Race Tyres

fcukwit · April 2014

Sorry if this has been done, checked search but that came back with all sorts of boll#cks...

Raced on GP4000s last season and got on well with them. I split a couple of almost new ones in a few races (just luck, as I had trained on previous gp 4000s for well over a season). Just went on Wiggle to get a new set and noticed that the new ones 4000 II s are extortionately expensive for what looks like no real difference. I know the old 4000s can still be had, but it got me thinking about trying some different tyres, strictly for racing. Anyone used the PRO 4, as they can be had for about £45 a pair and seem to have good reviews? Or any others I should look at testing? I race circuits but mainly road, most of which are the usual UK crap surfaces.

adamleech · April 2014

I raced last year on on Schwarble Ultremo ZX 23mm on Mavic Kysrium Equipe's no punctures or worries. Stuck some Conti 4000 s 25's for winter and raced down at Brighton on them and they went fine. Have just upgraded wheels to the Shamal Ultra's as my race wheels and gone for tubs. Not decided what tubs I'll use though yet. I'd return to the Schwarbles though if this helps?

antfly · April 2014

Very happy with my pro 4 on the front, it corners very well, with conti on the back {I think contis roll slightly faster} but if it was for racing maybe try the pro4 comp.

okgo · April 2014

Stick with the gp4000 I reckon, it really is a great all round tyre that you can depend on.

LegendLust · April 2014

Get some Veloflex open tubulars for racing

okgo · April 2014

Why?

You can't win a race if you don't get to the finish, veloflex (I bought some but decided not to bother) are very thin, and I wouldn't think you'd get long out of them on british roads in the wet etc.

charlie_potatoes · April 2014

How about a pair of GP attack2/force2?
Just had a pair delivered from Germany for 59quid

markos1963 · April 2014

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

fcukwit · April 2014

cheers for all the suggestions fellas

LegendLust · April 2014

okgo wrote:

Why?

You can't win a race if you don't get to the finish, veloflex (I bought some but decided not to bother) are very thin, and I wouldn't think you'd get long out of them on british roads in the wet etc.

Well you should have bothered. I race on their tubs and train on their open tubulars, I admit I opted for their more 'robust' choices but have only suffered one puncture in 2 seasons. And wear rate is pretty good.

racingcondor · April 2014

Go with the Pro4. I used them for a while and they grip well wet or dry, give a slightly better ride than the Conti and punture resistance seems to be up there with the GP4000S.

Much as I love the ride on Vittoria and Veloflex I wouldn't expect them to last in the wet on UK roads.

okgo · April 2014

markos1963 wrote:

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

Again though, not very robust and outright dangerous in the wet. Really awful in the wet.

DeVlaeminck · April 2014

I had a pair of Vittoria Open Corsa something or other, gum wall, they were fragile but I couldn't have any complaints about the grip. I don't think you can go wrong with ProRace though, good mixture of grip, low rolling resistance and reasonably long lasting for a race tyre.

The only one I'd avoid is the Schwalbe Ultremo.

Pross · April 2014

okgo wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

Again though, not very robust and outright dangerous in the wet. Really awful in the wet.

Really? I've used mine for 12 months, all weathers, racing, training and commuting. They've done about 3,000 miles and look virtually brand new and I've never had a visit from the fairy despite weighing over 80kg and riding typical GB roads. I may have just got lucky as it's the first pair I've owned but they have been far more durable than the Pro 3s I used previously. As for the wet, I've never had a problem, they've been no worse than the Pro 3s or any other tyre I've used in the last 25 years. I reckon with a lot of products someone makes a comment about them online and it gets treated as gospel.

charvildave · April 2014

Guys, any thoughts on Continental Ultrasports please? Looking for cheap but decent set of racing/training tyres for my 17 year old son as furnishing the ever burgeoning sets of wheels is becoming a little expensive...

Dark prince · April 2014

Had veloflex clinchers last year for racing..very fast tyre and very grippy...downside is they were worn out after 1000 mls,opted for the schwalbe zx this year,so far very good.

okgo · April 2014

Pross wrote:

okgo wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

Again though, not very robust and outright dangerous in the wet. Really awful in the wet.

Really? I've used mine for 12 months, all weathers, racing, training and commuting. They've done about 3,000 miles and look virtually brand new and I've never had a visit from the fairy despite weighing over 80kg and riding typical GB roads. I may have just got lucky as it's the first pair I've owned but they have been far more durable than the Pro 3s I used previously. As for the wet, I've never had a problem, they've been no worse than the Pro 3s or any other tyre I've used in the last 25 years. I reckon with a lot of products someone makes a comment about them online and it gets treated as gospel.

I've ridden them at speed in the wet. They're no good. It's also popular opinion because many others have found it to be true. 3000 miles and they look brand new LOL I can only assume that is a joke. They start cutting after a few hundred miles from what I've seen. I'm in no rush to get another set.

okgo · April 2014

charvildave wrote:

Guys, any thoughts on Continental Ultrasports please? Looking for cheap but decent set of racing/training tyres for my 17 year old son as furnishing the ever burgeoning sets of wheels is becoming a little expensive...

Crap.

Vittoria rubino pro slick are fairly good all round and not too expensive. I've raced tight crit circuits on them without issue in corners.

LegendLust · April 2014

okgo wrote:

charvildave wrote:

Guys, any thoughts on Continental Ultrasports please? Looking for cheap but decent set of racing/training tyres for my 17 year old son as furnishing the ever burgeoning sets of wheels is becoming a little expensive...

Crap.

Vittoria rubino pro slick are fairly good all round and not too expensive. I've raced tight crit circuits on them without issue in corners.

