Vittoria Rubino Pro tyres.

DCI Gene Hunt

Im in two minds as to whether I should pick up a set of Continental Gatorskins for the dreaded winter season to come, but Ive seen lovely looking rubino pro`s with red colouring to match some of the colour on my bike. Can I ask the board if the rubinos ride any better than the gators and are they as puncture resistant ?

letap73

Bought the pro tech in 28mm size - slightly disappointed in the ride as I was expecting a lot, however, for me they ride not quite as well as the Conti GP4000s in 23mm size. The pro tech is however much cheaper to be fair.

keezx

Ride good but slippery on the wet, so nothing for the winter.....

meanredspider

I've used them for the last 3 or 4 years and they are my most favoured all-round tyre. People complain about the grip though I've never found this to be an issue. Get the Tech version if you're concerned. And, yes, much better than Gators

paul1000

Did a highside Valentino Rossi would have been proud of on rubino 3's, still on my winter bike though.

Moonbiker

I run them all year round as the seemed a good balance between price & performance & durabilty & being relatively fast rolling.

Back wheel skidded out on a corner once, but the road was covered in green algae & wet leaves & I was going too fast & tyres were at 110psi in the 23mm size so I probably can't really blame it on the tyres.

Today I have just ridden 30 miles along hawthorn thorn covered country lanes (its hegde cutting time here) & managed somehow not to get a puncture.

chemicalviking

Love them , been riding them for a few months now first ride was an 80 mile sportive . I've got 23mm version run at 100 psi comfy and roll well. I won't be changing them in the winter either .

iron-clover

I have a pair of Rubino Pro 2's that came with my TT bike in March, and have seen a fair bit of use in TTs and also about a month of general use on my regular bike and they've been reasonably good. I used them when it was damp quite a lot on the road bike, and I can't say they were any worse than Gatorskins grip wise (but still not as good as a real racing tyre), and I haven't found any cuts on them yet.

I would possibly opt for 25C versions if you can find them- my 23C pair seemed to come up narrow compared with the Conti tyres so you'll probably appreciate the extra volume for running them at lower pressures during really bad conditions for the extra grip.

GGBiker

Too many people including myself have experienced a frightening lack of grip with these tyres in the wet, don't buy them unless you want a little downtime on your local fracture ward. If there were a safety standard for bike tyre performance these would fail miserably. I've had rear wheel spinning on climbs and front wheel sliding out on a roundabout riding with a group where nobody else had any issues, definitely the tyre at fault.

Continental 4 seasons proved just flawless for me all of last winter, even did some racing on them on days when the weather was bad and didn't want to use the "good bike". Can't recommend them highly enough.

Brailsford Bad

Gators are better.

bendip

http://goo.gl/OrnA9X

£9.99 delivered 23mm only..previously posted in the bargains section..love em, bought two pairs, came quickly and in their proper packaging.

meanredspider

GGBiker wrote:

Too many people including myself have experienced a frightening lack of grip with these tyres in the wet, don't buy them unless you want a little downtime on your local fracture ward. If there were a safety standard for bike tyre performance these would fail miserably. I've had rear wheel spinning on climbs and front wheel sliding out on a roundabout riding with a group where nobody else had any issues, definitely the tyre at fault.

It's strange - I've done thousands and thousands of miles of long rural commutes (and other rides) in all weathers on these tyres and not had a hint of these issues. The same goes for many others. I can't deny though that there are some who don't trust them. I'd love to know what the difference is. I don't know if it's the lighter riders not generating the contact pressures or that some of us are just more circumspect in dodgy conditions. I'm far from slow nor am I timid (I've hit nearly 60mph in the damp on Rubino Pros in the Cairngorms - that's how much I trust them) so I just don't quite get where the difference in view is coming from because these threads always throw up a split. As I say, there's a Tech version with more wet grip but I've never felt the need to buy it. I'm very happy with the standard Pro

rolf_f

Indeed MRS. That's ultimately the problem with Rubino Pros. I, as one who has had the misfortune to come off my Rubino Pro shod bike whilst riding in a straight line on a straight road at a sedate and constant speed am one of many who find them scary (at least in some conditions eg this time of year - slimy leaf mould etc) yet it is all too obvious that others find them fine. Both must be right - therefore there is a gamble in purchasing Rubino Pros. Good if you are lucky, bad if you aren't.
My feeling is that grip is not just down to the tyre but also the road surface and the composition of the muck on that surface - and if that is the case, Rubino Pros are just far more sensitive to those circumstances than other tyres.
Personally, I would take any advice to use Rubino Pros with a big pinch of salt unless the advisor happened to be riding in roughly the same area as me.
In the meantime, I find the Schwalbe Durano a far less frightening product!

