Best road bike tyres of 2024: The best rubber for every situation

It's an often used phrase in bike media, but a tyre upgrade is about the best bang for your buck as far as upgrades go. New bikes are often specced with cheaper tyres in order to hit a price point, and trading up for some better rubber can be genuinely transformative.

The best road bike tyres sit in the middle of the Venn diagram of low rolling resistance, high grip, and decent puncture protection, but each model has its own characteristics. For some of you puncture resistance may be more important - if you're commuting for instance - or speed may be the only goal if you're racing against the clock. Tyre tread makes less of a difference than it does with the best gravel tyres, but the tread pattern is still important when discussing grip.

Despite being measurable in many respects, and in this case, we have taken data from the excellent Bicycle Rolling Resistance into account (with their permission), tyres remain a personal choice. What works for some may not work for others, so as well as highlighting our recommendations for all-rounder tyres, time trial tyres, winter options and the like, we've also added in a few additional options in each category, each of which we'd be happy to run ourselves.

As ever, if you're stuck, we've got a guide at the bottom of the page to help you make the right choice.

Quick list

In order to make this guide as useful as possible I have combined our experiences with the tyres here at Cyclingnews with the empirical data from bicyclerollingresistance.com. 

The 'rolling resistance', 'grip', and 'puncture protection' stats are taken from publically available data from this site, and used with permission. 

For reference, grip is the static wet grip, and both rolling resistance and grip are for a 28c variant unless otherwise stated. For puncture protection and grip, the higher the number the better. 

Best all round road bike tyres

The best all-round road tyres are wicked fast, grippy across a wide range of conditions, last a decent number of miles, and can shrug off at least some debris that would puncture a time trial tyre. The majority of top-end road bike tyres nowadays are tubeless, but not all. If you're running tubes you can still run them in a tubeless tyre, but not the other way around, so do check. Some WorldTour teams are still running tubes, though they opt for latex over butyl, as it's more supple and that makes it faster. 

There's a reason the GP5000 has become the gold standard for road bike tyes, much like its predecessor the GP4000. Whenever I get a set specced on a test bike it's always a plus point, partially because it does wonders for the handling, but also because it means I don't have to fit them myself - they are notoriously tricky with some rims, so get some of the best tyre levers you can to make sure you don't have a bad time. 

My experiences with them are backed up by the BRR data. They are faster than the Vittoria Corsa Pro, the other model that's ubiquitous amongst the pro peloton, but there is a slight penalty in grip and puncture protection as a trade-off. 

While their puncture protection is a few points less, I've found their overall lifespan to be excellent, plus they come with easy-to-see wear indicators so you know when they've reached the end of their life. The sidewall protection is also going to be better than that of a cotton-cased tyre.

In short, if you've got a performance-oriented road bike and want to get the best out of it then these are the tyres I'd recommend you opt for. They are expensive, but in the context of top-end tyres, they are similar to the competition.

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Best road bike tyres for speed

If speed is your absolute goal, and primarily I'm talking about time trials here, then some tyres are created to be even faster than the all-rounders above. The tradeoff in most cases though is reduced puncture protection. By reducing or eschewing entirely the puncture protection strip usually found beneath the tyre tread it makes the whole system more supple, and therefore reduces rolling resistance, but more puncture prone. In our experience, it's best to keep these for specific events, rather than using them as general-use tyres. 

I really wouldn't advise fitting these to your bike for general road riding, but if you have an event where wringing out every last watt is key, then these are impossible to look over. Perfect for that 10-mile TT, or maybe even a crit on a dedicated, well-maintained track. 

The incredibly low rolling resistance is thanks to Vittoria making the central smooth portion of the tread wider, eschewing the shoulder sipes (or 'grooves' to you and I) on all but the extreme edges. What's more, the usual puncture protection belt has been removed to make the tyres even more supple.

These have been proven in top flight time trials, so have a real race-winning pedigree, but that doesn't come cheap - again, keep them for your race wheels or you may have to catch a train home. 

