Mile Munching Training tyre?

benneally

Looking for a mile munching training tyre for the winter.

Needs to be highly puncture resistant, grippy in wet, and as fast rolling as possible...

Looking at the Specialized All condition pro 2, or the Continental Ultra Gator Skin. Anyone got any advice on these, recomendations?

Cheers guys.

da goose

Gators are big mile eaters grip pretty good and only ever punctured once (was a hedgehog??) another factor is how easy/hard some tyres are to get of wheels in cold wet training days, gators are fairly good imo,depending how deep rims are.

doyler78

I don't do different tyres for different seasons but then I don't have problems with punctures. 2 in 6 years and both were totally preventable (running straight through broken glass and running straight into a big lump of stone). I don't go for slow puncture resistant tyres either I go simply with good rollers that cope admirably with the roads I ride on (which is a mix of country - read stone sprayed back roads and main urban roads).

andy162

+1 for Conti Gators.

Lagavulin

Michelin Krylion Carbons. Vittoria Open-Paves. The Paves are class.
Haven't tried Conti's winter boots though.

ut_och_cykla

I run Conti 4 seasons - good for Swedish autmns/spring/summer and even a little gravel. 25mm for added snakebite protection/comfyness.

Bronzie

Lagavulin wrote:

Michelin Krylion Carbons.

I didn't get on with them well at all - poor wet grip and cut to shreds pretty quickly.

The Vittoria Evo Paves are ace, but expensive.

Slimbods

Conti Gators here, been running them all year on the training bike. Only one flat, and that was a pinch flat from a pot hole, not the tyres fault. Not the lightest tyre, but who needs the lightest tyre on a winter/training bike?

gazer

haave you thoght about specialized armadillo's? the downside is that they are 25c but have a fairly low rollong resistance i even time trailed on them and they are extremely puncture resistant as i have checked and picked numerous pieces of glass out of the tyres and their still good

cheers Gareth

benneally

Yeah i thought about them, but the 25c put me off.

I currently run Schwalbe Blizzards. Havent had any punctures, but havent ridden them for long (got given a set not long ago). Will they last/are they any good? Worth getting a set of contis?

chrisw12

doyler78 wrote:

I don't do different tyres for different seasons but then I don't have problems with punctures. 2 in 6 years and both were totally preventable (running straight through broken glass and running straight into a big lump of stone). I don't go for slow puncture resistant tyres either I go simply with good rollers that cope admirably with the roads I ride on (which is a mix of country - read stone sprayed back roads and main urban roads).

+1

Pro race 3 for me all year round and race on. Life is way to short for sh.. tyres. Beats me why people spend lots of money on frames and wheels and groupos then put rubbish tyres on to avoid punctures or save a tiny bit of money.

The punctures I've had in 3ish years have mainly been caused by hitting potholes and stones. In fact I've had more punctures due to inner tubes failing at the valve.

da goose

Thinking about it i run conti 4 seasons now and really can`t fault them no punctures (yet) wearing great pretty light and very supple ride as good tpi count.
:roll:

dave35

Pro race 3's for me aswell, agree with the above about kit. Always puzzled me that we have a real crap winter/training bike when it's the bike you probably spend the most time ridng so you might aswell have something nice to ride.

Slimbods

I'm happy riding my crappy bike on hard wearing tyres for training. Makes the times I get my racing/sunday bike out that much more of a treat

cookiemonster

my call is the GP 4 Seasons in 25mm (though 23mm is fine too)

pro race 3's and gp4000s dont have sufficient puncture protection for crappy flinty lanes north of london or london roads afters the rain has washed all the crap onto the streets. If they dont puncture they get seriously cut up in no time. Great though the rest of the time (I use pr3's now, but i dont think there's a difference between them)

vittoria paves are stunningly grippy, but are a true race tyre - even less protection than the pr3's and gp4000s and get cut to pieces on london and surrounding areas roads. For flanders or roubaix though, there's no contest

the spesh armadillos and GP gatorskins arent "performance enough" in that you feel the slowness as soon as you're cycling with a group. Also, I found them lacking in grip in the wet. The 4 seasons are a step up in speed and wet grippyness.

Just my opinion; but one formed from standing in the rain repairing multiple punctures or swearing at a crap purchase

keef66

I've had 25mm Conti 4 seasons on my bike from new. 2 years and 2 winters later there's a bit of wear on the rear and the front still looks new. Total punctures = 1, and that due to a thorn that would've gone through anything. Well impressed!

freehub

keef66 wrote:

I've had 25mm Conti 4 seasons on my bike from new. 2 years and 2 winters later there's a bit of wear on the rear and the front still looks new. Total punctures = 1, and that due to a thorn that would've gone through anything. Well impressed!

How many miles do you do? A tyre would usually last about 6 months for me.

I've being using Rubino Pro 3's (150TPi), much better than Krylions, unfortunately had to bin the front one as it has a cut in it that has cut the threads.

keef66

I don't keep count, but nowhere near as many as you. Job / wife / kids / dog etc restrict me to maybe 3 hours a week.

My consumption of microwaved Mars bars is probably lower too.

chrisw12

So by that argument the best, most puncture resistant tyres are the cheap ones on my wife's bike. She's had 0 punctures in 8 years! How impressive is that?



She's only used the bike 4 times though.

Lady Venom

open paves. i love mine so much. been riding them all summer on crappy hampshire roads. worth every penny.

freehub

I bet Open Paves would crumble under the crap on the roads in the Yorkshire Dales, oh yes oh yes.




Oh and my consumption of microwaved Mars Bar is nill now until l I am a student again.

hopper1

I use Conti Gatorskins on my training/Winter wheels... No problems in almost 2 years.
I use my training/Winter wheels to race on, too, complete with Gatorskins! They roll quick enough for me, in all but TT's, then I change to a Pro 3 Race!

Gatorskins is all you need... Ever!