Gatorskin or 4Season

MattC59

What's the difference ?

The amount of sh*te on the roads this winter seems rediculous, so I want to fit some more sturdy rubber than my Veloflexes. The above mentioned seem to be favorites on here, but what are the differences, other than 10g ?

Cheers............ M

marcusjb

From my experiences, they ride pretty much the same (I think, theoretically, the 4 Season is a grippier compound, but I've never really lost traction on either), but 4 Seasons definitely stand up against p***tures much better.

For the extra few pounds, I'd go with 4 Seasons personally - they're a great tyre for mile-munching.

There also the Gatorskin Hardshell - I've not ridden it, so can't really comment on it's performance, but it may be worth looking at as well.

markhewitt1978

The GP4Season is definitely a comfy ride compared with my GP4000S - both 23mm.

smidsy

General opinion of the Gatorskins seems low (there is a thread on here somewhere) but I have run Gatorskin Hardshells for 2 years and found them to be very acceptable, hard wearing, comfortable enough (25mm) and very resiliant against unintentional flattening :-)

They are a littly nervy in the wet, but it is wet so you ride accordingly.

ugo.santalucia

I have used many continental tyres over the years, but looking back they are really nothing special.
The Gatorskin are a reinforced version of their budget model, with a belt around the sidewalls that prevents damage and that's pretty much the only thing that stands out. Puncture protection is in line with other 'hard" tyres with a kevlar or nylon belt. They do wear out pretty fast and after an initial cut-free period, they start cutting like crazy and puncturing as a result. They square after about 2 K miles, at least the rear does.
Grip is below average and you really need to go to 28 size and 70-80 PSI to get a bit of confidence in cornering on wet surface.
If you want a purely winter tyre, I think a Vittoria Randonneur (all sizes, I think) does the job better and the PRO version (only available as 32 and above) also feels a hell of a lot better

Never tried the 4Season, but they are quite a tight fit, as I recall fitting some

markhewitt1978

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Never tried the 4Season, but they are quite a tight fit, as I recall fitting some

My thumbs agree.

snipsnap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Never tried the 4Season, but they are quite a tight fit, as I recall fitting some

yes thay are - jeeeez!

good tyre though, the 4 seasons. put about 3k miles on mine and they're still running fine.

MattC59

Opinion seems to favor the 4Season over the Gatorskin, but does anyone have any experience of the Grand Prix GT ?

Cheers......... M

plumpy

What Ugo said. Got dumped on a wet corner by Gatorskins when I tried them, you will have to take my word for it that I don't regularly slide the bike around.

Ou sont les Michelin Krylion Carbons d'antan? As Villon would have said if he'd been a cyclist. Perfect winter road tyre, I wish I had laid in a stock of them before Michelin axed them.

Bozman

I've put 4 Seasons on my winter wheels and I've done a couple of hundred miles on them up to now, I've found that they have the feel on the road of a non folding tyre and I took a while for me to feel confident on them, but the grip seems fine.
The only real issue is that they are a right b**tard to fit which worries me because I don't fancy getting a puncture at all, usually a puncture wouldn't bother me but I've had to use steel tyre levers to get them on when I generally use my thumbs or plastic levers.

slowbike

Never had a problem getting 4season 23mm on to a wheel ...

Guanajuato

I've been running the same pair of gatorskins since I had a spate of punctures about 4 years back on the stock cheapies. I've had a few pinch flats, but no cuts on the tyres at all. My mileage probably isn't as high as many on here, but given the time I've been riding, they've done somewhere around 5k miles and don't look any more worn than when they were new.
They are hard to mount onto my wheels - I end up using levers to remount. Grip in the wet doesn't inspire confidence. However, I'm not too sure any tyre would grip too well on a 20% downhill hairpin covered in wet leaves, gravel, potholes, cow pats & red diesel. :-/

dnwhite88

4 seasons practically fell onto my rims.....must've got very lucky! :shock:

Wirral_paul

as another option - how about Schwalbe Durano's?? Anyone ridden these and Conti 4 Seasons that can compare?? C+ certainly rate the Durano's higher in the mag this month

Bordersroadie

I use both 4 Seasons and Gatorskins.

4 seasons: lighter, nicer ride, better grip, faster maybe, BUT... thin treaded and not great protection against punctures and cutting especially on wet roads, and they're expensive.

Gatorskin: still a very nice ride (25c), superior puncture protection (just look at the thickness of the tread compared to the super-thin GP4S for a start), cheaper, BUT... not as grippy on wet roads.

For winter night riding I want puncture protection above all else so I've just got some Gator Hardshell folding - who cares if they are a little harder riding/not as grippy/slightly heavier?

When I'm replacing yet another tube on my GP4S on a cold winter night miles from home I'm never thinking "Oh, I'm so glad these tyres are lighter, faster rolling and more grippy".

I love the GP4S but if puncture resistance is a priority, get the Gators. Both go onto Mavic Open Pro or Ambrosio Excellight rims easily enough even with cold, wet, numb fingers.

The problem with heavy duty types like the Vittoria Randonneur or Schwalbe Durano Plus or Marathon Plus is that they are very very hard to get on a rim (I know, I've tried) and why should one accept that sort of shortcoming on a remote dark cold winter road? With numb hands and a rapidly reducing body temperature you could be in real trouble since realistically you may fail to refit the tyre. To me it is ludicrous that such tyres can be recommended at all, for that reason alone.

markhewitt1978

GP4000S just literally pushed onto my rims without any fuss, no problem at all.