On a similar note, spending all this money on such a fast tyre and either using cheap inner tubes or overfilling them with sealant would be a waste of money and power, so take the time to set them up properly. 

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Best budget road bike tyres

As tubeless technology has proliferated, tyre manufacturers have had to improve their tolerances to achieve the snug fit necessary. This, as well as a drift to more premium products, means a set of top end tyres can cost you in the region of £200/$250. If, understandably, this is simply too much for you to warrant spending on what are consumable parts then fear not, as there are plenty of more wallet friendly options out there that still offer great performance. 

I really love these tyres. I first came across them by accident on a Vitus test bike and they've been a favourite ever since. The uniform tread, combined with a really lovely round profile gives them a super progressive ride quality; there's no sudden change in grip as you go onto the shoulders.

They're fast, too, and grippy, and pretty sturdy. The stats are up there with far more premium tyres, but you can pick these up for around 1/3 the price of top-tier rubber, so if you value a bargain then look no further. 

There are drawbacks, though. I found them a real pain to seat on several different rims, and when I flatted they tended to unseat. They are also not compatible with hookless rims, and only come in narrower widths; none of this modern 32c nonsense!

If they fit your size requirements, though, you're onto a winner. I'd suggest taking a CO2 inflator with you though, as well as a mini pump, as that'll more easily reach the pressures needed to re-seat them in the event of a flat. 

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Best road bike tyres for puncture protection

Given that many of us live in cities, bestrewn as they often are with glass, the odd nail, and other such sharp objects, there are plenty of reasons to want a tyre with better puncture protection. If you're commuting by road bike, or just cant be doing with the faff of fixing a puncture, the following tyres are for you. The trade-off here though is that the tyres are heavier, and less supple, meaning they are ultimately a little slower and feel a little more wooden. 

For years the Gatorskin Hardshell, and latterly the Gator Hardshell from Continental has been the King of the puncture-proof world, but the specs on the new Pirelli Cinturato Velo are impossible to ignore. These have the best puncture protection on the market according to Bicycle Rolling Resistance, and not only that, but they are a few watts faster than the Gator Hardshell too.

These are marketed as a pseudo-touring tyre, with increased lifespan, and a tread that has a little more bite for tackling well-behaved gravel. For my money, they are an excellent commuter tyre, like all in this section, but I'd be happy to fit them if you are undertaking some road bike bikepacking and really can't be doing with dealing with punctures. 

While puncture-resistant tyres are great, they aren't totally immune, but setting them up tubeless will add yet another layer of protection. Having a Kevlar-reinforced casing is great too, but it does make the ride less supple, so if you have the space I recommend going up a size to maintain the same ride quality. 

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Best road bike tyres for winter grip

If you aren't a winter Zwift addict and instead head into the great outdoors you may find yourself craving a little more grip. Wet, cold tarmac doesn't grip like it does when it's hot and dry, and there are a slew of tyre options designed to better cope with this. While it may appear that the greater texture on the tyre tread is to physically grip the road surface this isn't the case. In actuality the grooves, or 'sipes' to use proper terminology, allow the tread to flex more, which warms it up and helps the rubber grip better.

The GP5000 AS TR is a fairly new tyre, and effectively blends the speed and performance of the 'normal' GP5000 with the extra grip of the brand's perennial GP 4 Seasons. It's faster and grippier than the GP 4 Seasons, and it's almost as fast as the standard GP5000 but with added grip.

Winter is also a time when there's more debris on the roads, so the added puncture protection and greater mileage will be a boon there too. In all likelihood, unless you're chasing every last watt or every last gram, these are probably a better bet for the everyday rider, as the improved grip will help you corner with greater confidence, perhaps saving you more time than those few watts.

Like the GP5000 S, these are hookless compatible, and come in widths from 25c all the way to 35c. Where I think these will really shine is in those larger widths for those of you who want to get the absolute most from your all-road and gravel bikes when riding predominantly on the tarmac. 

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How to choose the best road bike tyres for you

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