Slow tyre?

willhub

Hi.

I'm totally miffed here.

Some people report good rolling with these, I've got a 25mm Specialized Armadillo Elite on the back, and to me, even compared to my Vittoria Rubino (with metal bead) that is worn flat it seems slow??

It felt like going up any drags the breaks were on, but they were not since I had the lever pulled all the way.

I had the tyre pumped to 120PSi, same as I do the 23mm Rubinos.

Has anyone tried Armadillo tyres?

slowbike

Yer but obly for the puncture resistance - going to try something else for the next set.

CRAIGO5000

A few mates have Armadillos and they don't rate them. They suffer more punctures while covering less miles than me and I'm running Rubinos too.

I'm too tight to spend more money trying "faster" tyres such a Ultremos etc at the risk of puncturing more.

Hoopdriver

120psi is really high for 25mm tyres by the way

sparkins1972

It's a balancing act I guess - I run Schwalbe Durano Plus which aren't the fastest but are incredibly tough - I won't tell you how many miles I have covered on crap roads without a dreaded flat but I would rather sacrifice a very small % in speed for time spent bent over my rear wheel in the rain - if I am being honest (and I reckon this applies for most amateur cyclists) the engine is more of a problem than the tyres.

willhub

This is really the only time I've thought about maybe a tyre is slowing me down, when I had the worn out Rubino Pro on I was not really noticing anything, and to be honest, I can't really notice much difference between a Rubino Pro, Michelin Krylion, Michelin Pro 2, Pro 3 or even a Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX and Continental Attack Force.

drewduncan

I've just put on Michelin pro 3's from having standard stock tyres. First time out on them today and there is a difference. Roll is smoother and possibly speed very slightly easier to keep as well. What pressure do you guys advise? It's 23mm tyre.

CYCLESPORT1

100psi

DrewDuncan wrote:

I've just put on Michelin pro 3's from having standard stock tyres. First time out on them today and there is a difference. Roll is smoother and possibly speed very slightly easier to keep as well. What pressure do you guys advise? It's 23mm tyre.

racingcondor

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

100psi

DrewDuncan wrote:

I've just put on Michelin pro 3's from having standard stock tyres. First time out on them today and there is a difference. Roll is smoother and possibly speed very slightly easier to keep as well. What pressure do you guys advise? It's 23mm tyre.

Correct pressure depends on a couple of things. Rider weight, road conditions most prominantly. On very smooth roads i tend to run Pro3's at 90 (front) 100 (rear) and I'm 70kg. A heavier rider might want to up those pressues a bit I also tend to drop the pressure by 10psi on poor roads etc.

RoadMeridaBen

willhub wrote:

Hi.

I'm totally miffed here.

Some people report good rolling with these, I've got a 25mm Specialized Armadillo Elite on the back, and to me, even compared to my Vittoria Rubino (with metal bead) that is worn flat it seems slow??

It felt like going up any drags the breaks were on, but they were not since I had the lever pulled all the way.

I had the tyre pumped to 120PSi, same as I do the 23mm Rubinos.

Has anyone tried Armadillo tyres?

I suspect the problem is all in your head, Im using my old wilier racing kevlar that came with my bike a few years ago, and some old vittoria that came with my other 400 quid bike and notice no difference between that and the continental gp4000's. Stop looking for excuses, man up and pedal harder :P

Monty Dog

Armadillos are awful, they're heavy, have poor grip and feel wooden plus they're not brilliant at puncture protection either. My choice of puncture-resistant training tyre is Conti GP 4 Season or for faster rides, Schwalbe Ultremo DD but these do cut up more.