Goodyear Eagle Tubeless Ready tyre

Goodyear's Eagle sits at the top of its latest high-performance road range, straddling the all-round and road race categories of the brochure. They offer good grip and a pleasing ride quality alongside durability and longevity – but they can be tricky to fit.

Check out our guide to the best road bike tyres for more options.

Let's kick off with the fitting, as that's the thing you are going to do first once you've bought your Eagles – and where I had a bit of an issue.

Like most things, the manufacturing process used for creating bicycle tyres isn't exact. There will always be fluctuations, but as long as they are within safe tolerances things should be fine.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that one of the tyres (we were sent a pair) fitted easily onto the rim, while the other was an absolute pig to fit. I'm not talking a bit tight – I mean 'leave it for 24 hours on the rim, and then use heat and washing up liquid while snapping two tyre levers' tight, before I finally got them set up tubeless.

According to Goodyear's website the Eagle can be used with both hooked and hookless rims, and it was the latter I was using.

ETRTO guidelines limit maximum tyre pressures to 72.5psi on tyres used with hookless or TSS (Tubeless Straight Sidewall) rims, to stop the possibility of them blowing off the rims with no hook for the bead to tuck under.

Twice at between 65psi and 70psi the tyre that was easy to fit popped off the rim, which for me is a bit of a concern. Thankfully it happened while I was pumping them up rather than when I was riding. I've inflated many tyres past this pressure when reviewing them and never known them come off the rim.

That said, after the tyre had been seated on the rim for a couple of days and had settled, I could pump it to 70psi without issue. And I had no such problems with the tyre that had been hard to fit.

When used with hooked rims they sat snuggly with the maximum recommended 85psi applied.

Goodyear offers two versions of tubeless tyres in its latest line-up – 'tubeless ready', as these ones are, and 'tubeless complete', as found on higher end Ultra High Performance tyres like the Eagle F1 R, which has a 'multi-compound material layer added to the casing for improved air retention', according to Goodyear.

This tubeless ready Eagle doesn't have that, but I wouldn't say it's an issue. With 50ml of sealant added, the tyres inflated quickly and have really impressed me with how much air they hold onto. There was very little sealant coming through the sidewall when first inflated.

You can also get standard clincher versions if you want to run inner tubes.

These tubeless ready Eagles are available in 25, 28, 30 and 32mm widths, with either black or 'transparent' sidewalls, a kind of dark tan wall. We have the 28mm here, which Goodyear says is designed to work optimally with a 19mm internal rim width.

On the road

When it comes to the ride quality, I rate the Eagles highly. The Dynamic:HP compound is a blend of synthetic and natural rubbers which has a tacky feel right out of the box. It gives a good road feel which helps with feedback, and the tyre as a whole feels much more supple than its 60tpi (threads per inch) casing would have you expect.

I'd say they offer that all-rounder kind of performance. They've stood up well to the elements, meaning you don't have to worry about using them in rubbish weather, but they still have the grip and rolling resistance required to feel fast for more spirited riding.

They have an R:Shield breaker belt for puncture protection, and I presume it has done its job as I had no issues with thorns or grit when riding on wet country lanes, and the tyres look pretty much unmarked.

The only slight downside is the 318g we saw on our scales – they are a bit weightier than most.

Value

The prices of road tyres can be quite eye-watering, but the Eagles are reasonable at £50 each.

That's a fiver more than the Teravail Telegraphs I recently reviewed. Those were also a bit tricky to fit, but have similar qualities to the Eagle in terms of performance and durability.

Giant's Gavia Course 1 is also £45, but in his review, Matt criticised its harsh ride, and it's a bit of a porker weight-wise, so I'd say the Goodyears are worth the extra fiver.

Conclusion

Overall, these ride very nicely, but the fitment issue on hookless rims did leave me feeling a little nervous to start with. Maybe I just got unlucky with a bad tyre. If I was using hooked rims – which, if I'm honest, is my preferred choice at high pressures – I would have had no such issues and would have been impressed with the performance, especially for the money.

Verdict

A few fit issues, but once on they can't be faulted for the money