With GP 4 Seasons, they were extremely tight, all the force from my thumbs couldn't do it, I ended up having to push it on with a tyre lever, risking damaging the tyre. My thumbs were hurting for a good 24 hours after! I did wonder if it was because I was putting them on RS10s as opposed to the RS80s I normally run, but from the above it seems the it's the tyre not the rim.

antfly

Don't forget open paves, a winter tyre that rolls as fast as a summer tyre.

MattC59

antfly wrote:

Don't forget open paves, a winter tyre that rolls as fast as a summer tyre.

That was my other thought !!

A pair of 4Seasons is about £60, a pair of Open Paves is about £64, so they're on the short list.

marcusjb

Open Paves are very fast for sure. They are nice and grippy as well and give a great ride. They don't last particularly long and cut really, really easily compared to GP4S.

I tried them for this season - they were fun whilst they lasted.

smidsy

I also used Durano S for a short time. They were nicer to ride than the Gatorskins but cut up easy and the side walls started to lose thread so I used them on the turbo before binning them.

antfly

My open paves from last winter are still fine, one of them has been on for a lot longer with only winter use.

slowbike

The sidewalls of the GP4season are quite thin and I've had a puncture/slashed sidewall after riding over some debris - so that and the fact that they're 2500 miles old are the reasons why they're currently hanging up on the wall ...

careful

Used Gatorskins for quite a while until I realised how slippery they can be especially on cold, wet days (due to hard rubber I guess. I was getting wheelspin when ascending out of the saddle; my mates had no problems - using GP4S.
I like GP4s apart from the price, very grippy and reassuring. The name is right - they are a great all-year tyre.
Currently using Durano which seem to be equally good but less money. I have Durano plus on my hack/shopping bike, these give a hard ride and are a bit hard to fit due to the extra thick puncture resistant strip.
Never had a serious problem fitting the folding versions of any of the others, and once they have been ridden for while they are all easy so I wouldnt worry about the puncture/tyre lever problem.

47p2

Just back from a 31 mile cycle, I left home with dry weather forecast, sadly 8 miles out the rain started. Out in the sticks on country roads and the farmer had cut his hawthorn hedge. I'm in the middle of nowhere, rain, mist and with a thorn in my tyre and the twig rattling off the mudguard, so I pull into the side when its safe to do so and remove the twig but the thorn is well embedded into the rubber and it isn't for coming out. I really don't have any desire to get the spanners out (no QR wheels on the S/S) and repair a puncture so I dig out what I can and complete another 18 miles and make it home. The tyre in question is a Gatorskin, can't say a bad word about them and have never felt them slip in the wet.

turnerjohn

Bordersroadie wrote:

Gatorskin: still a very nice ride (25c), superior puncture protection (just look at the thickness of the tread compared to the super-thin GP4S for a start), cheaper, BUT... not as grippy on wet roads.

For winter night riding I want puncture protection above all else so I've just got some Gator Hardshell folding - who cares if they are a little harder riding/not as grippy/slightly heavier?

When I'm replacing yet another tube on my GP4S on a cold winter night miles from home I'm never thinking "Oh, I'm so glad these tyres are lighter, faster rolling and more grippy".

I love the GP4S but if puncture resistance is a priority, get the Gators.

Exactly what I was going to say !

Kimble

big fan of the gp4000s, have done lots of rides and bar being punctured on the day I bought them (very disappointing that, horrendous road conditions (last Christmas), piece of flint) haven't had a bother with them since in approx 5 k miles.

Gatorskin (25mm) buckets of grip but still not as confidence inspiring as the 23c 4000s and disappointingly have had more punctures i.e. at least 2 in approx 2k (glass ridden) miles... also seem to be wearing rapidly / squaring as mentioned earlier in the thread. still much much better than budget tyres which seemed to puncture every second day.

davem399

I am running a pair of 28mm 4 seasons on my winter bike. Just one puncture in almost 2000 miles, and still plenty of life left in them. They also went onto the rims quite easily. They will be on the short list when looking for replacements, providing the price is not too extravagant.

andrew_s

markhewitt1978 wrote:

With GP 4 Seasons, they were extremely tight, all the force from my thumbs couldn't do it, I ended up having to push it on with a tyre lever, risking damaging the tyre. My thumbs were hurting for a good 24 hours after!

dnwhite88 wrote:

4 seasons practically fell onto my rims.....must've got very lucky! :shock:

I've found that GP4S are variable - anything between falling off the rim if only one side is fitted, up to taking over an hour at home with the replacement of velox rim tape by extra thin tape and the use of steel tyre levers and a bead jack. That was on the same rim,so it must have been the tyre that varied. I left the tight tyre inflated at 160psi for several months before I dared take it out on the road.

kajjal

I use 4 seasons and they are fine for grip in the wet and puncture resistance. On my ride this evening for a couple of miles the farmer had cut the hedgerows , I dodged the big bits on the road but didn't get any punctures. Mine are too tight to fit by hand but fine with plastic tyre leavers.

redvee

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Never tried the 4Season, but they are quite a tight fit, as I recall fitting some

Down to rim/tyre combo. I had a snakebite on my 4season and removal/refit wasn't hard, two tyre levers and off it came.

KINGGARY

I changed from gatorskins to 4seasons last year and wont be changing back.
The 4 seasons are a far better ride at 25mm than the gatorskins and just as puncture resistant, they are in my opinion a far more more supple tyre and soak up road buzz to a greater extent.
I have just replaced my rear after riding through it at 3k miles with no punctures.