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Any 28-30mm road tyres to recommend?
Something for the (relatively) good bike, low RR, is £30 too cheap these days?
Barginz welcome 🥰
I'm liking my Continental Ultra Sport 3s so far. Seem as fast as the Roubaix Pros they replaced and no punctures so far (that's cursed it). Very happy for £24 each. Using them in 28mm width.
+1 for Continental Ultra Sport 3, have been using them for several years and like them very much.
Rubino Pro's come in around that price.
Whilst a little bit more expensive, I have been using the continental gp5000as versions since January and I've been incredibly happy with them. I used to run the continental GP 5000s on my previous road bike and whilst they were very good they were very puncture prone. The all season variant of the gp5000 appears to be bulletproof
Tubeless or with inner tubes? I run the newest Vittoria Rubino tubeless in 28c and have been very pleased with their performance.
Whilst a little bit more expensive, I have been using the continental gp5000as versions since January
Just looked at them, RRP is £100 each!!! That's more than I pay for Michelin Cross Climates for my car!
I do note though that Merlin are selling the Conti's for £65 each but even so...
Have a look at the SigmaSports site, "ready to ride" bundle of 12+ items gives 20% discount, makes the GP5000 AS ~£55 each.
I picked up a pair of GP5000s from Merlin on a £99 deal, including Conti inner tubes.
Was prepared to be disappointed due to the hype, but absolutely the best road tyres I've tried - low rolling resistance, comfy, no punctures so far, make me feel a faster rider.
If you can find a deal, be worth the extra.
I don't ride loads of road , maybe 1000 miles a year, but continental gp4000 and gp5000 have been great for me with tubes in.
I’ve been using these for a while and have no complaints. Great value, robust and I can’t tell the difference to my S works cottons which were quite expensive.
I used to use some gp4000, then switched to some vittoria, now back on gp5000 and they're so much better. Gives my more a feeling of sticking to the road, especially round corners. I doubt I'll be going back to anything else - for an extra few quid it makes the bike a whole load better.
Conti GP5000 is 50 quid each at Merlin. It is 1000% not worth trying to save 20 quid by going an Ultra Sport.
If you no option but to spend less then Michelin Power Cups are the ones to go for. Can usually be had for around 35-40 quid.
@Jamz whats so much better about GP5000s? Ultrasport IIIs can be had for £15. Those Michelins look good value, but £20 for 4W of RR?
GP5000's are very fast and very grippy, at the expense of life and puncture protection. They make riding a road bike nicer. £40 each at Depor village https://www.deporvillage.co.uk/continental-grand-prix-5000-folding-road-tyre-black
Everything is better!
Although I think those Michelin Power Cup ride a bit better, but are perhaps a little more fragile.
Ironically I think GP5000 make more sense the less you ride.....
They're very good, but also very expensive. So whilst they make any bike feel slightly better, when a bit of flint goes through them after 1000miles you're left wondering was it really worth £50. Fine if you only ride the road bike for the occasional sportive and they'll last a couple of years. Really quite galling if you're a fully committed roadie and get through several each season. Not because they wore out, just because there's that 1in50 chance every ride that you'll trash whatever your tyre is on a piece of flint.
With exceptions there's an inverse correlation in clubs between how many miles people do, and how much they seem to spend on tyres. With a few exceptions to prove the rule that either have money to burn or mention every ride how fragile they are (but will never ride anything cheaper).
The other advantage of Ultra Sport-3 or similar from other brands is that you don't need to buy the best on Bicycle Rolling Resistance because you've elected not to care. Vittoria, Conti, IRC, Schwalbe, they all make a similar tyre and because it's not a monopoly where only 1 tyre can have that 0.5W advantage and charge a £20 premium for it, you can get bargains. I'm currently rocking some nice looking IRC tanwalls on my brisk commuter, £15 from Banana Industries. Can you tell the difference in a blind test to GP5000, yes. Is £70 (i.e. ~5 spare tyres) a reasonable trade off for that difference, absolutely!
Thanks @thisisnotaspoon, well put, it is about how much of a smile the £40-70 would put on my face. I'm mildly prejudiced against Conti, the sidewalls seem a bit weak, maybe the Michelin's.
