protect the rims.

I placed the front wheel into the base of the box followed by the frame with the drive side uppermost.

At this point I removed the rear mech and wrapped it in foam and secured it to the frame with tape. I also secured the chain to the big ring with a couple of cable ties and the rest of the chain bound up with another. This helps to prevent the chain from flapping around and will help to protect the big ring.

Some pipe lagging can be used to further protect the big ring and another piece taped over the top of the seat tube. Insert the dropout spacers into the forks and rear dropouts to prevent them being crushed. If you haven’t got any of these spacers you will probably be able to source them from your LBS or knock some up from old bolt through axles/hubs.

At this point I added more pipe lagging to the frame tubes and secured it with tape as necessary.

I had to juggle the bars and stem around to find a suitable place for them as I didn’t want to remove the stem and lose it’s position.

I then added foam to the seat post and placed it to the rear of the frame.

The rear wheel now fits on top with the cassette facing down in the middle of the frame triangle making sure it’s not pressing on the frame tubes.

Place tools, pedals skewers, spare cable ties etc. into the small bag supplied and slot it into a suitable position, again securing with tape if needed.

There’s plenty of room now for other bits to be packed away such as clothing, Torq powder, gels, tubes etc before carefully closing and securing the lid. This isn’t as easy as it appears as the whole bike is squashed down under a fair amount of pressure but the catches on the side seem to lock down tightly and help to hold everything in place.

That’s it all packed away now for the real test.

How did it do?

Well I was impressed. The whole trip went without any problems. The box stood up well without any damage other than a few expected scuffs and the bike remained intact without any damage. The clips on the side which I suspected to be a weakness were fine and worked perfectly.

The only thing I would add next time would be a couple of pairs of latex gloves, as although the bike was clean when I originally packed it, it was extremely dirty when packed for the return trip.

The Verdict:

Rob MacCulloch VC10′s long distance rider. Who has the habit of popping out the door and riding to the South of France writes a report a review of two tyres that have served him well over the last few years.

Over to Rob.

After Greg Lewis’  review of the fast and light Continental Tempo tubular tyres, it seems only fair to submit a review to VC10 members for a pair of slower and heavier training tyres from the same country as the Contis. Here’s a review of two different Schwalbe ‘Plus’ series tyres: the touring cyclist’s favourite, the Marathon Plus tyre, and their slightly faster brother the Stelvio Plus (now re-named Durano Plus) tyre.

 First a bit of background as to why I’ve chosen to review a pair of tyres that make you feel about as far removed from Eddy Merckx as its possible to be. I live in an area of Chalk downs, like many parts of the South of England. Mixed in with that chalk is flint – lots of it. All of that flint washes onto the road (and trails) over time and in my experience, flint causes mayhem with tyres. The local back roads round here, such as my commuting route into work (see picture below), are great training roads with marvellous scenery and rolling terrain, but those roads are in about the same condition as Paris-Roubaix.

A perfect road for Schwalbe 'Plus' Series tyres

On one winter audax around my home patch in 2008, my riding partner and I suffered twelve punctures between us, actually running out of puncture patches and tubes that afternoon (and having to be rescued via a car lift back home). That same winter, I also wrote off one set of Continental GP4000’s, one set of Vittoria ‘cross tyres and one set of Michelin Carbons due to flints, as well as buying around three puncture repair kits and countless spare tubes. In all, the total cost must have been well beyond £100 for tyres, tubes and puncture kits over about five months. Flint – love it when it’s used for building a wall, hate it on the roads.

By the end of February 2008, I’d had enough – enough of fixing muddy punctures by the side of wet roads in the cold, enough of patching tyres when I got home, enough of repairing inner tubes every evening. There’s more to life, quite honestly. That’s when I invested in a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus 25mm tyres.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus 25 tyre tread after 2 years continous use

I’m still on the same tyres. I still haven’t had a puncture with them. I’ve lost count of how many miles I’ve done on them, as the same pair of tyres has been used on three bikes at different times, but suffice to say a lot of miles. They look slightly dirtier now, but that’s about it. Oh – and I’m a lot fitter now than when I bought them, partly as a result of using these tyres.

