winter road tyres

jongrubb

Hi,
So, i have had 3 punctures this week and clearly need to sort out my tyres.
I ride a Trek 1.2 with Bontrager T1 tyres, the ones it came with.
Ive only been riding 7 months and this is my first winter on 2 wheels.
My research tells me to go for continental GatorSkin but the question is, which ones?
My ride daily ride is 25 miles in total from Surrey into Central London.
Any thoughts, experience and advice would be great.
Thank you in advance.

antsmithmk

Gators are very good. I put them on a previous road bike and never had a flat. Specialised Roubaix tyres are also good.

KINGGARY

I used to ride gatorskins but swapped to conti 4 seasons last year. They ride a lot nicer in my opinion as they are more supple and grip better in poor conditions.
I have just replaced my rear one after 3500 miles and no punctures.

markynulty

Another vote for gp4 seasons. Amazing grip in nearly all weathers and almost as fast as the gp4000s I use in summer. Great puncture resistance as well. I run a 23 on the front and a 25 on the back.

kajjal

KINGGARY wrote:

I used to ride gatorskins but swapped to conti 4 seasons last year. They ride a lot nicer in my opinion as they are more supple and grip better in poor conditions.
I have just replaced my rear one after 3500 miles and no punctures.

I would agree with this as my conti 4 seasons have been great so far with no grip problems. You may want to get the wider versions of the tyre if they will fit your bike as it will cushion you more from the road.

teebs_123

Kajjal wrote:

KINGGARY wrote:

I used to ride gatorskins but swapped to conti 4 seasons last year. They ride a lot nicer in my opinion as they are more supple and grip better in poor conditions.
I have just replaced my rear one after 3500 miles and no punctures.

I would agree with this as my conti 4 seasons have been great so far with no grip problems. You may want to get the wider versions of the tyre if they will fit your bike as it will cushion you more from the road.

Agree with all the above regards 4 Seasons. Did 3,000 on mine with no punctures and I've just put a set of 25mm on my new winter bike. I found Gatorskins horrible in comparison.

keef66

Bit of a GP 4 Seasons fan club developing. I run them in 25mm flavour year round. Got 4000 miles out of the rear and 5000 from the front on my last pair and replaced them with the same. 4 punctures in 6 years; two were self-inflicted pinch flats and one was a thorn like a javelin through the sidewall of the tyre, so no complaints from me.

moonshine

i use vittorie corsa evo CX on my good biles (TT and road race) in the summer and have hade great sucsess with 25mm Bontrager Race Lite Hardcases on my fixed commuter / winter training bike over the past few years. I struggle to remember the last puncture i've had on the Bonty's and i do a lot of miles. Plus they last for ages.
They are not the most inspiring ride, but i'd happly trade off feel for reliability and puncture resistance on my commuter and in the winter... flats are no fun!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bon ... e-ec001737 - you can get them cheaper, but for illustration purposes

buckles

moonshine wrote:

i use vittorie corsa evo CX on my good biles (TT and road race) in the summer and have hade great sucsess with 25mm Bontrager Race Lite Hardcases on my fixed commuter / winter training bike over the past few years. I struggle to remember the last puncture i've had on the Bonty's and i do a lot of miles. Plus they last for ages.
They are not the most inspiring ride, but i'd happly trade off feel for reliability and puncture resistance on my commuter and in the winter... flats are no fun!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bon ... e-ec001737 - you can get them cheaper, but for illustration purposes

I love these tyres. Would certainly recommend them.

Initialised

antsmithmk wrote:

Gators are very good. I put them on a previous road bike and never had a flat. Specialised Roubaix tyres also good.

I don't know about the Roubaix but the Specialized Espoir range are very durable, 4000miles before the rear wore out on the Sport 28mm, a total of three punctures between them. What really impressed me are some of the teeth I pulled out of them that didn't make it through the Blackbeltl. So impressed that I replaced with 23mm Elites, both have very good wet grip but for winter they feel a bit less surefooted than the 28mms.

arran77

Just about to order a set of specialized all condition armadillo's myself.

slowbike

arran77 wrote:

Just about to order a set of specialized all condition armadillo's myself.

Not impressed with those - lasted just 1000 miles before the punctures started. Binned them in favour of the go 4 seasons in the end

macleod113

my choice for winter came to budget. i couldnt justify £50+

found a pair of Vittoria rubino pro 3's for £32 so am tryin them this winter and see how i go.

i've had them on a week and they seem to be fine. no problem getting through the soaking roads so far

Apollonius

I am getting used to a pair of Bontrager Racelites after trashing both my much-loved Panaracers on a strip of sharp metal a fortnight ago. The Panaracers are a superb ride and have a good degree of puncture resistance. On the other hand, as is well-known, they have very thin and delicate sidewalls.

The Bontragers were easy to fit and seem very robust. I was attracted to the claims that they resist snakebite punctures as being rather too close to 100kg for comfort, my bikes are prone to these. (It is the rider, not the bikes, weighing in at 100kg, by the way, though all my bikes are old steel.) The ride seems a bit "dead" by comparison, though they are not, in theory, all that much heavier. After 200 miles or so in present conditions, which round these parts means flooded roads, mud and hedge-cutting, they seem pretty good.

rickeverett

MacLeod113 wrote:

my choice for winter came to budget. i couldnt justify £50+

found a pair of Vittoria rubino pro 3's for £32 so am tryin them this winter and see how i go.

i've had them on a week and they seem to be fine. no problem getting through the soaking roads so far

I have had Rubino Pros on Last Winter and through the Summer until this week. They are fantastic on dry smooth roads but they used to loose traction and spin up when putting the power down on hills - mainly in the wet or damp.
Changed after nearly coming off last weekend when the rear decided to loose grip again. They have done so since day 1.

Found they are light and roll OK but are quite hard.

Moved to GP4000s and they are in a whole different world. I was the same about expensive tyres but to me the difference was huge. - more comfortable and float across the tarmac too.

lewiskinch

Schwalbe Duranos aren't a bad option either

speedo

I would recommend Bontrager Racelite Hardcase Tyres as Buckles - always run with these on my bikes.
Fitted on my Trek Domane 6.2 , vitually no punctures.
J.E James are currently selling these for £ 13.99 a bargain

Moonbiker

Interesting what you say about rubinos as thats what i have, & find them ok but not tried any other expensive tyres as a comparison with them though.

Was thinking trying Vredestein Fortezza TriComp in 25mm, shame they only do 25mm tyres in single colour though I like the choice of colours with the rubinos.

Anonymous

Bontrager, hardcase, race lite. Best Tyre I've ever used.

DesB3rd

specialized all condition armadillo's

Went from these (25mm) to the same in Gatorskins; the Conti's aren't a superb ride but they're soooo much nicer than the leaden Armadillos - though not quite a resistant to glass/stone penetrations.

LegendLust

lewiskinch wrote:

Schwalbe Duranos aren't a bad option either

^^^ These

I wouldn't touch Conti Gatorskins ever again - they're treacherous in the wet