Puncture resistant but grippy tyres for road racing

buckles

Not going to be racing any time soon due to long term injury, however, when you get two punctures in three seasons it feels a lot worse than it sounds, especially when you're stood at the side of the road after having burnt 75 miles worth of petrol you've left your spare inner tube in the car which is parked at the HQ about 10 miles away and the neutral service car has driven past because they didn't spot you because despite holding your hand up in the air for a few seconds and shouting 'PUNCTURE' you were unable to flag them down and get a spare wheel because your eyes started stinging as soon as you stopped moving. Anyway, so I reckon I've punctured in more than 5% of road races I've ridden. That's way too much. I'm after a tyre I can use on the road, that has plenty of grip on wet or dry road, but I just don't want any more punctures. Don't care about weight or longevity, just grip and puncture resistance. Have searched forums and by the looks of it you can have EITHER a grippy, lightweight tyre with minimal puncture resistance, OR a very puncture resistant tyre with durable tread that's not as grippy as a pure race tyre. Currently using Schwalbe UltremoZX HD for racing and Bontrager Race Lite Hard Case for training. Something with Ultremo-like grip but Bontrager-like punctureproofness would be great. Kindly point me in the right direction.

meursault

Conti 4 season?

Just guessing, as I have never been near to racing in my life.

maryka

Don't think there is such a thing.

The very compounds that make tires puncture-resistant also make them fairly slippy imo. Some are really bad (Conti Gatorskins) some not so bad (Conti GP 4000). Utremos and Michelin ProRaces are nice and grippy but they cut up pretty easily.

Personally I ride Pro Race 3 or 4 on all my road bikes, all season, all weather, all purposes. But I religiously check my tires before every ride and pick out all bits of stone, flint, etc. And I don't weigh much and I "ride light", inflating them to 90-100psi. Not sure you have the option that I have, but you can probably be better about checking tires for crap before rides/races. Most people don't do that very well.

owenlars

Have a look through this lot as you are already a Schwalbe user.

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/road-race/

buckles

owenlars wrote:

Have a look through this lot as you are already a Schwalbe user.

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/road-race/

I have already considered the Ultremo DD, but was looking for recommendations from people who have actually used a particular tyre.

Just remembered I've actually had three punctures; two rear tyre pinch flats after hitting pot holes I could have avoided or absorbed the impact better. The third was in the front which deflated slowly, suggesting glass / flint / thorn, but in that particular race half the field punctured anyway...

majormantra

GP4000S seems have a good grip/protection trade-off. They aren't as supple as posh Italian tissue paper tyres but they ride far better than hosepipes like the Gatorskin.

Any tyre will pinch flat though, and if you exclude those 2 instances then haven't you only had one foreign object type puncture? It happens!

cycleclinic

Gator skins maybe be hose pipes and the hardshell version which I am currently using are worse but at least they are tough. I have got tired of 4 season being slashed/holed by the crap on the roads in suffolk.

Other upside though 23mm 4000s tyres mounted on 25mm wide rim come up at 26mm and give a ride quality approching that of a vittoria Pave tub. So that is my choice.

shockedsoshocked

The Conti GP4000s are pretty good. Rode some nasty crits in the pissing rain and never had an issue. Only puncture I've gotten on the was a huge cut in the tyre. Don't know what I'd ran over but I don't think any other tyre would have survived anyway.

okgo

GP4000S for me.

I rode a race in which literally 70% of the field punctured (a race that involved some off road!) and I was fine on them. The only flat I've had in two seasons of racing most weekends is through a pinch flat.

Tom Dean

The extra strength of GP4Seasons far is well worth the minimal extra weight compared to 4000S's IMO. They don't feel quite as good but who is buying Contis for the feel?

But,

Buckles wrote:

Just remembered I've actually had three punctures; two rear tyre pinch flats after hitting pot holes I could have avoided or absorbed the impact better. The third was in the front which deflated slowly, suggesting glass / flint / thorn, but in that particular race half the field punctured anyway...

...it doesn't sound like you actually have a problem with your tyres.

buckles

I know, rational thought says it's just down to chance

But it is a serious pain in the behind when it happens. The possibility of it happening again is always in the back of my mind... I'd feel a lot less worry if I had a tyre I knew was less likely to puncture

sub55

TUBS

DeVlaeminck

Always ridden ProRace or Vittoria OpenCorsa CX and never punctured in a race but using them elsewhere the ProRace are definitely more puncture resistant but obviously as a race tyre they aren't going to be the toughest.

If you want to go further then 4 seasons are meant to be good, I know a first cat who swore by these, riding longer races he argued punctures were more likely and as he was having to travel further to races like you he didn't want to DNF due to a puncture. I think there is an endurance version of the ProRace that might do a similar job - it's a replacement for the Michelin Krylion which I found to be pretty tough as a sort of fast summer training tyre.

racingcondor

GP4000S or Pro4 should be more than enough to survive road racing.

Since you seem to have problems pinch flatting though you might want to look a 25mm on the rear with just enough pressure in it that you stop pinch flats (or 10psi more in your current tyres).

It's also worth asking yourself if you spend a lot of the time racing in the gutter, if you do you'll raise your chance of hitting a pothole and it's more likely that you'll pick up sharp things from the side of the road. There is some truth in people saying 'tyres don't punchture, people do', what you need to do is find the tyre that's durable enough for how you ride.

buckles

Indeed, I always try to stay to the right now and have never had a puncture when doing so

ju5t1n

For the last few years I've used Vittoria CX, Michelin Pro Race and Conti GP 4000s and found the Vittorias give the nicest ride, the Pro Race have the best grip and the GP4000s last the longest.

