petermi

Yesterday I received the 700-28 continental ultra 2000 tires I ordered from Nashbar. The reason I chose 28’s was to take the ‘edge’ off the ride on my old Cannondale frame as I was running 23’s. After mounting them they looked a little skinny so I measured them. Lo and behold 23.5 mm.

Is this due to me reusing my old 23/25 tubes or are continental a bunch of liars!?

darkmother

Yep, they fudge their numbers, but so do almost all bicycle tire manufacturers. They do it so that they can advertise a lighter tire, and so that they can skimp on the casing quality. Continental seems a little worse than most in the "creative sizing" dept. Those conti 28's are way smaller than my specialized 26's, but there is no way those 26's are 26mm wide. The tube size you used will not affect the inflated tire width. (BTW, I hate those 2000's but they are the only 700c tires I can get for $12.50 each).

petermi

Thanks for the reply.

I bought them because of the low price too. I guess I’ll notch up another bad bicycle related purchase. Does any one have a recommendation for a lightweight road smoothing 28 (actual size) tire?

Doctor Morbius

I've been pretty happy with the wire Conti Ultra 2000's. Several weeks back Performance had them for $9.98 so I placed an order though Nashbar using a price match and a 10% off coupon. I stocked up. Hard to beat that kind of deal for a road tire made in EUROPE. My thoughts were for that price I could use them on the trainer.

True they don't measure up size wise though. Darkmother is spot on when he says the 28's are about the width of a Specialized 26. Also, the 25's are about the width of my 23 Specialized Turbo's.

They're still a good tire even though undersized.

darkmother

I think it is not worth it to cheap out on tires. I went through 3 of those conti 2000s in a couple of months from sidewall cuts. It is way too easy to do it to those tires-even a pothole can cut the casing-now that is poor quality. Plus, I got flats a couple of times a month. I kept thinking, "yeah, but they are so cheap", but in the long run they cost me way more than buying a decent set of tires right off the bat. Look for a tire that has a high # of TPI in the casing. A good tire will have a relatively flexible casing, instead of trying to use the rubber as a structural element.

It's a little too early to tell, but the Specialized Turbo kevlar tires I scored off ebay have been really good. I've smacked some potholes really hard with them, and run over tons of glass, and even riden some MTB trails on them, and no flats yet. They are also quick.

My favourite tires were Michelin axial(?) 28c kevlar's-they were actually really 28mm, and as a result, couldn't fit in a modern road frame. Lasted a long time, and were comfortable and surprisingly fast. Not sure if they make them any more. For low budget, I've had good luck with IRC tires, in various varieties as well. Avocet is good too.

darkmother

The ones I have are made in Taiwan. I wonder if there are two different varieties of the same tire. Either way, for 8 bucks a piece, you can't go wrong for a trainer tire.

The thing is one flat at the wrong time can be much more of a pain in the butt than the cost difference to step up to a real tire. I have only recently come to this conclusion, normally I am too frugal to make such a connection.

monogodo

I've got 28 width Conti Ultra 2000s on my Merckx, and I love them. Much smoother ride than the 25 width tires I had before, and way better than the 20s I used to ride years ago. I bought them back in 2000, when I was commuting by bike, and have had no problems at all. Of all the tire brands I've tried, I prefer Continental.