These are supreme training tyres: they’re heavy as sin (the 25mm’s weigh around 580g each – i.e. about the same weight as using three Michelin Pro 3’s on a single wheel). But that’s OK, because the object of training is to make you stronger – and powering these things over a typically hilly Hampshire ride does exactly that. These tyres also allow you to train effectively. By that, I mean that you don’t lose any minutes or any heat on a winter ride through having to repair punctures.

Because of their construction (more on that later) these tyres also shrug off potholes, so you also don’t have to worry too much about damage to wheel rims, which is especially reassuring if you have to train in the dark over winter, where potholes often aren’t too visible. Basically, once these things are on your training bike you can do just that – train and get an extra strength and time benefit. Perfect.

A note on these tyres’s construction: Schwalbe tyres, in my experience, ‘do what they say on the tin’. Therefore, where Schwalbe specify a 25mm tyre, the tyre measures a ‘real’ 25mm. Compare this with another well-known UK winter tyre, the Continental GP 4 Seasons 28mm, which measures 3mm less than stated at an actual 25 mm in my experience: I’m reassured by Schwalbe’s accuracy. There is a deep chevron style tread on the tyres – enough tread for light gravel paths like towpaths – yet there is enough rubber along the crown of the tyre for reasonable rolling resistance for such a heavy tyre. The tread also copes well with wet, mud and ice on roads; I’ve found them to be pretty grippy tyres. There’s also a few extras built in to the tyres: a luminous band around the circumference of the sidewall (handy for visibility in traffic) and a reinforced area on each sidewall for a tyre-driven dynamo, handy enough if you use them.

The secret to these tyres, however, lies under the tread. Between the stout rubber tread of the tyre and the inner carcass of the tyre is a thick layer (at least half a centimetre thick) of stiff blue foam rubber. This layer of protection basically prevents flints and thorns from penetrating the inner carcass – the foam rubber is stiff enough that it seems to almost push sharp objects out. Therefore – punctures are minimal and if you hit a pothole, you’ve got an extra layer of bounce that absorbs the shock. At times, when I’ve got home from a ride, I’ve pulled out big bits of sharp flint from these tyres which would have punctured ‘normal’ tyres in an instant, yet these tyres just shrugged it off.

But what’s the downside of Marathon Plus’s? OK, you can probably puncture them if you really try, but it’s going to be a really rare occurrence. They’re not fast tyres either, but then again, they’re not meant to be. The added layer of foam rubber between the tread and carcass also means that the sidewalls have extra carcass layers too, so these tyres can be quite a stiff ride (low tyre pressures are advisable – I use a maximum of 90psi for the 25mm’s). However, I find that the 25mm version of these tyres gives a more comfortable ride than Continental GP 4 Seasons 28mm’s. The other downside of the thick, stiff carcass is that getting a new pair of these tyres onto your rims is a struggle – patience and a set of rounded steel tyre levers to help gently lever them on to the rim is advised. You’d also be right in thinking that these tyres aren’t going to get you up a hill faster – until you get back on your race wheels, when you’ll really notice the long term benefit from training with these.  Also, a true 25mm is as thin as these tyres come, so you need to have a frame with some clearance to fit them. The last downside is the cost – these tyres ain’t cheap, being about £35 each. But they’re an investment, as they’ll probably last you for 2 years or more, even if you ride a lot, as well as giving you extra savings through buying fewer spare tubes or puncture kits.

All in all, when you think “winter training tyre”, when “winter training” means a long, wet, gritty, cold ride because you’re riding to get stronger, Schwalbe Marathon Plus 25mm are hard to beat. I love them – they’re like a poor man’s Powertap hub.

Schwalbe Stelvio Plus 25 tyre

That leads me on to a review of Schwalbe Stelvio Plus tyres (now re-badged as Schwalbe Durano Plus). Much as I love the Schwalbe Marathon Plus for my commuting and training bike, I do actually want to go faster sometimes, especially in summer. That’s not always easy on the Marathon Plus’s, unless you have Miguel Indurain-size lungs and legs. But, round my way, that flint on the road doesn’t magically disappear over summer, so I’ve still found that a puncture resistant tyre is well worth having in order to get the miles into your legs.

Enter the Schwalbe Stelvio Plus 25mm. These are my favourite tyre of all time, because for 80% of the riding I do (Hampshire back lanes), they’re perfect for about 90% of the time. Realistically, you can’t expect much more from a humble tyre.

