Dunno who doesn't like Gatorskins. Oh...except me but that's cause I just dislike harder tires but even I have to admit for a high level of protection they are pretty nice. The steel bead version are indeed a bear to mount. A friend bought a pair and tried to mount them. He probably spent an hour fighting with them till I came over and got them mounted. They weren't easy and if you didn't get the bead into the well of the rim, down low, it was not possible. I run tubeless Bontrager tires simply for the safety but before that I ran Conti 4000s and loved them. I like their ride better than my tubeless tires even though I run the tubeless at lower pressure. I'd bet that 80% of my friends run Gatorskins. Very popular around here.