How many tyres have you used in your 2 seasons of racing? Cos you seem to get through a lot

okgo · April 2014

I have 3 bikes, and race two of them, and on English roads. I get through lots of tyres - I've been riding for 4 or so years I didn't start racing the day I got a road bike. Off the top of my head I think I've used 9 different types of tyre since I started riding and that includes training and commuting tyres - Including the two I've given a opinion on above so I think I'm qualified to comment.

DeVlaeminck · April 2014

okgo wrote:

charvildave wrote:

Guys, any thoughts on Continental Ultrasports please? Looking for cheap but decent set of racing/training tyres for my 17 year old son as furnishing the ever burgeoning sets of wheels is becoming a little expensive...

Crap.

Vittoria rubino pro slick are fairly good all round and not too expensive. I've raced tight crit circuits on them without issue in corners.

Well it's all subjective but I binned a pair before they were worn out (which admittedly looked like it would take a lot of miles) because the grip was so bad in greasy conditions - I would rather race on gatorskins than a pair of ProSlicks.

Ultrasport are OK as a cheap race tyre, not very long lasting or tough but fairly grippy.

edit - turns out mine were Ultra Race not Ultra Sport

markos1963 · April 2014

charvildave wrote:

Guys, any thoughts on Continental Ultrasports please? Looking for cheap but decent set of racing/training tyres for my 17 year old son as furnishing the ever burgeoning sets of wheels is becoming a little expensive...

Very poor tyres and certainly not good enough for racing. Look around for any cheap deals on older quality tyres( i.e. 2013 stock when the 2014 model is released)

markos1963 · April 2014

okgo wrote:

Pross wrote:

okgo wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

Again though, not very robust and outright dangerous in the wet. Really awful in the wet.

Really? I've used mine for 12 months, all weathers, racing, training and commuting. They've done about 3,000 miles and look virtually brand new and I've never had a visit from the fairy despite weighing over 80kg and riding typical GB roads. I may have just got lucky as it's the first pair I've owned but they have been far more durable than the Pro 3s I used previously. As for the wet, I've never had a problem, they've been no worse than the Pro 3s or any other tyre I've used in the last 25 years. I reckon with a lot of products someone makes a comment about them online and it gets treated as gospel.

I've ridden them at speed in the wet. They're no good. It's also popular opinion because many others have found it to be true. 3000 miles and they look brand new LOL I can only assume that is a joke. They start cutting after a few hundred miles from what I've seen. I'm in no rush to get another set.

Well I raced the LMTT yesterday in wet conditions with some 40mph downhill technical turns on a mix of tarmac and concrete and mine were rock solid grip wise. Maybe in 25mm they offer more but the compound would still be the same. Perhaps it's a matter of confidence.

Pross · April 2014

okgo wrote:

Pross wrote:

okgo wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

Corsa Open CX, lovely riding tyre with loads of grip in corners. They come up slightly big which is good as it improves rolling resistance. I use 25mm on my RR bike as I have the clearance.

Again though, not very robust and outright dangerous in the wet. Really awful in the wet.

Really? I've used mine for 12 months, all weathers, racing, training and commuting. They've done about 3,000 miles and look virtually brand new and I've never had a visit from the fairy despite weighing over 80kg and riding typical GB roads. I may have just got lucky as it's the first pair I've owned but they have been far more durable than the Pro 3s I used previously. As for the wet, I've never had a problem, they've been no worse than the Pro 3s or any other tyre I've used in the last 25 years. I reckon with a lot of products someone makes a comment about them online and it gets treated as gospel.

I've ridden them at speed in the wet. They're no good. It's also popular opinion because many others have found it to be true. 3000 miles and they look brand new LOL I can only assume that is a joke. They start cutting after a few hundred miles from what I've seen. I'm in no rush to get another set.

I'll take a photo of them if you want, they are immaculate unlike the rest of my bike.

fcukwit · April 2014

I agree with the posts saying steer clear of ultrasports - no good.
Job to beat the Conti four seasons for general all round training tyre though - some race on them, don't think I would have any concerns about racing on them either

DeVlaeminck · April 2014

What this thread shows is that tyre choice is very subjective and manufactureres probably change compounds year to year so tyre x one year may have been poor 4-5 years back but it may be totally different now. If you stick to the top end race rubber of any major brand you should get good grip and rolling resistance. Some top end tyres are a bit fragile but if ou find that to be the case just don't go back to them.

Now what about latex inner tubes, worth it or not?

okgo · April 2014

They do feel very different (in a good way) to butyl, that should be the motivator rather than weight (you can get lighter butyl tubes) - but obviously you do have to pump them up before each ride as they lose PSI quite quickly.

ozzzyosborn206 · April 2014

I use pro4s as do most people i train with, grip is good in wet and dry, are cheap and last a good amount of time, no reason to bother trying anything else so can't comment on the others you have mentioned that said I have used Vitoria tubs and they are useless in the wet and wore much quicker than conti competitions, have just got some conti attacks(or is it force the 24mm ones) for my carbon wheels that get used once in every blue moon but only TT'd on them so hard to rate them so far

sungod · May 2014

re the vittoria cx in the wet, it's not necessarily subjective...

the previous version with the sio2 compound was reportedly (try google) not so good in the wet

whereas the current compound, isogrip, seems fine

okgo · May 2014

Yes. They're are hundreds of people saying they were no good. It's a known thing. But that's interesting if they've changed the compound to make them better.

racingcondor · May 2014

sungod wrote:

re the vittoria cx in the wet, it's not necessarily subjective...

the previous version with the sio2 compound was reportedly (try google) not so good in the wet

whereas the current compound, isogrip, seems fine

This. I hated the CXII in the wet. Really like the Vittoria tubs I'm now riding (Corsa SC and SR depending on wheels). Wet or dry they're still damn fast and now they seem to have decent wet grip, probably not Conti wet grip good but good enough.

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