Basically, the Stelvio Plus are the ‘race’ version of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus – they have the same stiff, puncture preventive blue foam rubber layer in between the tread and the inner carcass, but a much slicker, thinner tread and a lighter sidewall and overall weight, because the tread, foam rubber layer and carcass are all a bit thinner. A 25mm tyre weighs around 380g per tyre – so they’re not a ‘race’ tyre, but they’re a decent enough weight for a training bike: and for flinty back roads most of the year round, they’re fine. The Durano tread looks a bit different to the Stelvio tread, but basically the construction and weight is the same (unless Schwalbe did something technical, like change the rubber compound – I can’t say I’ve noticed, so as far as I know, they’re the same tyre with a changed tread pattern).

Schwalbe Stelvio Plus tread after many 1000's of miles

The tread has a grooved pattern for wet weather, but wet weather can overwhelm these tyres a bit – they’re OK in the wet, but they’re not superglue. That’s my only note of caution. Otherwise, the tyre looks like a ‘normal’ 25mm road tyre – no dynamo or reflective strip like the Marathon Plus – and behaves like a normal 25mm tyre. And yet just like the Marathon Plus, the Stelvio Plus is pretty much puncture free and definitely a bit softer over potholes (due to the foam rubber layer). I’ve had one puncture, ever, over two pairs of these tyres, after a combined 10,000-odd miles. That puncture was a sharp bit of flint, about half a thumbnail wide, which only just penetrated the inner carcass. It would have slashed open most other tyres. I used these tyres to cycle through France in summer 2008, with panniers, a few gravel roads thrown in and with one accidental ride over a broken glass bottle in a dark tunnel: 1606 miles in eleven days cycling with not a single puncture. There was a small cut in one of the treads when I got home (probably from the broken glass) and that’s it – and I’m still using the same tyres now, as they haven’t worn out yet. From a puncture resistance point of view, that’s remarkable.

The Stelvio/Durano Plus are also pretty fast tyres. OK, they’re not like time trial tubulars – but for your average training ride, on your average UK road, in your average UK conditions, they’re fast enough and they’re very comfortable (a thinner carcass than the Marathon Plus makes them more comfortable by far). The only thing they’re not – like their stable mate, Schwalbe Marathon Plus – is cheap. Again, Schwalbe Durano Plus are around £35 each. Possibly that’s a result of the currently weak pound against a truly European, Euro-priced, imported product, but these tyres are worth it, in my opinion. They last for ever, they’ll save you from most punctures and a lot of pothole damage, and they’ll give you many happy training miles, making you all the stronger on race day.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Durano Plus – the perfect winter/summer training tyre combination, with added ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’. 

Panaracer Fire XC Pro 1.8

Super skinny tyres are usually the weapon of choice for out and out MTB XC racers. Indeed I used to run 1.8″ tyres when racing – particularly in the claggy conditions on the Marlborough Downs as they were less likely to clog and seemed to cut through the mud more effectively. The Panaracer Fire XC Pro 1.8 is the thinnest tyre in the very popular and established Fire XC range. The Panaracer Fire XC is renowned for its grip, cornering stability and mud shedding capability. ASB re-inforced sidewalls mean that the likelihood of pinch flats is significantly reduced and I have in fact had no issues in that department after several rides. The usual compromise for a super skinny is less grip when cornering hard but in this case the Fire XC Pro’s aggressive pattern and directional – front and rear tread really seems to hold on almost as well as its larger cousins.

Panaracer Fire XC Pro 1.8 - tread pattern

We recently tested the Fire XC Pro 1.8 on the second Chiltern Epic Snow Ride. The terrain was mixed and was covered in either soft powder or rutted hard pack snow…an unusual but excellent test. We thought that the tyre would react poorly to such conditions as lower inflated large tyres seemed the order of the day for grip. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to feel the tyre cutting even the hard pack snow and gripping as needed. I ran the tyres at a shade under 40PSI for the entire snow-bound 28 miles and never felt the need to reduce the pressure for more grip or stability.

The verdict
In general use it is important to remember that, particularly if you are riding a hard tail, tyres essentially act as suspension…the larger more voluminous ones being more forgiving on the rider and the bike. If it is comfort you are after then these may be not for you. I have to say though that if you are after a super fast set of nobblies that are suitable for both racing and trail riding in any weather, you could not go wrong with a set of these.

RRP is £29.99 … as always… shop around for a bargain!