"Best" tire for road tandem?

[mistermo]

For a tandem.... I know, I know, there's no such thing as "best". I'm looking for a fast, durable, comfortable tire for riding pothole strewn roads, at a fast pace. It's presently got 25c gatorskins and I think they're a bit narrow. Any suggestions from those with experience in this area? TIA

[azrider]

28 gatorskins...........ha

but seriously.....I always grab bike with gatorskins when riding roads you describe above

[GregL]

Panaracer T-Serv: https://www.panaracer.com/lineup/urban_touring.html

T-Servs are much more robust than Paselas, wear very well, and are surprisingly grippy. Very few flats over the years. Available in 25, 28, 32, and 35mm widths. My wife and I are avid tandem riders. We use 28mm T-Servs as everyday training tires on our tandem.

Greg

[commonguy001]

28 gatorskins...........ha

but seriously.....I always grab bike with gatorskins when riding roads you describe above

I always ran gatorskins (28) on our tandem unless we were doing unpaved then I went with a Clement tire that was bigger.

[zap]

Long time Conti 4K user on our road tandems.....and singles

But....25c is as large as we go. We first started using wide 25c for a tour we did up in Vermont which included roads with missing chunks pavement and some dirt roads. More than sufficient for that app.

So for larger sizes........no help.

[bikinchris]

Gatorskins on a tandem. 28 in front and 32 on rear.

[smead]

I used to run Rubino Pro IIIs in 28 and 25 which had a better ride than gatorskins, but at this point, I just use gatorskin 25s. I cannot recall the last time we flatted - years.

[weisan]

If it fits, try the widest possible gravel king slick.

[AngryScientist]

If it fits, try the widest possible gravel king slick.

I concur with this.

[Kirk007]

I dunno, if your roads are really like out of a mad max set then the recommendations for these heavy duty tires may make sense but if it's pleasure riding -- not much pleasure in most of those tires compared to a good 25-28.

We had an Erickson tandem for years and went with what Glenn recommended - a good supple 25. Way back in the day those were avocets. Today I'd run the same tires on tandem as on single and enjoy the ride.

[sjbraun]

32mm Gravel King slicks, roll fast, don't flat, and they're supple.

[marciero]

I dunno, if your roads are really like out of a mad max set then the recommendations for these heavy duty tires may make sense but if it's pleasure riding -- not much pleasure in most of those tires compared to a good 25-28.

We had an Erickson tandem for years and went with what Glenn recommended - a good supple 25. Way back in the day those were avocets. Today I'd run the same tires on tandem as on single and enjoy the ride.


Pretty much my philiosophy, which typically means the widest Compass I can fit, whether gravel or paved. BUT... I recently put Pasela 35 foldable version on our 700c bike and cant believe how nice they ride. Plenty durable. Also, after years of Compass 42 I have gone to WTB Horizon 47 on our 650b tandem. A bit wider still. (A Compass 48 did not clear the chainstays and I wanted matchy-matchy.)

[GregL]

Pretty much my philiosophy, which typically means the widest Compass I can fit, whether gravel or paved. BUT... I recently put Pasela 35 foldable version on our 700c bike and cant believe how nice they ride. Plenty durable. Also, after years of Compass 42 I have gone to WTB Horizon 47 on our 650b tandem. A bit wider still. (A Compass 48 did not clear the chainstays and I wanted matchy-matchy.)
The T-Serv is basically a Pasela with much better sidewall protection. They ride and handle remarkably well for such a durable tire. When we race the tandem, we use Conti GP4000S II tires on Rolf Prima tandem wheels. To be honest, I'm not sure I could tell the difference if blindfolded.

Greg

[Jeff N.]

28 gatorskins...........ha

but seriously.....I always grab bike with gatorskins when riding roads you describe above
Yep, agreed.

[zennmotion]

So you guys recommending a narrow 28 (25?!?) really don't think a tandem with a combined rider weight of 250-300 lbs or more needs more tire? 90-100+ PSI needed on those tires to avoid pinch flats is the way to go? Let's check in- who are actual tandem riders? And of the tandem riders, who has actually ridden those tires as a stoker? Or even talked to the stoker about what a super hard narrow tire feels like, and compared to something more proportional to the weight of a tandem team?

My opinion- 32mm minimum, 35 or more is better. I like folding 37c Paselas for the price point, ride nicely when run at 70-80psi for maintained gravel roads.

Gatorskins, really? Worst crap overpriced tires on the planet, just get Nashbar specials if you want bulletproof

[marciero]

The T-Serv is basically a Pasela with much better sidewall protection. They ride and handle remarkably well for such a durable tire. When we race the tandem, we use Conti GP4000S II tires on Rolf Prima tandem wheels. To be honest, I'm not sure I could tell the difference if blindfolded.

