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 tubeless 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 to 65psi of the other tyres I had on 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.
How we tested
We put 12 tubed and tubeless clincher 28mm road tyres head-to-head to see which you should spend your money on.
28mm is considered the sweet-spot width for rolling speed, comfort and weight, with wider tyres offering lower rolling resistance and more traction. Even though they’re heavier and less aero than 23mm tyres, for example, the positives can outweigh the negatives, especially over long-distance cyclists.
Tyres are an easy upgrade, too, and add more comfort to your ride with a greater volume of air between you and rough roads.
- Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lite TLR 28mm
- Cadex Race
- Challenge Paris-Roubaix TLR Vulcanized 27mm
- Continental Grand Prix 5000 clincher
- Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL 28mm
- Goodyear Eagle F1 Tubeless
- Michelin Power Road Clincher
- Pirelli P Zero Race TLR 28mm
- Schwalbe Pro One TLE
- Specialized S-Works Turbo
- Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0
Product
| Brand | hutchinson |
| Price | 72.00 AUD,49.00 EUR,41.00 GBP,49.00 USD |
Features
| br_TPI | 127 |
