Panaracer Agilest TLR Road Tyre

The Panaracer Agilest TLR Folding Road Tyre is confident and predictable even on wet, messy roads, and it's robust enough to handle such winter travails too. Despite this, it's impressively light and feels fast both for acceleration and rolling speed. It's hard to say if it's really the agilest, but it's certainly among the best road bike tyres out there.

> Buy now: Panaracer Agilest TLR Folding Road Tyre for £59.99 from Panaracer

These went on my Mavic rims very easily, only needing a (plastic) lever for the last 20% or so of the second side. The beads then seated using just a regular track pump. Despite this easy fit, they also held air very well right from the first inflation. I found them a little more of a struggle on some carbon rims – I needed the lever for both sides – but it still wasn't bad, and they again seated with just a regular track pump.

Panaracer says these tyres are designed specifically for easy installation on modern rims, which includes hookless designs, and I found nothing to disprove that.

I also ran these tubed, though to be honest found no night and day difference between that and tubeless – at least, not with the pressures only 10-15psi lower without the inner tube. Either way, the ride is good, if neither especially harsh nor exceptionally plush.

If you like crazy-high pressures, though, note the maximum recommended is 95psi. Personally I ended up running them around 70-75psi, though I could probably go 10psi lower if I could just convince myself it wouldn't explode my lungs on a climb...

Smacking them hard into hidden potholes (the tyres, not my lungs) results in a reassuringly pliant response from the sidewalls, and I have no concerns about their strength; some of my local lanes are very rough, and these dealt with what lurks beneath the sodden leaves (like the news, it's nothing good) without complaint.

I didn't think the official info was that clear about what puncture protection these have, so I asked brand manager Blair Morgan – and no, it turns out there are none of the dedicated layers found in the clincher versions, which feature the likes of the 'Tough & Flex Super Belt', the 'Tough & Flex Super Outer Shield' and the 'Protite Belt.'

For this TLR version, Panaracer feels the AX-Alpha Cord casing combined with the airproof layer is thick enough to provide good protection, with any slack being taken up by the sealant. 'It is also very light,' said Morgan, 'allowing the tyre to deform in a way that maximises contact with the road.'

> 9 things they don’t tell you about tubeless tyres

Obviously there's an amount of luck involved, but I never suffered any punctures during the test, despite spending plenty of time not noticing trap-like potholes camouflaged with leaves (at least until my teeth crashed shut), and encountering fairly regular drifts of crap – hedge cuttings, storm debris from the trees, and piles of anything from the fields that will fit (briefly) into a tractor tyre.

There's been no noticeable wear during the test (though five weeks isn't enough for that, really), but more relevantly there's no sign of damage.

As I said, these took some pretty hard hits in the lanes, but the supple yet tough-feeling response from the sidewalls under impact is impressive.

Grip in the wet from the ZSG Agilest compound is also impressive, and even on the worst surfaces – moss under trees, that plastering of soaking leaves and crunchy rural tarmac – I found them confidence inspiring enough for some pretty hard braking into corners, down steep hills and towards tractors. Sometimes all at once.

The rear tyre also found excellent climbing grip on the same terrible surfaces, even up steep hairpins when out of the saddle with my weight, inevitably, shifted away from the back. Obviously they'll let go if you really provoke them, but confidence and feedback are great.

Despite the grip of the new compound (in temperatures no lower than 5°C, anyway, the coldest it got during the test period), the Agilests roll easily and never feel like they're holding you back. (Let me also apologise for writing 'Agilests', in case you don't hate language.)

Are these the agilest tyres ever? I can confidently say no, probably not, I dunno, maybe? But actually, no. No, they're not. But they steer and handle very well, with no strange quirks and a rounded profile that means the the front never feels like it's falling into corners. They spin up under acceleration easily, too. If you want a really twitchy feel you probably need something with a more triangular cross-section.

The profile is apparently more rounded than the Race series tyres that the Agilests (sorry again) have replaced, though that's more to fit better with today's wider rims than to influence steering response. They shaped up very neatly on my 19mm inner diameter/22mm OD rims, with a nice smooth transition that's no doubt aero enough to make me a stage winner (nope).

Our 28mm versions aired up to exactly 28mm, something I frankly found so weird I had to measure it again. They also come in 25mm and 30mm widths, and in another blow to cycling clichés, ours weighed slightly less than claimed: 245g each instead of 250g. What is the world coming to? Don't answer that.

Value

At £59.99 these are par for the course when it comes to premium tubeless tyres. The Specialized S-Works Turbo 2BR 2Bliss Ready T2/T5 scored very highly in our test, for instance (if not as highly as in Scrabble) and is £55, while the 250g Vittoria Corsa N.Ext is £64.99 and excellent, according to Aaron's review.

Conclusion

Overall, these are lovely tyres – light and fast, confidence inspiring even on bad roads, tough enough to cope with winter, and easy to get onto modern rims. They also then sit with a very nice profile. If you're looking at premium rubber and happy to pay for it, they should have a place on your list.

Verdict

Confident and predictable yet light and fast – plus they're tough enough for winter roads