Winter Tyres

relanium
relanium Posts: 487
edited December 2009 in Road buying advice
I need some advice on a pair of good winter tyres which are:-
Low rolling resistance
Lightweight
Good puncture protection
Good in all weather conditions

Cheers.

Comments

  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    Flick through the last few pages of this section, there's plenty of posts addressing this...
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • cswebbo
    cswebbo Posts: 220
    You are expecting too much from one tyre with those requirements!

    For winter i recommend Continental 4 Seasons (not the cheaper gatorskin). They are not a 'fast' tyre though.
    Might be worth considering Michelin prorace 3 grip?
  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    Not asking for too much, just asking for a higher end tyre. Vittoria Open Paves tick all those boxes. Great tyre. Should be few deals around on the 290tpi version too.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Depends where you ride.

    If I was to do most of my riding in North Wales (rather blunt debris, v. little glass), Open Paves would be my top choice, last winter I used Open Corsas.

    As I currently do a lot of riding around Manchester/Cheshire/Peaks, I use Michelin Krylion carbons for their extra bombproofness and resistance to glass.
    I like bikes...

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  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    You could always buy the new Conti Gatorskin at a wallet-busting £31 or the Open Paves at an even more eye-wateringly expensive £42 - there was a time when training tyres were cheap and consumable, because as we all know, you can trash a tyre on one ride if you're unlucky.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • JamesB
    JamesB Posts: 1,184
    Deda Grintas 23mm seem OK, at £9.99 f :D rom LBS (but sadly last one!) :cry: , Chevron tread, reasonably light and puncture resistsnt too
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I'm still a fan of the Conti GP4000s - what weather conditions do we get in winter that we dont get in Summer ? Outside of snow and ice and I dont ride then anyway.
  • relanium
    relanium Posts: 487
    Ive gone for these as my choice of tyre....
    Continental Grand Prix 4 Season DuraSkin Vectran Tyre, their an expensive tyre but ive read so many good reviews about these for winter tyres.
  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    Conti GP 4 seasons on mine, as from today.

    Michelin Krylion Carbon are a good all year bet if youi want one set and less hassle.

    You can't buy the ideal winter tyre, as another poster has said, as everyone wants the same performance as summer! You have to make sacrifices on speed, for durability.

    From your list, try the Krylions as they will last through when it brightens up, with no change needed. I see too many here wanting speed, when they havn't the fitness or the bike to make race tyres the "real" answer.

    If you were a real racer, you'd not have to ask and would have several tyres.
  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    JamesBwmb wrote:
    Deda Grintas 23mm seem OK, at £9.99 f :D rom LBS (but sadly last one!) :cry: , Chevron tread, reasonably light and puncture resistsnt too

    Not as puncture resistant as the Continental GP 4 Seasons, and the treads don't seem to have lasted as long. Just put my older GP 4 S's back on to replace the Grintas that were standard issue on my Condor Agio.
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • APIII
    APIII Posts: 2,010
    cougie wrote:
    I'm still a fan of the Conti GP4000s - what weather conditions do we get in winter that we dont get in Summer ? Outside of snow and ice and I dont ride then anyway.

    +1. Not quite as nice a ride as Vittorias, but I've never had any issues with them in winter.
  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    In winter you get much more water on the road, and with it far more grit and dirt.

    Much more.
  • APIII
    APIII Posts: 2,010
    Yeah, but dirt and grit don't give you punctures.
  • onthefells
    onthefells Posts: 157
    I use Conti GP 4 seasonss and they are good. However those open paves look nice...anybody had experience of using both and if so is there any difference in the 'puncture proofness'?

    cheers
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    onthefells wrote:
    I use Conti GP 4 seasonss and they are good. However those open paves look nice...anybody had experience of using both and if so is there any difference in the 'puncture proofness'?

    cheers

    I don't understand why anyone would want to trash £70-worth of Open Paves over the winter months.

    I'm running GP4 seasons, but only because I got a pair for £40. If I was buying new winter tyres now, I would probably go for Vittoria Rubinos for about £12 each...
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Suitability of tyres depends a lot where you ride - my regular routes on smaller country roads suffer from razor-sharp flints that only the likes of Scwalbe Marathon Pluses are impervious too - but they are heavy and dead. I like Michelin Krylions, particularly 25mm as they offer good grip and feel but admittedly less puncture resistance. For my regular traininig routes, you'd be lucky for a GP4000 to last one ride. I have some GP4 Seasons too which are pretty tough, but don't feel as fast as the Krylions. As a previous poster stated, experienced cyclists generally get to know what works in their areas so may be worth speaking to your LBS. Fortunately, by January when serious training rides begin most numpties have worked out that race tyres are pretty useless in winter.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Tail end Charlie
    Tail end Charlie Posts: 352
    Bontrager Race Lite hard cases. £15.

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