Road Bike Tire Thread (Only, no touring MTB or beach cruizers)

[ElChingon]

OK, so what do you road riders use for tires, favorite or preferred brand/model.

Most common brands:

Continental
Vittoria
Michelin
Maxxis
Kenda
Schwalbe
Vredestein
Panaracer
Specialized
Bontrager
Nashbar
Tufo (not tofu)

Seeing as some of us actually test or try other brands for what ever reason(s) don't forget your test results.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Conti takes the win easily in this poll, Vittoria and Michelin for a close 2nd and 3rd.

 

[hfer07]

the problem with Vittoria IMO is that you need to buy from Diamante pro to the upper options(pricey IOW) to get the most of the tire-all the lower grade options aren't reliable at all & don't last as much as other brands do for the same price.
Conti to me provides a very reliable product, worth the price & mostly available everywhere.....

 

[Llewellyn]

I've always had good results with Conti and I'm the sort of person to generally stick with a particular brand or item if it does what I need rather than keep changing just for the sake of it.

Started with GP 3000's and now using the GP 4000S - both great tyres IME

 

[steelciocc]

GP4000s

Grand Prix 4000s - Say no more...

 

[Parera]

Just don't ride Gatorskins in the rain, otherwise Conti makes good rubber. Vittoria Pave tires are delicious too, just pricey and fast wearing. A luxury item for sure.

 

[ElChingon]

Yes Continental seems to be the tops (today). I'm fully on Conti now, used up all the Vittoria's which used to be my brand of choice. I also tried Michelin's but found them to hard and hard to install and for clinchers was a pain out on the road with the boys making them wait to get those tires back on. Vredestein tires are pretty nice as well, just ended up with a few that bubbled on me, supposedly caused by hitting a pothole too hard but why doesn't that happen with any other brand? I really don't remember hitting any pothole hard as if I did I would of most likely stopped to check things, besides the bubbling I really liked those tires. Vittoria's just would cut too easily and of course wear much faster than most brands, they ride great though but the pocket book was getting hit a bit too much so had to try something else and Conti has been pretty nice to me so far both in quality, ride and price.

 

[42x16ss]

Wow! Am I really the only one who still prefers Vittoria tubulars???

Sounds like I might have to give the Conti's another go.

 

[Valentino]

Other. Veloflex tubulars. You asked for the best.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

As much as I like Conti road tires, the two missing parts form their line up are the 28mm wide Roubaix tubulars they make special for their sponsored teams, and CX tubulars. I'd buy em if they made em.

 

[LugHugger]

Haven't tried all of the brands but my go to's have been conti 4 seasons for the last 2 years. 28's in the winter, 23/25 f/r spring through autumn. 1 puncture in that time and that was a snake bite caused by hitting a pothole at 50 kph. They just seem to be exactly the right compound for the northern European climate.

Vittoria just wear too quickly although I love my pave tubs

 

[LugHugger]

As much as I like Conti road tires, the two missing parts form their line up are the 28mm wide Roubaix tubulars they make special for their sponsored teams, and CX tubulars. I'd buy em if they made em.

+100%. Can't understand why they don't make the wider sprinters available to joe public

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

+100%. Can't understand why they don't make the wider sprinters available to joe public

It's exclusively a German thing. I even asked somebody at Conti a few years ago and I basically got the Sgt. Schultz response.....
'I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing'.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Wow! Am I really the only one who still prefers Vittoria tubulars???

Sounds like I might have to give the Conti's another go.

I prefer the ride of Vittoria tubulars, I like the durability of Conti(Spinters).

 

[Fiemme]

As much as I like Conti road tires, the two missing parts form their line up are the 28mm wide Roubaix tubulars they make special for their sponsored teams, and CX tubulars. I'd buy em if they made em.

RDV you may be in luck. see the below link to the London Bike show. Seems Conti have relaesed a 25mm version of the competition.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/cycle-show-2012-prototype-continental-tubular.html

 

[LugHugger]

RDV you may be in luck. see the below link to the London Bike show. Seems Conti have relaesed a 25mm version of the competition.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/cycle-show-2012-prototype-continental-tubular.html

Woo hoooo!!!! Happy days, roll on spring

 

[42x16ss]

I prefer the ride of Vittoria tubulars, I like the durability of Conti(Spinters).

I have almost always raced on Vittoria Tubulars but never really trained on them because, as you said they don't wear well.

Conti's are a very good tyre but I prefer them for training - I don't like how they handle through corners, too hard for my taste.

 

[veganrob]

Since I usually ride tubis my vote is Vittoria

 

[blutto]

RDV you may be in luck. see the below link to the London Bike show. Seems Conti have relaesed a 25mm version of the competition.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/cycle-show-2012-prototype-continental-tubular.html

...oddly enough those tires have been available here http://www.worldclasscycles.com/ for several years( maybe they somehow dipped into the stock reserved for the pro teams )....have tried them and they are a good tire but are nowhere near as good as the Veloflex Roubaix which is the second coming of the famous and long out of production Clement Criterium....

...and in late breaking news the Veloflex Criterium, Carbon and Roubaix have all been made 1 mm wider ...apparently to play into the wide rim market...

Cheers

blutto

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

RDV you may be in luck. see the below link to the London Bike show. Seems Conti have relaesed a 25mm version of the competition.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/cycle-show-2012-prototype-continental-tubular.html

Looks good to me, only it's slated for a UK release this Spring, I'm in the US. Hopefully it doesn't take to long to get to these shores. I'll have to start pulling my Conti strings here now that I see they might be available to me after all.

 

[richwagmn]

Conti GP4000s. Are there other clinchers?