Maxxis Relix Folding 170TPI SS 700c Road / Racing Bike Tyre

Most race bikes these days will come with either 25c, and these sizes are best for minimising rolling resistance. For endurance or sportive bikes, 28c tyres are most often used, allowing for greater comfort over long distances. Wider tyres will also be able to deal with rougher roads easier, and you’ll sometimes see 30c or even 32c tyres on some endurance bikes, catering to rough roads and cobblestones that are encountered in Europe. Some bikes are now featuring even wider tyres, catered to a greater variety of surfaces, and these gravel bikes can have 32c-40c tyres. You can go to our tyre size guide for more details.

Many wet weather specific tyres will have grooves on the sides of the tyres like the Specialized All Condition Armadillo tyres, to help displace or dispel water from the tyres more easily, preventing a loss of traction and slippage.

Continental’s Black Chili compound is engineered to balance rolling resistance and grip, using Activated Silica Compound technology. Maxxis has their 3C Triple Compound that uses a harder, faster rolling rubber in the centre and two progressively softer compounds on the sides, providing greater grip.

As with many cycling components, there’s a balance between a benefit and how much that benefit weighs. And so, with puncture protection this is also the case. Some tyres like the Continental GatorSkins offer fantastic protection, with a little compromise in weight, but make for excellent winter or training tyres. Going tubeless also significantly reduces the risk of punctures. For more on tubeless, see below.

As with everything else on your bike, one of the biggest factors when choosing tyres is their weight. Because rolling mass can play such a large part in how your bike rides, affecting rolling resistance and handling, it’s important to balance the benefits of a particular tyre with its weight.

Standard bicycle tyres use tubes for inflation, but that’s not the only option these days. In fact, there’s three options to keep air in your tyres, and they all have their benefits and drawbacks.

The downsides are that you need a specific rim for them, as tubulars need to be glued onto the rim. If you get a puncture, then you need to remove the whole tyre and replace it with a new one, gluing it back on. If you want the best performance, tubulars are the way to go, however, racers who have a team of mechanics will benefit from them the most.

With tubeless tyres, you can run lower pressures without the risk of punctures, giving you greater comfort and potentially more traction. And because there’s one less layer between you and the road, rolling resistance is reduced, making you faster. The downsides can be that you need specific tubeless rims and tyres, which aren’t as common as general clinchers, and can be more expensive. But it seems worth the price for faster riding and fewer punctures.

Greater pressure will help prevent punctures and generally decrease rolling resistance, while lower pressure will give more comfort. Traction and optimised performance can be found when the right tyre pressure is used. It’s important to be aware that tyre pressure depends not only on what tyres you use, but on your weight. Heavier riders will need greater pressures and the opposite for lighter riders. See our tyre pressure guide to find out the best pressure for you.