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Old 05-28-10 | 11:20 PM
  #29  
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aley
Goathead Magnet
 
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 673
Likes: 11
From: Albuquerque, NM

Bikes: Surly LHT, Cannondale Caffeine F3

I've been riding 700x23 Ultra Gatorskins for perhaps three years. I'm 250 lbs. (hey, give me a break, I'm also 6'5 so I'm not all that fat!) and run them at 120 psi. The ride is acceptable (partly due to the steel frame and carbon fork on my Jamis Aurora), but if I had a lot of rough roads on my commute I'd run 25 or 28 widths at somewhat lower pressures to take the edge off.

The good things about these tires: They're reasonably flat resistant and they're very fast. I typically flat once ever 2000-3000 miles, although when I do flat it's not uncommon to have to replace the tube because of multiple small holes that have been sealed by the True Goo that I run (I'm morally opposed to putting five patches on a tube at once!). They're not as flat resistant as the Armadillos I used to ride, but they're so much faster and have a road feel that I prefer that I put up with the occasional flat.

The bad: They don't wear as long as Armadillos or Bontrager Hard Cases (I get about 2000 miles out of a rear and perhaps 6000 out of a front). I have had one sidewall failure, but that may have been due to mounting and unmounting it several times - the tread was very thin and I was flatting very often (this spring I managed to flat every day for a week, among other things) and my own foolish effort to eke a bit more life out of the tire. I replaced the front, put the old front on the rear, put in a set of Mr. Tuffys for added reassurance (after the CEO commented on how often I was late to work because of bike problems, I figured I needed it fixed NOW), and I haven't flatted again since. The yellow sidewall gets looking really dirty almost immediately - my Armadillos looked much nicer for much longer. Previous threads on the Contis have suggested that their quality control can be spotty - there seem to be more instances of infant mortality of these tires than with others.

Overall, I've been pleased with the Gatorskins, and when I wear this set out I'll put the same thing back on. I've also had great success with Hard Cases and Armadillos, but neither of them has the feel of the Gatorskins that I'm hooked on.
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