I’m using Pirelli cinturatos, 35 mm front 32 rear, 35 won’t fit on the rear. Great tyres, easy to set up tubeless, v good puncture resistance, pretty fast as well 👍
I’m using Pirelli cinturatos, 35 mm front 32 rear, 35 won’t fit on the rear.
I do like the Cinturato Velo TLR I'm using on my winter bike, I bought them specifically because I didn't trust tubeless to seal a 26mm tyre at 75psi so wanted the extra reassurance of the extra tread depth across the crown. I probably can feel the difference between those and the GP5000s on my summer bike, but the bike is no less fun to ride, just different.
And yes, I've binned a relatively fresh GP5000 because I managed to tear the shoulder on a bit of gravel or something and just didn't trust the resultant bulge even when I'd patched it from the inside and tried to superglue to the leftover flap of tread back down 😭
Another Rubino Pro user (on my Winter Roadie) Cheap and cheerful:
Vittoria Rubino Pro IV Graphene Folding Black G2.0 700C x 30 — bananaindustries
£16 but Says low stock, grab 'em while you can....
I have some Pirelli P-zeros, at 36mm. They've been nice and fast, and not had any issues, either mounting them or getting punctures. I bought them from Bikeinn.
I am not alone in my love of the Rubino. I've just stuck a pair of 32c tubeless on my new DT Swiss ERC wheels. Not been that wide before and keen to get on the bandwagon.
I like Gravelking Slicks, they test as having as good rolling resistance as most of the speedy offerings from Conti etc. but significantly cheaper. Some people seem to struggle with them for punctures but I've not had any in 5 years down some pretty janky country lanes. Can normally find them for £30-ish too.
I like Gravelking Slicks, they test as having as good rolling resistance as most of the speedy offerings from Conti etc. but significantly cheaper. Some people seem to struggle with them for punctures but I've not had any in 5 years down some pretty janky country lanes. Can normally find them for £30-ish too.
I had a set on my spare set of wheels for my gravel/commuter bike and had far more punctures when commuting into Bradford than I did using my road bike with GP5000's. They seemed to be be brilliant at picking up slivers of glass, far more so than any other tyre I've used. Otherwise they were brilliant and the Vittoria Terreno's I replaced them with feel far worse but actually stay inflated (both running tubeless with the same sealant).
Thanks all, Michelins incoming! Will update.
Just get Gps5000 and then get latex tubes. Then breathe.
Thisisnotaspoon......without being indelicate how much do you weigh? I use gp5000 mostly year round and we live in a similar area. Replaced my rear tyre after a year and a half last week, two punctures in that time. I do use my other bike with mudguards and heavy old tyres in the worst of winter but only had two punctures with the gp5000's.
I run the non tubeless ones as you can get them cheaper with you tubes from AliExpress in them.
The spoon is talking tosh. I have a friend who does 13,000-14,000 miles a year solely on GP5000s. I myself do a 6000-7000 on GP5000s in winter and GPTTs in summer. Stop overinflating your tyres and you will get far fewer punctures - I cannot even remember the last puncture I had (I recommend using the low pressure from the Rene Herse tyre pressure calculator).
+1 I find this talk of GP5000 punctures mysterious. GP4k and 5k are by far the least puncture-prone tyres I've had.
I’ve been riding the Vittoria Corsa Pro tubeless on my summer bike and they are performing extremely well. I have GP5000s on my other bike and a set of winter wheels for the same bike that have the GP5000 AS tyres on. The Corsa Pros seem to be extremely durable and have no cuts at all after 1000 miles or so whereas I find the GP5000S to be quite susceptible to cuts, they don’t puncture easily though and I’m careful to pick out any glass I see lodged in the tyre. The 5000 AS are great as a winter tyre although they feel marginally slower in 35mm width than the other two options which are in 30mm . It’s probably my imagination and I’ve no data to back that up.
+1 I find this talk of GP5000 punctures mysterious. GP4k and 5k are by far the least puncture-prone tyres I've had.
This. Run tubeless and I've had one puncture, sealed with an anchovy, in nearly 10k miles.
I find all tyres get prone to punctures when they are starting to wear out and the rubber has gone thin. I don't find the current GP5000's any worse than anything I have tried before.