Road/cyclo-x wheel advice

[Dr Murdoch]

I've got a gravel bike which is currently running 35c nobbly tyres. These have picked up a few punctures.

I'm thinking of getting a spare set of wheels, either to be made up as off-road (for weekends) or for my commute (or visa versa). My commute is 25m round trip, no off road but is rough and do need to bump up some kerbs.

I would prefer to get a spare set of wheels as I don't fancy changing tyres every weekend.

So a few questions:

• worth putting road tyres on my existing rims and getting tubeless for weekends? Budget is limited, so £100 max for wheels excluding tyres.
• what is the diff between 700c x 28c and 700 x 28c (about 100 quid a tyre on Amazon)
•happy to buy via eBay.

I'm a virtual novice on road bikes so any other tips or advice will be welcome!

Thanks

Edited to 35c tyres

Edited by Dr Murdoch on Saturday 13th January 12:29

[bigdom]

What tyres are currently on your bike?

[Dr Murdoch]

Kenda - Flintridge Sport (700x35c)

Came standard on a Genesis CDF

[bigdom]

I use a CDF as well, with pretty similar commuting distance, mixture of surfaces. In summer it sees more wood/track action.

I'm currently running these - https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVIVOHY/vittoria-vo...

As per your other thread, I run tubeless sealant in tubes, no issues to date, the tyres grip well, roll well.

I've never used a tubeless set-up, and for me, I'm not convinced 35c is enough tyre to run low pressures off road, id want 45c min.

http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/221961-13-grav...

There will be tyres that will pretty much eliminate punctures like schwalbe marathon etc, although you do lose feel/suppleness in ride.

[Dr Murdoch]

Thanks Dom, thats really useful. What tubes do you run? The reviews for self-sealing tubes is v mixed.

A friend has gone tubeless and he rates the set up (its the future apparently).

I think I'll stick with the wheels I have for a commute with tube, but maybe reduce tyre width to 28, and get some spare wheels set-up for the weekend, decked out with chunkey monkey tyres.

[bigdom]

I run continental tubes, they have removal cores. These are filled with stans tubeless sealant. I run 35c vittoria hyper voyagers with no issue.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos/cycling-tech/h...

If your interested, I have a set of pretty much unused CDF wheels. PM me if you'd like to know more.

[gazza285]

You do not need to bump up kerbs, it's a simple technique to hop the bike up, rather than let the rear wheel crash into the kerb.

[Dave2t]

Got Vittoria zaffiro which were pretty cheap on my cross bike for commuting and winter club runs

There's a gcn video on ghetto tubeless set up for CX tyres, worth a look if your on a budget?

[Dr Murdoch]

gazza285 said:

You do not need to bump up kerbs, it's a simple technique to hop the bike up, rather than let the rear wheel crash into the kerb.

Thanks. Whilst I know how to get up kerbs, I don't want to be precious, hence robust rims. Some small kerbs can be taken flat with the current setup, I don't want to have to worry about buckling a rim. Not-withstanding the poor surface and potholes on certain sections of my route.

Cheers for the replies though gents, I've got a much better understanding of what I want / need.