What Makes Tires Fast?
I'm not an Engineer or a Designer so I really don't know what goes into the design and manufacturer of tires but I am curious. We have had a few warmish days here where I live and I have taken advantage of a few of them to get out on my road bike. When I bought the bike the tires were pretty much falling apart. Old, sidewalls flaking off, cuts, scrapes, basically falling apart so I bought new tires and I got the Continental Ultra Sport 3 tires in size 700 x 25mm. I have used several iterations of the Ultra Sport tires over the years as well as the higher priced tires and my experience with Continentals has been mixed. Mostly I have found the Continental tires as a whole to be slow and not responsive as if I was dragging a boat anchor behind me while other tires have felt very lively and fast. When I was racing I bought a set of the Continental GP3000 tires and did not like them at all. They felt slow and sluggish. I pulled them off my bike when I found a set of the no longer made Panracer Stradius Pro tires at my LBS. When I put the Panracer tires on my bike it felt like someone had strapped a rocket motor to the seat tube of my bike. A lot of people say the Vittoria tires are fast and lively but my experience says otherwise. I bought a set of the Diamante Pros in size 700 x 23 and again I did not like them but I did like the Michelin Pro race tires.
There is a lot of talent in this group and some pretty smart people so again I ask, what makes a tire fast and lively? Thanks everyone.