PS - coloured tyres don't look good! And perform worse!

meanredspider

It does raise a bit of a paradox, though, Rolf. How do you know that the tyres that work well for you, like the Duranos, are any good on another surface?

Whilst I don't claim to have ridden everywhere, I have ridden the Rubinos in a lot of places (the length of Ireland, N Holland, the Ardennes, big swathes of Scotland, big chunks of East Anglia) and not even had a moment (except on ice one frozen morning when I risked the road bike rather than the MTB on Ice Spikers). It's very odd.

GGBiker

meanredspider wrote:

It does raise a bit of a paradox, though, Rolf. How do you know that the tyres that work well for you, like the Duranos, are any good on another surface?

Whilst I don't claim to have ridden everywhere, I have ridden the Rubinos in a lot of places (the length of Ireland, N Holland, the Ardennes, big swathes of Scotland, big chunks of East Anglia) and not even had a moment (except on ice one frozen morning when I risked the road bike rather than the MTB on Ice Spikers). It's very odd.

It's interesting, what pressures do you run and waft weight are you?

I would be running 100psi in 23mm rubinos, weighed 65kg at the time of my adventures with them. Riding on wet roads, in that uk way where they get wet in October and stay that way mostly until about April.

meanredspider

GGBiker wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

It does raise a bit of a paradox, though, Rolf. How do you know that the tyres that work well for you, like the Duranos, are any good on another surface?

Whilst I don't claim to have ridden everywhere, I have ridden the Rubinos in a lot of places (the length of Ireland, N Holland, the Ardennes, big swathes of Scotland, big chunks of East Anglia) and not even had a moment (except on ice one frozen morning when I risked the road bike rather than the MTB on Ice Spikers). It's very odd.

It's interesting, what pressures do you run and waft weight are you?

I would be running 100psi in 23mm rubinos, weighed 65kg at the time of my adventures with them. Riding on wet roads, in that uk way where they get wet in October and stay that way mostly until about April.

I run 25C at circa 110-120psi. I'm 85kg. Most of my riding was done in the Highlands - a mixture of surfaces and a fair bit of farm crap (mud and, yes, crap) in places. The Highlands being the Highlands, the conditions are rarely warm but not a wet as some people expect. On the plus side, and this might be a clue, is that there's not much traffic and therefore not much diesel and other oily deposits. Maybe it's this that the Rubino is poor on??

rolf_f

meanredspider wrote:

It does raise a bit of a paradox, though, Rolf. How do you know that the tyres that work well for you, like the Duranos, are any good on another surface?

I don't - but the difference with Duranos is that nobody seems to question their grip so I find it reasonable to assume that there isn't a similar problem with them (nor any other tyre as far as I have noticed on here). This oddity seems to be purely related to the Rubino Pro and curious it certainly is.

On a personal level, if it was just me I'd be happy to blame myself for their scariness but it isn't.

I've not given up on them for what it is worth. They are sat waiting on my scrappy Khamsins and will be back on the road when a) I've got round to replacing the freehub bearings on those wheels and b) the dead leaves have safely gone for the year and the surfaces are a little bit less Rubino unfriendly.

In the mean time, I am ordering a nice pair of Durano S Etape - Tour de Yorkshire special edition!

Edit - another thought MRS. How many pairs have you used? ie how big is your sample set? It could be that, given Vittoria can't even be relied to get the lengths of their tyres consistent, maybe the tyre compound itself isn't consistent. Hence some tyres genuinely are good and some are genuinely lethal. In that case, there would be no geographical performance variation expected.

meanredspider

Rolf F wrote:

Edit - another thought MRS. How many pairs have you used? ie how big is your sample set? It could be that, given Vittoria can't even be relied to get the lengths of their tyres consistent, maybe the tyre compound itself isn't consistent. Hence some tyres genuinely are good and some are genuinely lethal. In that case, there would be no geographical performance variation expected.

