Quality lightweight road tyre
This competition is now closed
By Simon von Bromley
Published:
The Panaracer Agilest TLR is the latest high-performance road bike tyre from the Japanese brand.
It pairs a thin, slick tread designed for low rolling resistance with a relatively supple, 120 TPI (threads per inch) tubeless-ready casing.
Despite this, Panaracer claims the Agilest TLR offers good durability and puncture resistance, and is therefore suitable for racers and non-racers alike.
With an RRP of £59.99, it’s also competitively priced compared to some of the best tubeless road tyres, such as the Continental GP5000 S TR (£69.95), Schwalbe Pro One TLE (£68.49) and Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR (£64.99).
Overall, though not the outright fastest option available, the Agilest TLR nevertheless impresses as a lightweight, all-round road bike tyre.
The Panaracer Agilest TLR is available in three sizes; 700 x 25c, 700 x 28c and 700 x 30c.
Designed in accordance with the latest ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) standards, the Agilest TLR is compatible with both hooked and hookless rims.
On the scales, the Agilest TLR impresses at only 243g per tyre.
That’s around 60g lighter than the Pirelli P Zero Race TLR (299g) and Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR (302g).
It’s also lighter than the Continental GP5000 S TR (280.6g) and Schwalbe Pro One TLE (264g).
Weight isn’t everything, of course, but with tyres it does tend to correlate roughly with performance.
As tyres get lighter, they tend to exhibit lower rolling resistance. This is due to the fact there’s less material to cause hysteresis (energy loss due to distortion of the tyre while riding).
Of course, less material in the tyre sidewalls and tread also typically means lower puncture resistance, too, so there’s a balance to be struck.
In terms of looks, the Agilest TLR is only available in black with purple and red branding.
Disappointingly, a tan-wall tubeless version isn’t available, despite it being an option for the clincher tyre.
With its hookless-compatible, tubeless-ready bead, the Agilest TLR was a tight fit on both a Giant SLR 1 42 Disc wheelset (which has hookless rims and a 19mm internal rim width) and a Hunt 54 Aerodynamicist Carbon Disc wheelset (hooked, 21mm internal width).
With good technique, though, I was able to install the tyres tubeless on both sets of rims by hand.
Once on, I was then able to seat the beads using a track pump, by removing the valve core and applying some soapy water to the tyre bead and rim.
Installing the Agilest TLR with inner tubes on the narrower Giant rims was substantially harder, however, and required the use of tyre levers to coax the final part of the bead over the rim.
In fairness, that’s not unusual with tubeless tyres. They are, after all, designed primarily for use without inner tubes.
Designed around a 19mm internal rim width, the 700 x 28c Agilest TLR measured up slightly narrower at 27.8mm wide on the Giant SLR 1 42 Disc wheels (at 72.5psi / 5bar – the maximum permitted pressure on hookless rims).
On the wider Hunt rims, though, they plumped up a little further to 29mm wide, when inflated to 90psi / 6.2bar for my indoor roller testing.
Out on the road, the Agilest TLR feels every bit a premium road tyre.
The lightweight, supple casing and lack of a puncture protection belt (which can often stiffen a tyre up somewhat) lends a ride feel with commendable comfort and grip.
This gave me plenty of confidence when cornering, even on wet roads.
I found the limit of that grip on a steep, grimy climb, where I had some wheel-slip when climbing out of the saddle. That isn’t unusual on this particular stretch of road, however, and redistributing my weight more carefully prevented it from happening again.
Despite the lack of a protection belt and testing during winter, I didn’t suffer any punctures.
As always with lightweight road tyres designed to maximise speed and grip, though, it pays to be realistic about what they’re capable of.
The scales don’t lie and, in the hand, the Agilest TLRs feel noticeably thin and flexible, especially around the tread.
If you’re the type of road cyclist who likes to take the occasional excursion onto gravel tracks or towpaths, I don’t think this is the tyre for you (nor is it designed to be).
As I’ve noted before, my current benchmark road tubeless tyre is Continental’s GP5000 S TR.
Testing indoors on my rollers indicated the Agilest TLR is a strong performer, though not quite on a par with the GP5000 S TR, requiring 7.35 watts more power (on average, per pair of tyres) to ride at 45kph, measured over a series of intervals.
Both sets of tyres were set up with latex inner tubes on the Hunt wheels mentioned earlier, and inflated to 90psi / 6.2bar, on my Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 2.
I used a Giant RideSense speed sensor to track my speed and distance, and a Verve InfoCrank Classic power meter paired to a Garmin Edge 830 bike computer to track all of the data.
Given the time of year and resulting cold, wet and inconsistent weather conditions, it wasn’t possible to find a suitable day for comparative testing outside versus the GP5000 S TR.
Considering the Agilest TLR performed almost identically to the Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR on the rollers (relative to the GP5000 S TR), though, I’d expect them to perform similarly on the road too – not the fastest available, but not too far off either.
That would tally with how they felt on the road during my general testing.
Though not the fastest road bike tyre available, the Panaracer Agilest TLR otherwise offers impressive performance across the board at a good price.
The relatively thin casing and lack of a dedicated puncture belt arguably reduce its versatility somewhat, but the payback comes in terms of its low weight, good ride feel and performance on the road.
This is a compromise many high-end road bike tyres make, so it’s always worth deciding exactly what balance of characteristics suits your riding best.
Considering Panaracer offers it for the Agilest clincher and some of its gravel tyres, such as the GravelKing SK TLC, a tan-wall tubeless option would also be nice to have.
That is, admittedly, a minor grumble in the grand scheme of things, though.
Senior technical writer
Simon von Bromley is a senior technical writer for BikeRadar.com. Simon joined BikeRadar in 2020, but has been riding bikes all his life, and racing road and time trial bikes for over a decade. As a person of little physical talent, he has a keen interest in any tech which can help him ride faster and is obsessed with the tiniest details. Simon writes reviews and features on power meters, smart trainers, aerodynamic bikes and kit, and nerdy topics like chain lubricants, tyres and pro bike tech. Simon also makes regular appearances on the BikeRadar Podcast and BikeRadar’s YouTube channel. Before joining BikeRadar, Simon was a freelance writer and photographer, with work published on BikeRadar.com, Cyclingnews.com and in CyclingPlus magazine. You can follow Simon on Twitter or Instagram.
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