But I was reading in a US cycling mag about the new Spesh 2014 S-Works Turbo 24mm – the reviewer was raving about them so I'm going to ggive them ago.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Thin ... _3982.html



Has anyone here tried them?

oldhairylegs

okgo wrote:

GP4000S for me.

I rode a race in which literally 70% of the field punctured (a race that involved some off road!) and I was fine on them. The only flat I've had in two seasons of racing most weekends is through a pinch flat.

^This.

GP4000S give an excellent combination of good grip (esp in the wet), pretty low rolling resistance and decent puncture protection.

Bet that race was the Surrey League thrash round Parham Park in August?
Great course for a race, but when it's wet, it sure is a massive puncture fest!

alihisgreat

I use GP4000s most of the year....

okgo

Yes it was parham park

DiscoBoy

Buckles wrote:

owenlars wrote:

Have a look through this lot as you are already a Schwalbe user.

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/road-race/

I have already considered the Ultremo DD, but was looking for recommendations from people who have actually used a particular tyre.

Just remembered I've actually had three punctures; two rear tyre pinch flats after hitting pot holes I could have avoided or absorbed the impact better. The third was in the front which deflated slowly, suggesting glass / flint / thorn, but in that particular race half the field punctured anyway...

Tubular a or latex tyres. Job jobbed.

buckles

DiscoBoy wrote:

Tubular a or latex tyres. Job jobbed.

I didn't know latex tyres could available

DiscoBoy

Buckles wrote:

DiscoBoy wrote:

Tubular a or latex tyres. Job jobbed.

I didn't know latex tyres could available

Tubular tyres (with latex tubes, could be regarded as latex tyres ) or latex tubes in your clinchers.

Or just pump your tyres up properly and stop riding into potholes

FransJacques

MajorMantra wrote:

GP4000S ...ride far better than hosepipes like the Gatorskin.

Thanks for saying that. NOTHING rides as poorly as a Gatorskin. (well, Marathons are not great shakes either) And b/c the durometer of the rubber is high they're not so grippy.

I've had very good luck with Ultremo ZXs the last 2 years, save for 1 very wet race at Hog Hill where everything was puncturing. Even the winner crossed the line with a flat.

Aside from that 1 race, the only issue I've had was a thorn puncture on a Mich Pro4 Endurance which was a surprise. They're supposed to be more robust than the Pro4 which is what I had on the front at the time. Basically it's a crap shoot on UK roads so you may as well ride a good performing tyre like an Ultremo.

For the record I've tried 4000 and 4000s and find them noticeably slower (which is saying something b/c I'm not a sensitive rider) and poorer-riding too. But a lot of guys on my team swear by then so you cannot go too far wrong.

They're 5-6 years old now so I'm rather surprised Conti have not come out with a replacement. Probably too much R&D spent on the scramble into first 29ers then 650c tyres. That must have been a nightmare for tyre producers...

izza

ju5t1n wrote:

For the last few years I've used Vittoria CX, Michelin Pro Race and Conti GP 4000s and found the Vittorias give the nicest ride, the Pro Race have the best grip and the GP4000s last the longest.

But I was reading in a US cycling mag about the new Spesh 2014 S-Works Turbo 24mm – the reviewer was raving about them so I'm going to ggive them ago.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Thin ... _3982.html



Has anyone here tried them?

I have those on my winter wheels and have found them really good. Grippy and (touch wood, so far) puncture resistant.

I do switch to Schwalbe Ultremo's in the summer but only as they feel a tiny bit more livelier and I am a sucker for the friends' shouts of "let's sprint to the sign".

racingcondor

I've been lucky enough to get away with Pro4's at Hog Hill. Even survived a race like the one above where from a field of 55 only 17 finished... Heavy rain and that flinty soil makes for some interesting races there...

FransJacques

It was the 26th of Jan this year. Maybe you were in it. Absolute abortion of a race. One guy on Veloflex tubs made it around ok. Good for him otherwise that'd have been an expensive day out.

BTW: Velofex clinchers + UK roads = not great. They feel like a million bucks until they puncture. Or in my case, a stone severed the rear sidewall. The front is now safely on my track bike far away from public roads.

Strith

I've raced nearly all of the year on vredestein fortezza tricomp quattros with latex tubes, no punctures. Nothing special to report though, felt much the same as gp4000s I raced on before them.
I even did a couple of crits on some schwalbe luganos when I had nothing else, and they had plenty of grip for wet weather crit cornering.

buckles

Schwalbe must have changed the Lugano compound since I last used them. Zero grip in the wet. Cornering downhill at around 10mph (possibly even less as I was taking it really easy) barely leant into the corner and still slid around more than a blob of oil in a Teflon™ frying pan

Strith

They're not the best, but you'd be surprised how much grip most tyres have when you can ride smoothly and you're on a relatively clean circuit like hillingdon.

pippi_langsamer-2

Michelin Pro4 Endurance.

I'm still being amazed by these tyres. I have them on my winter and summer bikes and have had not one puncture in two years. That is a lot to do with luck, but also the fact these tyres just do not cut up!

Grippy too. If I still raced, I'd spec these on any race wheel- their longevity far outweighs any slight weight penalty.