I've been through a few pairs - based on having a few bikes and also because they're pretty cheap (any damage and I swap it for a new one). I only ever use black 25C.

bigmat

Another here who has issues with their grip. They seem to really suffer in damp, dirty conditions. If its proper raining they aren't so bad, and fine in the dry. I wonder if the tread is prone to picking up dirt or something. FWIW they aren't as bad in my experience as the wired Rubbinos. I have also found grip to be lacking on Vittoria Diamante tyres I would say they were just a poor tyre for wet conditions if it wasn't for the Paves which get excellent reviews.

For all of that, I rode them throughout last winter and will probably do the same this year - I can deal with the occasionally slip and can just ride to their weaknesses as long as I know what might be coming!

kim10

I too have had bad experiences with grip from Vittoria Pro, so no longer use them at all. You mentioned that you were considering them as they had a red strip that would match your bike. Have you considered the Michelin Pro4 Endurance as they come with different colors including red. I used these for the whole winter last year and can't fault them at all and I think they will last this winter as well.

djaeggi

I agree with meanredspider - I'm a regular Rubino Pro user and don't have any issues with them. For their toughness and ride quality (much better than any conti I've ridden) their wet grip is fine and they're a great all-rounder. Actually, I think the Pro4 Endurance is a better all round bet (they feel a little more secure in the wet, and the extra volume gives better ride characteristics), but the 25mm version measures closer to 27mm and doesn't fit one of my bikes, so I use Rubino Pros on one, Pro4 Endurance on the other (25mm both, the rubino pro is true to size). No drama either way.

Can I suggest another factor in this, though? Generally, when people have an off in winter, they'll go, "sheesh, what was that all about", and there may well be a number of factors: diesel; leaves; rubber; inappropriate pressure; inappropriate speed. So, they might google "X tyres poor grip"... maybe at some point in the past, someone reported "poor grip" and this is now seized on (as opposed to it not being the tyres fault and there just being diesel on the road or whatever!) and the tyres develop a (possibly unwarranted, and seeded by a single poor report) reputation for poor wet grip. Which isn't to cast doubt on peoples experiences - there is value in the wisdom of crowds but people do also look for confirmation of their experiences, so there's possibly also a herding thing going on too. An idea gains traction and is perpetuated by people quoting secondhand experience.

Put another way, if I have an off, it'll generally be because of something on the road or me going too fast/doing something stupid in the saddle. I think the differences in rubber are generally a second-order effect and there's far more safety margin to be gained by getting the first-order things right (fit wider rubber, drop pressures - I note everyone talking about coloured tyres can only be using 23mm, which is the obvious thing to fix if you're talking about winter tyre grip). Which is not to say that there aren't differences between tyres: as I said, I think the Pro4 endurance is grippier than the Rubino Pro; I've personally had terrible experiences with Gatorskins, which is also due to the poor ride quality (and have seen others come a cropper on these on group rides, all going round the same bend at roughly the same speed!); as far as race rubber is concerned, it's very clear that the older Corsas suffered in the wet compared to other similar tyres.

Anyway, that's the only way I can square my personal experiences with the negative reports!

thegreatdivide

I have to agree with the above. If you're losing wheels on wet leaves or spinning the back on wet climbs that's rider error, not tyres. The latter is simply unbalanced weight on the wheels.

I rode two really shi**y winters on 23mm Rubino Pro 3's then moved up to 28mm Pro Tech's last winter when I built a bike that could take proper mudguards. I've never had a single issue with any of them. They're superb.

alan_sherman

From person experience the Rubino Pros are seriously slippy in the wet. I even came off last week as the front washed out. I've had rear wheel spin going up dark hill in Richmond Park.

The open evo CXs are better but I don't trust them in the wet either. Michelin Pro races (whatever the number) do not slip in the same conditions, neither a conti race I also used.

