michaelnel

I ride for fitness and to enjoy the scenery. Getting through it faster seems somewhat counterproductive to me. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't purposely choose a tire with the aim of slowing me down, but my preferences are very very strongly weighted toward comfort over performance. I ride a fairly heavy SOMA DoubleCross frame with 36 spoke heavy touring wheels and Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x35c tires and am very happy with the setup.

IBOHUNT

I have Gatorskins on my road bike. Any time that I would 'lose' in a heavier tire I make up by not sitting on the side of the road fixing a flat. I could also stand to lose 30 lbs but that's another thread.

OldsCOOL

That was the best performance enhancing upgrade I did this past summer season. Hills and hilly routes are now my friends.

But I'm still grabbing that set of Krylion 23's in the spring.

asgelle

I know you probably didn't mean this literally, but lets see. Using analyticcycling.com with all defaults except level road and coefficient of rolling resistance of 0.0025 for "fast" tires, and 0.004 for "slow ones (based on Al Morrison's data), the "fast" tire saves about 4 minutes for every hundred miles ridden. That's a little less time than it takes to fix a flat. I don't know how many flats you get, but I'd say one flat every hundred miles is a lot (and that assumes no flats at all for the slow tires). So actually, slow tires cost more time than would be lost to fixing flats.

michaelnel

Haha! 4 minutes saved over a distance I never ride as a trade off for the harsh ride of skinny tires? No thanks.

asgelle

A) You haven't ridden a total of 100 miles? The time saving is cumulative So four 25 mile rides saves the same time as 1 hundred mile one.

B) The argument I responded to was entirely based on time costs. Ride quality was not a consideration.

C) How did tire width get into this?

speedlever

Regarding flats, I have to say that I've had 1 flat in over 10,000 miles on this particular bike. Frankly, I'm amazed at that. Most of its life has been on the GP4000s tires.

I have had tire cuts which necessitated a tire change when I got back.. and a slow leak in a tube also requiring a change when I got back. But that's been it... so far.

AzTallRider

I've found them to be just as flat resistant as Gatorskins, meaning that for both, it's mostly a matter of luck/fate/karma. A goathead will go through either one, as will various types of road trash. Keeping inflation up (less things stick to a harder tire), and avoiding all the trash you can, also help.

JanMM

Avoiding trash/debris is a good strategy, but I don't understand how higher pressure would prevent punctures.

Allegheny Jet

Higher pressure will helpavoid snake bite flats when you hit a pothole or stone.

JanMM

Absolutely. But not tire punctures caused by stuff piercing the tread.

speedlever

For the record, a friend joined me so we ordered 4 of the Michelin ProRace4 tires today. $42.xx ea plus whatever CC conversion charges apply. Fast, slow... whatever. Hope they last about 3000 miles and are durable like the GP4000s. I chose not to wait for any sale prices on the Conti twinpaks as I'll likely need them in the next month or so unless I just quit riding.

https://www.probikekit.com/us/tyres-t...road-tyre.html

qcpmsame 

Speedlever,
Thanks for the link, that is a good buy as your volume goes up, I am going to get 2 of these Pro4 after Christmas from them, so I have a few extras and I am going to be up for tires shortly after the New Year. Wish they offered the side wall in blue like my Pro3 Race. Oh well I will live.

Bill

Camilo

Yea, he's probably a nice, well intentioned guy, but he's ignorant about tires and you just have to smile, nod and understand that he might be a strong rider, but he is ignorant. Maybe not a doofus, but is ignorant any better?

THere is absolutely NO WAY that a Conti GP4000 is in any meaningful way an inferior tire to any clincher out there. People have their preferences, but to think that their preferred tire is actually better is just ignorant.

There's no harm in trying another high end tire when you need new tires - why not? Variety is the spice of life and how will you know if there's any noticable difference among tires unless you try them? But not because they're actually faster (assuming similar quality/price point).

Because, I do believe that there is a difference - at least in "feel" or "ride" that many cyclists can notice between very cheap tires and very good tires. There may even be a tiny bit of measurable speed difference, but I doubt it. I went from the cheapest Performance house brand tires to some good quality Michelin ProRace tires a couple of years ago and immediately noticed the "feel". I don't delude myself into believing it's helping me keep up with faster riders though.

speedlever

Camilo, I trust you noted my T-I-C reference to gaining 5 mph with a tire change in the OP. Also note that I branched out and ordered some ProRace 4's too. I expect 6mph gain from them.

Retro Grouch 

Think about how much faster a tire has to roll to make up for the time it takes to fix a flat.

asgelle

That depends on how often you flat, but based on the above estimate, the answer would have to be not much.

ducnut

You'll be rocking with Big George, over in Boone.

lhbernhardt

This brings up another of my challenges to conventional cycling wisdom, the notion that the front tire must be inflated to less than the rear.

Yes, weight distribution is usually 40-60 front-rear, but that's only when you're coasting or maintaining speed (or sitting statically on your bike with the scale under one wheel and a phone book under the other determining your weight distribution!). Under acceleration, it would likely be 30-70 or 20-80, and under hard braking, it could even be 99-1 as the rear tire starts skidding because there's hardly any weight on it; it's all on the front! When you're out of the saddle climbing, weight distribution is probably 60-40, most of the weight on the front tire, as it's easy to spin the rear wheel on some wet surfaces.

I'm beginning to think that both front and rear tires should be aired to the same pressure. This would account for all the extremes.

L.

david58

I certainly can tell a huge difference on my commute bike between my slick road tires (28's) and my Conti Security in 25's. First day I rode to work on the Conti's, I couldn't figure out why I felt like I was riding in molasses. I honestly was concerned that I had something cardio going on - did I need to go see the doc, was my heart giving me trouble? I was 4-5 gears lower and working hard as compared to normal.

Today, I rode in and noticed that when I coasted, I decelerated, not a normal coast to slow, but actually felt like I was braking. Checked, no brake drag, wheels rotate fine, etc, hubs recently checked and greased, etc. Danged tires flat cling to the ground! So it wasn't my ticker, but the tires, and I will certainly be stronger in the spring when the slick tires get to make a comeback on the commute machine.

Now, when I have a dry day and can climb on my road bike with skinny slick tires, I flat feel like I'm flying!

prathmann

So why aren't you using slick tires with less rolling resistance? As long as you're on pavement, slick tires should provide you with better traction in either dry or wet conditions. The Conti Security tires are designed for environments with lots of sharp road debris that would puncture tires with a thinner, more supple construction. So I'd expect them to have more rolling resistance. Are you riding through areas with lots of nails, staples, and other industrial debris?

speedlever

Regarding tire pressures, here's a formula I picked up here at BF a while back that I use as a guideline.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...22#post6571222



For me at 170 lbs on 23s, that works out to 110 psi in the rear and 99 (call in 100) psi in the front. Lately, I've been running 115 psi all around and think I will back it down to those numbers and see if I can tell a difference.

BluesDawg

FWIW, also at 170 lbs on 23s, I usually run 90 front and 100 rear, bumping each by about 5 lbs for faster rides on smoother roads.

speedlever

"The more you ride your bike, the less your ass will hurt."

Heh! This is so true! And is one of my motivators to keep riding whenever I'm looking for an excuse not to.

david58

I ride on the roads, about half of the ride is through an industrial area to work. The other half has bike lanes that do not get swept but once or twice a year, and which accumulate glass and crap through the year. Plus, the sharp small gravel that is used for traction on icy days here will cause flats by itself. I also don't quite trust slicks on frosty road surfaces. All those are reasons I don't do my winter weather commuting on slick tires.