Gatorskin PSA
 

At Bike Tires Direct $34.62, all sizes, free ship over $50 and 10% back on next order, today only, Gold club members.

Make sure you check out the Brit sites before you buy. The wire bead Gator 700x23 is $20 at Ribble.

I just replaced a nearly new set of 700x23 Gatorskins with 700x25 Continental GP4000 IIs. Unless your roads are full of sharp objects and you're plagued by punctures the Gatorskins were like riding a garden hose that bounced me around everywhere compared to the GPs. The Gatorskins also have nearly double the rolling resistance.

It's been a long time since I used Gatorskins. I had almost convinced myself that they weren't that bad.

I've had really good results with puncture resistance of both Grand Prix 4 Seasons and GP 4000S IIs, and they both feel really good on the road IMO. My favorite thing about the GP 4000S IIs is that on a wide rim the 700x28s plump up to around 30mm wide. That's a lot of air for a tire in that class. I bought a bunch of them last year when Ribble had them on sale for around $30 each.

I like that BTD (a local shop for me!) is starting to offer these kind of prices on Conti tires.

I don't like the way that my Gatorskins ride, but I've never had a flat.

I average 25-40 miles per ride and I don't want to deal with a flat when I'm several miles from anyplace. Thus, I'm a lot more interested in puncture resistance than anything else. Since I changed to Gatorskins, flats have become a thing of the past.

You can get a twin pack from Ribble for ~$40. It took forever to get mine though with the standard shipping.

When my younger, fitter cycling friends who are always riding too fast for me to keep up ask what tire I recommend, I always refer them to Gatorskins (aka The Equalizer).

Great price!...but then I would have to use Gatorskins.

Good to know. Western Bike Works has been having a pretty good tire sale, though not that good! FWIW, I've ran over some pretty gnarly crap on my Gatorskins with no consequences. If I ever start getting competitive, though, I'm pretty sure I'll pick up the GP4KS.

...which is kind of odd, since I believe they're the same company. I guess it's not a lot different than Nashbar and Performance Bike offering different deals, but having visited the BTD warehouse and both WBW stores it feels more concrete. I guess their marketing is getting more sophisticated. Either way, I do find them to be good people to work with.

No need to wait until you're feeling competitive. Those are sweet tires. Keep your eyes open -- Western Bikeworks had them on sale for something like $35 earlier this year. If you like skinny tires, you can get them even cheaper. I bought a pair of 700x23 GP4KS for $18 each this past winter at an LBS. It turns out that I don't like skinny tires, so after one ride they went back on the shelf.

You are correct, they are the same, BTD is the parent and will match WBW prices as such.

That is a great price, they must be fixing to change the Gatorskin with all the various on-line stores heavily discounting them. I am in the GP4000S II switch camp too, the 'skins were beating me up and they seemed to be getting less mileage the last year or so. The GPs are on my CAAD 10, I haven't had a chance to try the tubular version of either one.

Bill