HUTCHINSON FUSION 5 PERFORMANCE 11STORM

£40.49 A good price for a tyre that’ll see you through the winter

WEIGHT 292g per tyre

Many moons ago Hutchinson, along with Shimano, pioneered tubeless road tyres and this legacy shows in the latest Fusion 5 Performance 11Storm. It’s an extremely good tubeless tyre with easy installation and grippy behaviour.

The tyres feature a 127 TPI casing design (TPI means threads per inch. The higher the count the more supple the casing; a low thread count will lack grip and comfort) and an 11Storm rubber compound claimed by independent tests to be superior to the company’s previous offering with a softer compound than previous models.

The tyres are easy to fit with no tyre levers needed to ease them onto the test wheels. A slurp of sealant and a burst of track pump resulted in swift inflation. Air retention is good. They’re not as tolerant of lower pressures as some, though, and I found it wise to stay above the 74psi minimum pressure that is stipulated by Hutchinson.

Despite running higher than the 60-65psi of other tyres in this test, the overwhelming sensation on my local roads was one of a tyre able to deform over imperfections and deliver a silky smoothness. They don’t feel as fast as some but the clock suggested no loss of time over familiar routes. Comfort and traction define the performance of the tyre. These stick to the road in the wet, affording confident cornering speeds. Durability is an impressive trait and they coped well with some dirty roads. When tyres can cost a fortune, the Fusion 5s are refreshingly affordable too.

Durability is an impressive trait and they didn’t shy away from some dirty roads