Greg

Noted regarding the T-Serve.

So you guys recommending a narrow 28 (25?!?) really don't think a tandem with a combined rider weight of 250-300 lbs or more needs more tire? 90-100+ PSI needed on those tires to avoid pinch flats is the way to go? Let's check in- who are actual tandem riders? And of the tandem riders, who has actually ridden those tires as a stoker? Or even talked to the stoker about what a super hard narrow tire feels like, and compared to something more proportional to the weight of a tandem team?

My opinion- 32mm minimum, 35 or more is better. I like folding 37c Paselas for the price point, ride nicely when run at 70-80psi for maintained gravel roads.

Gatorskins, really? Worst crap overpriced tires on the planet, just get Nashbar specials if you want bulletproof

My stoker is very tuned in and sensitive to the differences in tires, ride and tire pressure, probably more sensitive and discerning than me, dictating when we need to let out a few psi. We have many thousands of miles on pavement and gravel and she lets me know if things are not okay. Once I put a Schwalbe Marathon on the back of our 700c without telling her and she was commenting on the ride within a few pedal strokes. Never mind the time I had temporarily replaced the thudbuster with straight seatpost-mutiny!

It was not always thus. Before building 650b wheels, our disc tandem was skinny tire 700c. Our first ride on that was a day rental as a test ride out of the shop and was on gatorskin 28 with 110 or 120 psi. Also, she had no thudbuster or other suspension seatpost. She kept saying that she was comfortable.

But once getting a taste of the cush and ride quality of nice wide tires (and also thudbuster) she would never go back. She lets me know whether the ride is "yummy" or not on every ride.

Interestingly, or maybe not surprisingly, my stoker and I both find the the 700c bike with 32 Compass or 35 Pasela rides comparably on pavement as the 650b with 42 or 47 with much lower pressure. The former is steel Comotion and latter is alu Cannondale. The steel bike rides like a nice steel bike, which, of course, it is. But we can get away with 40psi or even high 30's on the Comotion; esp tubeless, for ultimate cush on rough gravel.

I will say that on tandem forums people often comment about how their Calfee or or other high zoot bike rides so nice that they dont need thudbuster seatpost. It's unclear whether the stoker actually tried one and said "nah, dont need it"

[zap]

edit

So you guys recommending a narrow 28 (25?!?) really don't think a tandem with a combined rider weight of 250-300 lbs or more needs more tire? 90-100+ PSI needed on those tires to avoid pinch flats is the way to go? Let's check in- who are actual tandem riders? And of the tandem riders, who has actually ridden those tires as a stoker? Or even talked to the stoker about what a super hard narrow tire feels like, and compared to something more proportional to the weight of a tandem team?

Wife and I have been riding (used to race tt) tandems since before we got married. So, a couple of decades plus and well north of 50,000 miles on tandems alone.

Never stoked a tandem but if my wife were to say the ride sucks......it sucks and I better fix it. If I miss a pothole.....more often than not she has just enough time on the tandem to lift off the saddle some. Years ago I asked my wife if she wanted a beam or bouncy seatpost.......she hit me.

Can't ride the tandem fast (try going down and around a compression bend at 40+mph) or sprint out of the saddle up hills to surprise fast singles cyclists (those who don't know us) with tires (25) pumped at less than 120 psi.....130 psi with 23c tires on our fast tandem. Well, you can but it will not feel all that secure.

Note, all our tandem wheelsets have normal width rims.

[smead]

I usually run 10-20 more PSI on the tandem to limit deflection w/ the added weight. And as just said, you need that pressure to rail corners.

But I am the one-out here who never really got into the fat tire Kool-Aid. Still happy with 23s on my road bike, and 25s are perfectly fine on our tandem.

[CSTRider]

We've been riding a tandem since 1985, and over the decades have gravitated toward larger volume tires for several reasons:
- more comfortable, especially on chip seal and mixed surface roads
- can run lower pressures, and less likely to exceed max recommended air pressure
- a few more seconds to deflate if something bad happens
- there are more high quality larger tires available

We're a sub-300 lb team and primarily run Gatorskin 32mm tires at 85/90 psi. While others may criticize the ride quality, we've had great success with Gatorskins over the past 15 years - average about 1 flat every 3 years/9K miles. Will take a look at the Pasela T-Servs.

[mattsurf]

28mm Continental 4 Seasons

I may go for 32mm GP5000 TL next time round

[weisan]

Large(r) volume can forgive many sins, even Gatorskins!

Not trying to speak ill of Gatorskins, merely trying to point out a fact.