Tire - Hutchinson Touareg

Half-and-halver, best all-around

We limited our models to four out of 20 or more, and that the Touareg made the cut should suggest that either the others were horrible, or we like this one a whole lot. That we do. It rides great on the road and decently on non-ultra-gnarly trails, too. One good-for all size, and it fits all of our bicycles except the Roadini.

700c x 45mm
Weight: 604g

650b x 47mm
Weight: 605g

Trivia or Fascinating Fact? U-decide:

Touareg in French means Tuareg, so looked up that and found this:

Tuareg | ˈtwäˌreɡ | noun (plural Tuareg or plural Tuaregs | ˈtwäˌreɡz |) 
a member of a Berber people of the western and central Sahara, living mainly in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and western Libya, traditionally as nomadic pastoralists. 

The first customer who positively, absolutely can identify himself or herself of theirself as a full-blooded Tuareg wins a 75 percent discount on any bicycle we have, provided we get to pick the spec (we’ll do a good job of it, it’ll be up to our standards), and it will come with these tires.

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Hutchinson (FRENCH!) Tires

All modern familiar-branded tires are excellent, because tire makers test their competitors’ tires and make sure their own tires land in that ball park. There are no materials or technology secrets. For every patent there’s a workaround. Anyway, ninety percent of rider performance is the rider’s skill and fitness, 8 percent is “other,” and less than 2 percent is tires. (Lance rode Hutchinson tires. Were they an unfair advantage?)

We’re not saying all tires are equal, just that they’re all good enough. We have more tire experience than an online youtube influencer millennial tire reviewer has. Our experience includes tires as original equipment on complete bikes from Taiwan, on bikes we build up from scratch, and on our own bicycles. We’re more objective than sponsored riders are. One of us ride tires until the casing shows or the sidewalls are shot, others change tires every few months for the heck of it, and we’re all impressed. Some of that may be the newness effect, some because they’re French, but in any case, there’s some Hutchinson hubbub here. Here are some things we like:

• They’re actually made in France, and Hutchinson was the first French inflatable (pneumatique!) bicycle tire, in 1890. 

• Hutchinson tires are super quality, a point worth making because in bicycles at least, good style with sketchy materials and executions are French hallmarks, sorry to say. French or not, Hutchinson tires are probably as good as tires get.

• Compared to all other tubeless-compatible (TC) tires on TC rims, these Hutchinsons are far easier to mount. The most challenging tire mounts and removals are with the deadly trifecta of a TC tire and rim, with a tube inside. With some tire-rim combinations, you break tire levers and give up. With Hutchinsons, if your hands are decently strong, they go on without tools. If your hands are weak, use tire levers, and they’re easy.

• They mount straight, first time and seemingly every time. Not all good tires do.

• Most of their decaling is low-key, the quietest logos we’ve seen in decades. There are two exceptions (the KRAKEN), but as loud as the KRAKEN logos are compared to the low-key ones, they’re one of the better boisterous logos. The colors are OK. 

• Of course they ride well. Mark is particular and not particularly effusive, but he, by his own standards, raved about the Caracal.

• They’re lighter by volume than other comparable tires. Even with the super slash-resistant casing, Hutchinsons are lighter than most same-volume tires.  We’re not going to start playing the weight-nut card, but these tires seem to be made by people who care more about tire weight than we do.

When you need a new tire (rear tires wear out faster), consider a Hutchinson. More about the company here. It’s worth reading, and explains why a French company is called Hutchinson, and the role of Charles Goodyear.

https://cycling.hutchinson.com/about-us/