Vittoria Rubino Tyres

oakins242

I'm in the process of rebuilding my old Raleigh 405 Ti for use through the winter.

I'm on a (very) tight budget and have seen said tyres on wiggle for 16 quid.

That is for a set of two tyres and tubes and seems stupidly cheap to me.

Anyone ever used them, are they any good at all or a waste of cash?

henderson_mk

i have a set of these at home in blue actually.

don't like 'em.

had them on for about two weeks and then came a cropper on a wet morning breaking my wrist so took them off as I'd no confidence in them whatsoever after that.

of course i'm sure some one will come along in a minute and praise them! but even so... I just don't think they grip very well in the wet.

oakins242

Not ideal for the winter then.

Still, dead cheap.

Garybee

I've got them on my training bike, about 6000 miles now and only 4 or 5 pu*****es. I'm sure i'll be regretting saying that on the way home though. I'll be buying exactly the same when i finally wear them out.

henderson_mk

as i thought... someone else had a good experience with them. I think i just lost confidence due to the fall.

i *think* i have mine in the shed somewhere.... have literally seen about 20 miles.
you can have them if you want them for postage costs? (if they're there obviously).

Monty Dog

I bought a couple of pairs a couple of years ago and ran them on my training bikes. I agree about wet weather handling, but there's plenty of other supposed 'winter' tyres with better grip that are just as bad. They are pretty robust and puncture proof - depends what you expect for 8 quid really. Go for 25mm too as it has a bigger air pocket and rides less harshly.

andyp

Your experience, thankfully without the broken wrist, of these henderson_mk, tallies with mine, as I found Rubino Pros have next to no grip in the wet. That apart they are pretty hard wearing tyres. But the cons outweigh the pros for a winter tyre (if you'll excuse the pun!).

pw1brown

I've got a pair. Have done about 1000 miles of fairly gentle cycling with no regrets at all.

oakins242

Sounds like these are ideal if you want to go skittering across the road in the wet.

Maybe I'll give them a miss.

I thought 16 quid might be too good to be true.

OnTow

Monty, would you recommend the Michelin Kryllions for winter use, or something else?

Oakins - My wife's Rubino Pros seem pretty good in the dry, with the added advantage of going up to 145psi (she trains at lower pressure, then we whack it up for race days), though she did say they're a bit slippery in the wet.
P*ncture resistance seems pretty reasonable with the Rubino Pros - Only had 1 last year - riding down a rutted unmetalled track.

henderson_mk

i've actually just stuck on a set of krylions on the winter wheels....
they seem good so far, grippy and fairly tough.

well recommended by others as well.

Lagavulin

I've gone for Krylion Carbons for the winter wheels too.

Done about 3 to 4 hundred miles on them so far and I've been out in some crappy weather on good quality but dirty roads. Decent grip and no cuts (my GP4000's and Mondo Pro's got cut to shreds - albeit without going through the carcass) to date.

Been very impressed with the Fortezza Tricomps on my good wheels. So much so I'm tempted to buy another set to see what they're like in the wet.

pedylan

I wouldn't write the Vittorias off. I bought the same tyres last year (same price and free tubes) and have run them winter and summer. Approx 3000 miles, two p*****res, two sportives and never come off in the wet.

henderson_mk

yeah the krylion's durability was what attracted me to 'em really... after getting my pro race service courses shredded on glass

il_principe

I run Rubino Pro's on my singlespeed, they do seem a bit twitchy in the wet... nearly came a cropper on a greasy drain cover this morning... my GP4000's always handle that particular cover much better. Otherwise seems a good tyre.

Ste_S

I have standard Rubino's on one bike and Rubino Pro's on the other.

No issues with handling in the wet so far

For the people that having problems in the wet, what pressures are you running them at ?

il_principe

120psi, 23mm tyres.

Ste_S

I run around 100psi when riding in wet weather, I'll let a bit of air out if starts to chuck it down If i'm running them any higher at the time.

andyp

I've run 25 mm (although they do seem narrow which is unusual for Vittoria) with somewhere between 5 to 7 bar in them depending on the weather. Even running at 5 bar, which is about 72 psi, they had very little grip when cornering.

I had no confidence in them in the wet so they are in my garage as spares whilst my winter bike is now clad with 25 mm Michelin Krylions.

LeighB

I have use Vittoria Rubinos and found that on the back wheel they had a tendency to get cuts, but on the front were fine. Two of my bikes have them on the front with Schwalbes on the back. No problems with grip as I am quite cautious on wet roads.

Smokin Joe

I used a Rubino on the back last weekend while I was waiting for a replacement Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp to arrive and I found the ride was noticably harsher, the sidewalls on the Rubinos are a bit stiff and the Kevlar band doesn't help either.

royjones

I've got some Vredestein Ricorsa on my comuting bike, they're cheap, have lasted a couple of years and still loads to go and no p*******s. They grip well enough in the winter too. Shop around!

Steve I

No problems with them, got a pair on my road bike with 1200 miles on and no punctures. Before that I had 4000 miles out of a pair of Rubino Pro with 1 puncture.

If the roads are wet, I take it very carefully around corners, hardly banking at all. You just can't see if there's oil or diesel on the road. Particular care is necessary if it's just rained for the first time in a while. The roads will have built up a thin greasy layer. As for metal road furniture, you don't ever want to be going over any of that other than perfectly upright, and that's in the dry, never mind the wet. There's no tyre on this planet that grips in such conditions.