Tyre aid

So, having  had the hybrid bike for 8 - 10 years now, and given the increased amount of use it's getting, maybe, methinks, it's time to treat it (and me) to some new tyres.  It's on the original tyres and I can't fail to notice the fact that although there's a trace of tread, they are now pretty much slicks.  Sometimes cornering can be a little interesting with a weird sensation that the bike and tyre are attempting to part company.  Besides which, my mum bought new tyres, and if she's getting new playthings so am I.

Apparently the days of my youth where you simply went to the Local Bike Shop (back then Bob Addy's cycles, Charter Place, Watford) and bought the only tyres they sold in the size you wanted and slapped them on your bike are gone.  Now, not only have the LBSs disappeared, but they have been replaced on the high street with somewhat more specialist dealers who offer choice and words like "performance" have crept into the tyre market.  Evans, for example, a lovely place where I can spend hours looking at shiny gadgets and studying different kinds of oil is a bewildering blokey place with too much choice and too little information.

When it comes down to it, I thought I knew what I wanted from a tyre.  Tread and robustness were priorities.  Research then in the burgeoning online shops such as Wiggle and ChainReactionCycles then demonstrated to me that I needed to be considering other factors.  Apparently.  Customer reviews were suggesting some tyres were "hard to fit".  Not something I ever thought to be a consideration.  Surely a tyre the right size and three tyre levers used appropriately was a recipe for a trouble free fitting.  Apparently not.  Then there were folding tyres, tyres for winter and tyres for summer (again, Ehh?). 

Not wishing to embarrass myself by seeking commuter bike old burd advice on a cycling website I naturally deviated to the UK Climbing website where there is a friendly helpful section for eager outdoor types who also like to cycle.  The choices are now narrowing down.  Schwalbe Marathons may well be purchased.  Hope they are easy to fit.