Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Continental GatorSkin Tires: Price?

I've been reading here on the forum that GatorSkins are the tires to get if you get a lot of flats (I have been). I was looking online for a price and I went to Nashbar and saw the GatorSkins for $35. Is that per tire, or for a set? Thanks.

nope...per tire

Bike tires are ridiculously expensive. Why should that Conti bike tire cost almost as much as a Conti car tire?

Thanks. That's what I thought.

I was thinking the same thing. Sheesh. You can get low end car tires for almost as little as you get these high end bike tires. Seems pretty crazy.

try biketiresdirect.com i got a set of gatorskins for 64 including shipping. also try searching qbike.com

I'm very happy with my Gator-Skins.
They seem to offer good traction too.
I paid $thirty something for them, most bike e-stores have them for about the same price, not a huge difference.

My gator-skins have gone at least three times longer without flatting and stood up better to skidding than the $15 tires I had on before. I'm no mathematician...

You can get low end car tires for almost as little as you get these high end bike tires. Seems pretty crazy.

You can get a low end car for the same amount as a high end bike :)

Performance had gatorskins on sale for $27, but that sale may be over, as their website now brags about a "super short sale" and the tires are back up to $33.

You can get them in canada for 35$ at Mountain Equipment Coop
On a side note, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anyone have an opinion on the Continental UltraSport? They're supposed to sport a kevlar reinforcment, similar to the gatorskins, and they cost about 12$ ....

You can get them in canada for 35$ at Mountain Equipment Coop
On a side note, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anyone have an opinion on the Continental UltraSport? They're supposed to sport a kevlar reinforcment, similar to the gatorskins, and they cost about 12$ ....

If you look on the MEC website, you'll see that those ultra sports are sadly sold out in every store, on-line and for phone orders as well. I don't know why they're still listed - they're discontinued. I got my hopes up when I saw those as well... no dice.

AFAIK, MEC only carries the non-folding gatorskins in 28 and the folding in 23. The folding are $50cdn.

m.

I'm cheap, I always get my tires as wire beads, non folding. Panaracers fire xc's are damn cheap and get the job done off-road. I was just looking for something to buy at MEC instead of LBS or Online, as I try and buy at the coop as much as I can. Karma and all, you know...

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/productdetail.asp?p=COUGA

Here's the wire bead Gatorskins for a good price...

If you think bike tires are expensive try looking into motorcycle tires...cheap ones are $100+.

Back to the Gatorskin. Very nice tire, although a bit heavy...they do their job though. $30 tires look expensive until you have a front blowout at 30+ MPH.

You can get them in canada for 35$ at Mountain Equipment Coop
On a side note, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anyone have an opinion on the Continental UltraSport? They're supposed to sport a kevlar reinforcment, similar to the gatorskins, and they cost about 12$ ....

The Ultra Sports are great for the money. durable, pretty pliable and cheap. unfortunately they're a total b!tch to mount.
MEC in vancouver had a bunch the last time I went in.

Well I checked again, and it seems like it's only the kevlar version in 23 that is unavailable, but they have 25 and 28 in wire version. My tires are not bad, just mismatched. I feel like I need a change in my life right now, and tires are cheaper then a haircut

My goal is to just always look in lbs's wherever I happen to be. Invaribably you will find good tires sitting on a closeout table somewhere. For example, a few weeks ago I was in Columbia MO, and got a set of Conti grand prix 3000s for 50 dollars. It was my understanding from talking to the shop that they were getting rid of them because they were yellow and nobody wanted yellow.

I think that if you keep your eye open and don't get set on a particular model you will get good values on tires. (unfortunately your bike might end up rocking some ugly black and yellow theme)

The Ultra Sports are great for the money. durable, pretty pliable and cheap. unfortunately they're a total b!tch to mount.
MEC in vancouver had a bunch the last time I went in.

The Halifax store has a bunch of 27x1.25 Ultra Sports on the wall, but nothing in 700c. I should call Vancouver...

m.

So I called MEC and here's the skinny: they actually just received 1900 more of the continental ultra sports in 700x23 but haven't distributed them to any stores. They're available for phone orders now and should be turning up in MEC outlets within 14-18 business days. So there you go. I ordered a pair and it came to under $40 with shipping and GST.

m.

have fun mounting them :D

Give a man a new pair of tires and mount them he will.

The Ultra Sports are great for the money. durable, pretty pliable and cheap. unfortunately they're a total b!tch to mount

Odd, I'm running a pair on the Purple Mistake, 700x28. Mounting was a breeze. Maybe it's a rim thing, I'm using a set of Mavic MA2s.

So I called MEC and here's the skinny: they actually just received 1900 more of the continental ultra sports in 700x23 but haven't distributed them to any stores. They're available for phone orders now and should be turning up in MEC outlets within 14-18 business days. So there you go. I ordered a pair and it came to under $40 with shipping and GST.

m.
40 for the pair?

40 for the pair?

Yeah, $13.50 each plus $6.50 shipping plus GST. I think it was $38 and change altogether.

Here's the link to the page on the MEC site (http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=670161&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=833011&bmUID=1117027811745).

m.