In this article I’m going to give you my list for the best budget road bike tires.
Ok, so before I can give you the list I have to define the budget first for obvious reasons. That’s hard to do because budget means different things for different people. So let’s instead look at what tires are available at what price is definitely considered premium.
So the most expensive tires out there are extremely lightweight, handmade tubular professional road bike tires or time trial tires. You will need to pay over a 100 dollars for an individual unit, sometimes way over a hundred. So if that’s the price ceiling would it be fair to say that a tire around 30 dollars can be considered somewhat budget? I would say it is.
So what I’ve tried to do is find the tires around this price mark that will still provide you with excellent value-for-money without sacrificing those characteristics that make high-quality road tires excel. Or at least keep the compromise that naturally comes with a reduction in price to a minimum.
Here is what I came up with, my list for the best budget road bike tires.
Continental Ultra Sport III
The Continental Ultra Sport III is a budget-friendly slick tire for commuters and road bikes.
It offers a no-frills tire in an affordable package, and one of the cheapest big brand tires money can buy
It’s a solid option for people who understand they get what they pay for.
- Extremely budget-friendly, no-frills commuter tire.
- None for its price-point
Continental Grand Sport Race
The Continental Grand Sport Race is a classic budget-friendly road bike tire.
Oftentimes you pay a lot extra for the latest technology, which offers marginal gains if any. Sometimes a tire is just a tire and will do the job just fine, without burning a hole in your wallet.
The Continental Grand Sport Race is the latter. It offers the PureGrip compound, and a NyTech breaker, which is a nylon fabric located directly underneath the center tread to prevent punctures.
Both the compound and breaker are slightly heavier, but make for a much more affordable tire than the more premium ones.
Continental stands out for their high-quality, yet affordable offerings, and for your standard road bike tire, the Continental Grand Sport Race is their best example.
- Solid, affordable, all-round road bike tire, with additional puncture-resistant breaker
- None
Continental Gator Hardshell
The Continental Gator Hardshell is the one of the most puncture-resistant tires Continental’s lineup with touring and road bike qualities.
It offers a 3-ply 60 TPI carcass reinforced with a wider PolyX breaker underneath the slick center tread, which is a tightly woven polyester fiber to prevent objects from penetrating the tire.
Besides the breaker, the tire also features the bead-to-bead DuraSkin polyamide fabric, giving the tire its characteristic reddish weave on the sidewall. It serves both as an added layer of puncture-protection and sidewall-reinforcement.
Naturally, all this added protection adds some weight, but as far as puncture-protection for fast commuters and road bikes go, this tire is nothing short of astonishing in that department.
- Astonishing puncture protection in a gorgeous slick road bike tire or fast commuter tire. Still pretty lightweight considering the added protective layers.
- Don't expect the same ride-feel as a summer race tire
Continental Gatorskin
Very similar to the Hardshell version the Continental Gatorskin is an incredible road bike tire with an exceptional level of puncture protection.
It offers a more supple 3-ply 180 TPI carcass with the same PolyX Breaker, a tightly woven polyester fabric sitting underneath the center tread, preventing foreign objects from reaching the air chamber.
It also has the Duraskin bead-to-bead protection, reinforcing its sidewalls and giving the tire its distinctive burgundy appearance, and adding an extra protective layer made from an incredibly strong polyamide fabric.
This tire is the pinnacle of perfection, offering the seemingly unattainable blend of maximum puncture-protection without sacrificing to much in the weight department, all in a road bike tire with a slick tread pattern. An absolute no-brainer for people who appreciate hard-wearing, fast-rolling tires.
- Maximum puncture protection, distinctive looks, and a slick tread pattern makes this one of the best road bike tires for mile-crunchers.
- You trade in ride feel for puncture protection
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro
The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro is the most affordable road bike tire from the Italian manufacturer.
The idea behind this tire is that what it lacks in terms of technology, it makes up for in durability. That means you get a heavy, yet sturdy tire made from their proprietary Graphene 2.0 compound, which is the same compound used in all of their other tires.
So it’s a great tire for a fast commuter, or a more affordable all-season road bike tire.
- Affordable Italian 4-season road bike tire
- None for its price-point
Michelin Dynamic Classic
I’ve seen vintage road bike resellers dress their entire lineup with Michelin Dynamic Classic tires. The reason for this is that it’s a perfect match for any vintage road bike at probably the lowest cost for a tan wall road bike tire.
In the quality department this tire will not be top of its class, but it does come in an affordable package. And with prices ever going up that’s always a good thing.
