The eternal tyres question
The default answer is: GP 5000 (of some flavour or another)
But...I need some nice road tyres, puncture protection is important, but so is a lovely ride feel. 700x28, ideally tubeless because why not? I have a tonne of sealant, and my experience on gravel has been good (touch wood).
Any recommendations beyond the obvious? And should I go TL or stick to tubes, what with funky plastic tubes, etc?
It's just a hill. Get over it.
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The more durable cousin is always good - conti 4 seasons.
Can't comment on tubeless etc, though the reviews for the tubeless version are very positive.
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I too have had a good experience with tubless on gravel, but I would not go tubeless on the road. For one thing the pressures you run on the road are too high for most sealants (according to their claims), and we have had several instances in our club where rides have had to be abandoned due to failure of the sealant, mostly because it has proved to be impossible to mount the tyre on the side of the road after inserting an inner tube. I have never heard of a ride abandonment due to a failure of an inner tube with regular tyres and I never want to put myself in that situation.
Last night I ordered some RideNow TPU tubes, a few members of our club are running them and so far there has been no problems. These wil be paired up with my Schwalbe One (not tubeless ready) tyres.
Peatys claim that their sealant is good up to 120 psi and one member of the club has been running it on their road bike for a couple of years now with no issues. One person is not a big sample but if you want to go tubeless then I would make sure that the sealant will work with the pressures you will be running. Your stock of sealant might not be up to the job.
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It's very much a 'good weather' bike, I have a Gatorskins-equipped bike for rubbish weather (although TBH, I tend to go gravelling or stay indoors when it's murky)
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
GP5000 All Season S TR at a good price at Merlin:
That's the price the normal TRs have been.
Lots of our club ride tubeless on the road without issue, even all through winter on filthy mucky lanes.
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Makes Vittoria Corsa a complete bargain at under £40. Not that I've tried the 5000s so...
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
I do have some recollection that the 5000s are very tight/difficult to get on for some wheels - might want to investigate that before going for them.
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I have been using IRC formula pro xguards for the last 4yrs with no issues. As to tubeless have been using them for 7yrs without any issues on the road and that's on aluminium and carbon rims. I've had 1 proper flat on my gravel bike care of some flint and it sealed up pretty quick. Only ball ache is cleaning the old sealant out every now and then and topping up with sealant every 6 month ish. Wouldn't go back to tubes on any of my bikes. Just make sure you carry some tyre worms / plugs in case of a big hole that the sealant can't seal. Currently do 6 / 8k a year all weather riding on and off road so well and truly tested.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.2 -
courtesyy of tubeless ready rims, all tyres are difficult to fit. For comparison, I have a pair of non tubeless ready carbon rims , with traditional rim bed without the groove and the GP5000 23mm go up with bare hands…
left the forum March 20230 -
My Terreno Wets on Hunts were a doddle
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
My take with tubeless is they are great if you have a width & weight that allows you to run south of 70psi (the further the better) but if you need to run above that you're better with tubes.
My 28mm GP5000TRs on 21mm wide rims run around 55psi and are amazing. My 25mm in the same tyre on 17mm rims are worse in every regard, as they need to run at much higher pressure. As well as the ride, grip, rolling resistance being inferior I've also had problems with sealant not sealing cuts. On my winter bike I'm running Vittoria Rubino TLR in 30mm (at 55psi) and they have also been excellent.
For your brief, then I would be looking at GP5000TR AS. However with good sealant, pretty much anything bar Corsa Speeds gives reasonable puncture protection. So GP5000TR, Pirelli P Zero Speedcore, normal Corsa TLR at the spendy end, and I cannot recommend the Rubino TLRs highly enough at the cheaper end.
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I am firmly in the Vittoria Corsa camp for a lighter summer tire. Been using them for 5 or 6 years. I know it is subjective but the ride feel of them is significantly better than the many other tires I have used (probably only Veloflex carbon tubs get close). This is just purely personal opinion though.
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I would agree, not the "fastest" in all the published test data but the ride feel really is great, they look pretty cool too. Tubeless version for me has been pretty robust, 25mm using Wiggle/Prime sealant, no punctures I've noticed, they do need topping up with air once a week or so but only a few psi, 90% of riding on dry tarmac.
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I disagree, having set up many combinations of road tubeless tyres/rims over the last 5 or so years, the amount of times I've encountered difficult to fit tyres is about the same as for non tubeless tyres/rims.
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disagree if you like, but the proliferation of exotic tools to sit a tyre began at the same time as tubeless ready rims arrived. Before that, nobody gave much thought to tyre levers.
left the forum March 20230 -
I recently spent 30 minutes just trying to get a tyre to move a way from the side of the rim, this was a tyre with a tube. It wouldn’t move enough to get a lever in, I suspect if it had been tubeless with sealant it would be still stuck.
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I've never used anything other than a normal lever either, not looking to get into an endless debate about what set up is better. Just pointing out that your statement "courtesyy of tubeless ready rims, all tyres are difficult to fit" is incorrect.
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Or maybe it wouldn't....
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Look, I never found a tyre that was hard to fit on the old Open Pro, Ambrosio Excellence, and all the rims we used up to 15 years ago, even the wider Archetype were friendly to tyres… by contrast all the tubeless ready rims I have owned from the likes of DT Swiss, as well as Shimano and Giant stock wheels are borderline impossible with any tyre of a traditional road size. I think bigger tyres are marginally easier, so for folks using 28 mm and larget tyres the issue is less relevant, but 23 and 25 are always a struggle on tubeless ready rims. As I said, you just have to look at how the market for tyree levers have changed in the last decade… the fact that you don’t struggle doesn’t mean the majority don’t…
left the forum March 20230 -
Likewise, the fact that you do struggle doesn't mean the majority do! In fact, it more likely suggests that your tyre removal/mounting technique is not very 👍
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Given Ugo is a wheel builder I guess you might know where that I think you are talking out of.
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Swapping tubes / removing tyres is a skill that some have and some don't. This guy does. https://youtu.be/AV4H04Rmkrw?feature=shared
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.0 -
Errr...I think @ugo.santalucia has mounted more than a few tyres, he used to build wheels for people
It's just a hill. Get over it.1 -
This doesn't even make sense!
Im starting to understand why it might take you half an hour to unseat a tyre and it has nothing to do with tubeless...
I'm fully aware of his background too. I'd suggest you go back and read the thread again but I don't think it will help.
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Attack the post, not the poster. Keep it civil.
It's just a hill. Get over it.0