The Rubino pros do last a long time though. And they are cheap. I won't buy them again though.

rolf_f

thegreatdivide wrote:

I have to agree with the above..

You can agree with it all you like but you are wrong. Unless you are saying that everyone who can't handle a bike, buys Rubino Pros, then your opinion fails to take into account that it is only Rubino Pros that seem to generate this response on forum threads. It's not as though the people having the problems seem to have them with other brands - I certainly haven't though I've mostly used Duranos for winter riding.

djaeggi wrote:

.....maybe at some point in the past, someone reported "poor grip" and this is now seized on (as opposed to it not being the tyres fault and there just being diesel on the road or whatever!) and the tyres develop a (possibly unwarranted, and seeded by a single poor report) reputation for poor wet grip. Which isn't to cast doubt on peoples experiences - there is value in the wisdom of crowds but people do also look for confirmation of their experiences, so there's possibly also a herding thing going on too. An idea gains traction and is perpetuated by people quoting secondhand experience.

You need to actually read the thread! There are a good seven people on this thread who have serious concerns based on personal experience and six who don't find them slippery at all. If this was a thread on a car forum asking for advice about a particular car and half the owners responded by saying that they had had unexpected brake failures then I suspect not many people would be keen to recommend them even if their experience had been fine.

And really, it is a bit insulting and irrelevant to blame rider error. Maybe all the folk who like Rubino Pros do have bike handling skills that make Danny Macaskill look incompentent (and I salute your marvellous skills) but the point is, us humble slightly cack handed incompetents* have no problem handling bikes fitted with other brands of tyres. There is a problem with the Rubino Pro - that is a fact. Not everybody experiences this problem - that is also a fact. If we could just remember this, the thread could be a lot shorter!

*And I should point out that in approaching 50,000 miles of cycling in all weathers, it's only the Rubinos that have scared me. Occasionally I have scared myself but I can tell the difference between my own incompetence and that of the tyre.

meanredspider

To be fair, Rolf, you can't use the number of people responding to a thread with a title like this as a fair sample of opinion. Everybody who has had a bad experience will leap on it. I know it's not the be all and end all of quality (after all, my bête noir of tyres, the GP4000S tops the list) but the Rubino Pro gets pretty well reviewed on Wiggle. If it was the widow maker it is painted to be on here, it wouldn't rate that highly after 500 reviews.

There's definitely some characteristic of the tyre that some people have experienced - I'd love to know what it is because I've had absolutely no hint of it. I don't think it's as simple as "in the wet". It may be that on certain greasy surfaces (diesel, oil, leaves etc) it performs less well than some other tyres but I have no proof of that even.

kangarouge

I have used Rubinos for several years and really like them but recently changed to Continental Grand Prix 4000S. They're a little more expensive but I think a little better, (puncture resistance and grip). I certainly think the Rubinos are good value.

meanredspider

Kangarouge wrote:

I have used Rubinos for several years and really like them but recently changed to Continental Grand Prix 4000S. They're a little more expensive but I think a little better, (puncture resistance and grip). I certainly think the Rubinos are good value.

And that kinda proves the point. Whenever (and wherever) I ride GP4KSs in the wet I get one or more punctures. Apart from stupidly large shards of glass, I never get flats in the Rubinos. I've given up on GP4KSs a bit like several folk on here have given up on Rubinos.

Moonbiker

Maybe a certain colour of rubber is less grippy?

rollemynot

I have done 3000 trouble free miles on my second pair and 5000 on the first set,and Perthshire can be pretty wet at times. I would say they need run in for the first 3 - 500 miles before they feel their best.

rickeverett

Had Rubisho Pros and moved to GP4000S.

To the person who said spinning up and lack of grip is rider error - thats a negative. My GP4000S have never done this on the same power climbs in the same damp road. Rubino Pros are heavy, uncomfortable and lack grip - especially in comparison to the Continentals.

meanredspider

rickeverett wrote:

Rubino Pros are heavy...... in comparison to the Continentals.

A quick Google took me to the Chain Reaction site that suggested that the Rubinos are a massive 5g heavier. I didn't think I could tell the difference either in my hand or on the bike - and now I know I can't