On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 1:30:39 AM UTC, Emanuel Berg wrote:
I've heard there are different rubber compounds
in tires which makes them harder or softer.

What property is that, and how can it
be measured?

I take it in Northen Europe and Scandinavia,
one would like hard tires rather than soft?

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

The longest-lasting tyres I ever rode were Schwalbe Marathon Plus: nasty, hard and harsh.

Until I switched over to Schwalbe Big Apples. I changed my last set at 8500km, when they still had tread on them -- since they start with only cosmetic sipes rather than real tread and since Schwalbe says you can ride them until the rubber protection band starts showing, I reckoned they would probably go that far again. But I'm not poor and one of the tyres had cast its reflection band, and in my present state of health taking the wheels off and refitting them (quite a big deal on my bike as an anti-theft measure) is pretty stressful, and it was time to rotate the tyres, so I simply replaced both. Here's the punchline: the compound on the Big Apples seems not much softer than that on the Marathon Plus, yet the ride is superb, and the rolling resistance lower than on any other tyre I would consider, and the roadholding and handling at speed on rough roads are impeccable.

I think you're on a hiding to nothing here, young mater Berg: The compound has only a small influence on the impression the tyre makes on the rider, and if you buy good tyres (say Schwalbe) to start with, we're talking about tiny fractions of a penny per kilometer even if you're in the habit of throwing off half-worn tyres, so longevity is a distraction, not a real consideration. The sidewalls and the format of the tyre (I mean things like the elevated hysteresis-resistance of squirming deep treads, or on the other side the elevated compliance of soft sidewalls) have much, much more influence.

Andre Jute
Comfort isn't everything, but without comfort nothing else is worth much