DubT

We run the NEW Ultremo ZX tires exclusively and the front is a 23 and the rear is a 25. I inflate both tires to 115 psi, the front was just changed out with over 4500 miles on it and the current rear has right at 2300 miles on it. We are a 290/295 pound team and we ride on oiled and chipped roads 90% of the time! this summer we have encountered more gravel than I like but we have not had any pinch flats. The only flat we had was caused by a sidewall tear on a rear tire. That tire had around 1500 miles on it. We are extremely happy with the tires and for us they handle great (ex criterium racer) and wear extremely well and are not fragile. YMMV!

Team Fab

Lower pressure will increase your chance of pinch flat not reduce it.You may be able to avoid some things with front but I am more likely to run over glass etc... than to swerve suddenly into traffic or into the rider beside me on a group ride. road hazards that cause pinch flats on the road are generally large and un-avoidable such as expansion joints and rail crossing. And the ability to avoid has a direct relationship to speed. The faster you go the less you can avoid.Tubless tires dont pinch flat but the low pressures restrict their use to lighter teams or singles. And generally require some messy slime/stans to hold air longer and for flat protection.

uspspro

So far the Ultremo 28mm are the best tires I've used. However the sidewall IS fragile. A friend of mine and I both had the sidewalls damaged early in the tires' life. Perhaps coincidence, but it was enough to shy me away from them for now. I really enjoyed them, so I may give them another shot.

DubT

Hopefully the new ONE will address the sidewall issue. I believe that they are in limited availability, "Tiremaniac" thinks that they will be readily available at a friendly price sometime around March.

engineerbob

My rims are 23mm from outside to outside. The bike came with 28mm tires, but I ordered a pair of 32mm Conti Gatorskins. Have I made a mistake?

Thanks.

Bob

mkane77g

^^^^ You will be just fine. We run 32mm r, 28mm f on Deep V's and travel faster down any twisty road than anyone we have run across. If you have wheel flop you need to go faster.

Homeyba

I've used 23mm tubulars on RAAM and had no increased incidence of flats than I did with my usual 25mm Conti GP4000's. Over the years I've had probably half a dozen front flats on various tires at speeds over 50/60mph with no crashes or broken bones. A front flat doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to land. There is something to be said for good bike handling skills.

mkane77g

Just get your flat while straight up and you stand a good chance of staying off the pavement.

Ritterview

I am retiring our Schwalbe Ones that I purchased in February, after 800 miles. The front tires were getting flats, and the rear tire was worn through in two places, and actually split, which required booting, barely getting us home. The number of flats at first did not seem more than average.

I dunno, I expect more than 800 miles. And now Tour Magazine has tested the rolling resistance of tires, and the Continental GP4000S 28 mm comes out on top (18.8 watts). The Schwalbe One 28 mm is one of the most watt robbing (26 watts). The difference of 7.2 watts is huge. You just don't find 7.2 watts lying around for free that often. Since the 28 mm GP4000S is not yet available, I ordered two Conti Grand Prix 28 mm, Amazon has a good price.




When the Continental GP4000S 28 mm is finally available, I think it will be the 28 mm tandem performance tire bomb.

Dean V

The 2w gained over the 25mm version may well be more than made up for by better aero on the narrower tyre.

waynesulak

Maybe. 28mm increases frontal area very little and testing is required to see how well they work with the newer rim shapes.

Consider there are riders out there interested in performance that average 15-17 mph or less on a long ride. Aero is very important but less so at slower endurance speeds. I hope to enter a 12 hour hilly time trial later this year with a goal of 14 mph average including stops. It is a very different type of performance than a 30-60 minute 25+ mph TT.

Dean V

They don't say what load or speed the test was done at either. So can't say what the power difference would really be in reality.

chojn1

Wayne,
Which tires will you be using?

twocicle

The Continental 4-Season is supposed to be the same as the GP4000S except with an extra protection layer. If you are interested in a touch more security, then the 4-Season is a better choice. Plus, I don't recall complaints of the 4-Season blowing off rims.

This year we have not racked up a ton of miles on the tandem - been busy training & racing the single. Still, when we swapped out the 25mm Conti 4-Season (@106psi) for last year's 25mm Schwalbe Ultremo ZX (@108psi) we immediately noticed the more supple ride quality of the latter but insufficient miles to determine longevity.

waynesulak

Grand Bois Cyprès 700 700C x 32 mm. If raining I may have a extra set of wheels with Paslea 32mm which are much less likely to flat. Time on the side of the road with a flat in the rain is depressing and would cost more than the heavier tires.
Compass Bicycles: 700C Tires

Probably use about 70 psi, - ah chip seal - what chip seal?

DubT

Tire life is something that I do not understand completely. We have been using the Schwalbe ONE tires for 5 months, a 23 tubeless on the front and a 25 tube type on the rear. We now have over 2,000 miles on the tires and the front looks to be in excellent condition, the rear is showing some wear but I hope to get another 500 miles out of it before it gets replaced with another Schwalbe ONE, still tube type as the 25mm tubeless is not available yet. We have not had any flats or issues. We live on the prairie and do not climb all that much, maybe 500 feet in a 25 mile ride, our team weight is right at 300 pounds and we normally ride township oiled and chipped roads. For us the Schwalbe ONES are smooth and comfortable.

twocicle

Ritter does a lot of climbing - steeper stuff too. Likely this puts a lot more scrubbing wear into the tires, especially the rear. I would assume that is a key diff between comparative usages.

DubT

Climbing and descending evidently has a big effect on tire wear. Here in the flatland I typically get 2,500 on a rear tire and 4,000 on a front.

SaddleSoar

Had these tires done time on the gravel/dirt LG Creek Trail by any chance? Road tires just aren't made for that kind of abuse.

Ritterview

No, we've stayed away from that for the most part. Here's the two areas on the rear tire that are worn through. The open rent has a boot on the inside to get us home. I don't think the front tire is nearly so worn. Perhaps the worn patches are from locking up the rear brake?

DubT

Are you able to lock up your rear brake and skid the tire? If so you have some awesome brakes.

waynesulak

Sounds like rear brake modulation might be an issue. I would like to be able to lock up the rear brake but have the modulation never to do it except in a test.

Forget the gravel roads, Single racing tires have very little rubber so skidding a rear tire on pavement on the tandem would wear through one quickly. I don't think the tire was not designed for that.

Possibly using only the rear brake rather than both brakes on a steep downhill?

rahill

So much for the blanket statement that "wider tires have lower rolling resistance"

I also question the methodology of using the same pressure in all tires, regardless of size. I suppose this means the contact patch remains the same size (albeit a different shape) but it would be interesting to also see the results for constant "tire drop". Perhaps there won't be much difference, as they already noted that significantly lower pressure made little difference to the rolling resistance.

twocicle

It does seem to show something of a bizarre result. While tire such as the Conti are as you would expect (wider=lower resistance), the Schwalbe One are the reverse (narrow=lower resistance). I can't help but feel that someone goofed on the chart.

TandemGeek should take note of the Vred TriComps being the worst. Doh!

Ritterview

Whoa, I get the new 28 mm Continental Grand 4 Seasons 28 mm, inflate to 100 psi, and it is only 25.47 mm. The GP4000S 25 mm that it replaced was 25.96 mm, the Schwalbe One 28 mm on the front is 27.6 mm.