- Cheap, great for retro builds
- Not the most durable
Road Bike Tires Weight Rating
I’ve always been fascinated by bicycle tires, and road bike tires offer some of the most premium pieces of rubber you can put on your rims. It’s a good place to save quite a bit of weight without paying a really large amount of money. It’s not like there are titanium or carbon tires, which are traditionally materials to make bicycle products lighter that are very expensive.
The lightest 700C tire I’ve looked at is the Veloflex Record, which is a track tire sitting at 135 grams for a 23 mm version. The heaviest tire I’ve taken into account is the Schwalbe Lugano II Endurance weighing 490 grams for the same 25 mm tire width.
In the following graph you can find the weight ratings for each tire. The weight ratings represent a relative percentage irrespective of tire width and only looking at 700C versions of the respective tire. The numbers are compared against each other resulting in a percentage of 0 for the relative heaviest tire and 100 for the relative lightest tire.
Road Bike Tires Puncture Protection Rating
Nobody likes a flat tire. It’s one of the most jarring things to break the flow of a ride. That’s why puncture protection is an important factor when considering a certain bicycle tire.
Puncture protection sits at the other end of the tire weight, suppleness and possibly grip. The more rubber you add to a tire, and the more layers of protection sit underneath it, the more weight you add, and the stiffer your tire gets. That’s why racing tires have the most minimal protection, and touring or 4-season tires the most.
The puncture protection ratings you see here are a function of TPI, in combination with tire weight, and puncture protection technology added to the tire. From sidewall protection, multiple breakers and tire belts.
Specifications budget road bike tires
Name | Size | ETRTO | Weight (gr) | Tread color | Sidewall color | Compound | Puncture protection | Tire bead | TPI | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Continental Gator Hardshell | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 340 | Black | Black | BlackChili | Hardshell | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gator Hardshell | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 340 | Black | Black | BlackChili | Hardshell | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gator Hardshell | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 270 | Black | Black | BlackChili | Hardshell | wired | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 305 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | wired | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 230 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 245 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 315 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | wired | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 360 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | wired | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 280 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx32 | 32-622 | 345 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Gatorskin | 700Cx32 | 32-622 | 420 | Black | Black | BlackChili | DuraSkin / PolyX Breaker | wired | 3/180 | |
Continental Grand Sport Race | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 245 | Black | Black | PureGrip | NyTech Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Grand Sport Race | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 270 | Black | Black | PureGrip | NyTech Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Grand Sport Race | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 335 | Black | Black | PureGrip | NyTech Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Grand Sport Race | 700Cx32 | 32-622 | 400 | Black | Black | PureGrip | NyTech Breaker | foldable | 3/180 | |
Continental Ultra Sport III | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 255 | Black | Yellow | PureGrip | foldable | 3/180 | ||
Continental Ultra Sport III | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 255 | Black | White | PureGrip | foldable | 3/180 | ||
Continental Ultra Sport III | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | 255 | Black | Black | PureGrip | foldable | 3/180 | ||
Continental Ultra Sport III | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 270 | Black | White | PureGrip | foldable | 3/180 | ||
Continental Ultra Sport III | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 295 | Black | Black | PureGrip | foldable | 3/180 | ||
Michelin Dynamic Classic | 700Cx20 | 23-622 | Black | Tan | foldable | |||||
Michelin Dynamic Classic | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | Black | Tan | foldable | |||||
Michelin Dynamic Classic | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | Black | Tan | foldable | |||||
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro | 700Cx23 | 23-622 | Black | Black | Graphene 2.0 | foldable | 26 | |||
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro | 700Cx25 | 25-622 | 310 | Black | Black | Graphene 2.0 | foldable | 26 | ||
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro | 700Cx28 | 28-622 | 340 | Black | Black | Graphene 2.0 | foldable | 26 | ||
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro | 700Cx30 | 30-622 | 385 | Black | Black | Graphene 2.0 | foldable | 26 | ||
Vittoria Zaffiro Pro | 700Cx32 | 32-622 | 395 | Black | Black | Graphene 2.0 | foldable | 26 |
Johan van Seijen
FoundeR Restoration.bike
Johan van Seijen is the founder of restoration.bike. His passion for cycling in general, and restoring older bikes turned into a website to share his knowledge with a broader audience. Starting out on his father’s road bike and riding classics as the Amstel Gold Race and Liege Bastogne Liege he has shifted his attention to trail, XC, and gravel riding since. No matter how much he loves writing about everything related to cycling, nothing beats actually using his ever-expanding bicycle collection.
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