Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Nashbar has these on sale for 30 bux marked down from 75.

I'm looking for a nice fast, light and smooth riding tire for my Team Miyata and I'm considering the Vittoria Open Corsa Evo Cx (since thats whats on sale)

290tpi, and they advertise it as an 'open tubular'. Anyone have experiences with this tire? Would it be a good choice if I'm planning for fast road rides on weekends? Lots of hills and (hopefully) goin fast.

bigbossman 

I have the clincher version on my Pogliaghi. VERY, VERY nice tires. You'd be foolish not to buy them at that price.

Of course the one's on sale are the yellow ones.....

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

its a stroke of luck...they are going on a bike with Matching Yellow Cable Housing

SJX426 

I see them as 30 off not sale at $30. Am I missing something?

SJX426 

OK found them. I was looking for tubulars not clinchers.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

yeah these are clinchers, their advertising copy says its 'as close as you can get to a tubular with a Clincher' or something like that.

heh matching tubes are on sale too!.....and free shipping for orders over 50 bux today. Not bad.

bigbossman 

Color aside, you're going to be hard pressed to find a finer rolling tire than these, regardless of price. At ~$30/ea, you need to stock up. If the black one's were on sale, I'd be buying a bunch.

gomango

My wife races on Vittoria Corsa Evo CX's and Triathlon Evo Cs tubulars. These are both great tires. She's "very" light, and she gets decent mileage on these. She bought three sets of the Corsa Evos last year for $32 a pop.

I just ordered a set of Vittoria Corsa Evo CX II tubulars for my Tommasini Sintesi. Can't wait to try these soon.

These clinchers you guys are talking about sound intriguing as well. How about the mileage on the Open Corsa Evo Cx clinchers? How are they in the rain?

bigbossman 

I don't ride in the rain.

Mileage? Dunno yet. So far, just over 800 miles. I'm a heavy rider, so I don't expect to go over 1500 with them, though. That's the trade-off - fantastic ride characteristics, shorter life. What the hell - life is too short to ride on bricks.

ls0725

After going through a lot of middle/lower-middle priced tires such as Conti Ultra Sport, Michelin Lithion, Vittoria Zafiros, etc for the past 2 years, I had to buy a new set again but for a change I wanted to try those higher priced tires and see for myself.

I bought 2 Vittoria Open Corsa evo cx 320 tpi and after 100 miles I can say the old "you get what you paid for" proved true once again.

From the time I put air on them, the curved tubular-looking profile looked bigger than the other tires. The ride was really smooth and fast! Grippy and not hard even when pumped to 120 psi. max is 145.

At double the price of what I am used to buy, I will say that I wont go back to the 'middling' tires. Yes the extra money was worth it. I paid about 55 dollars per tire, tax included.

I know there are loyal followers of Conti GP4000s and Michelin PR3 but I have not tried them to make a comparison or comment.

well biked

I've used the 290 tpi Vittoria open tubulars (white version), they are truly an awesome tire, as far as ride quality, and a real bargain at that price as others have said. The newer version of the Vittoria EVO CX open tubular is 320 tpi, and available in a 700 x 25c as well as 700 x 23. I've ridden the new 700 x 25's a couple of times on my Pinarello, they're freakin' awesome as well.

Challenge is another brand that's making "open tubulars," like the Vittorias they use the same casing as the corresponding tubular, just made into a clincher. Obviously they're not going to ride exactly like a tubular, because they're not tubulars, but they're definitely the best clinchers I've ever ridden. You give up a lot in regard to durability and puncture protection, these tires are all about the ride. Although I've only had flats a little more than average with them.

My favorite of all these "open tubulars" that I've ridden so far is the Challenge 700 x 27c Parigi-Roubaix open tubular(260 tpi). The width of these tires mounted on Mavic CXP-33 rims is actually right at 30mm. I've been using them on my "day touring bike," an '09 Jamis Aurora Elite (Reynolds 631 frame), and the ride is simply amazing. I've also worn out a pair of Challenge Criterium open tubulars (300tpi) on the Pinarello, I'd say they're very similar to the Vittorias.

Here's a pic of the white 290 tpi Vittorias on the Pinarello:



And here are the Challenge Parigi-Roubaix 700 x 27's on the Jamis:

pastorbobnlnh 

...and I just installed a set on my Cannondale.





Wrote a little about their first ride here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Past-a-School!

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I've been riding these tires now for about a month and I've had 2 flats ..one in each tire (seperate incidents)

I really don't think its my rims. They are taped up with that nice fabric Velox tape rather than a rubber rim strip and I don't feel any pokey bits in there.
I don't think its pinch flats as each time its just been a single pin hole in the tube, plus I keep these pumped up to 120 before each ride. Each time i've thoroughly inspected the tire and found nothing sticking in it though.

Is it possible I need to pump them up higher than 120? I only take em up to 120 because thats as high as my floor pump will go.

When they hold air they are wonderful tires, but I feel like I've gotta really watch out for road debris lest I puncture more tubes.

I like em but If I continue to get flats at this rate I'm gonna need to switch to a hard case tire. All my other bikes wear hard case tires and I never get flats.

caloso

Torelli also makes an "open tubular" tire. Very nice riding tire. I've never ridden tubulars, but these were by far the most supple clincher tires I'd ever ridden. Unfortunately, they wore down very quickly and punctured easily. If you have clean and well paved roads, I'd recommend them. But for NorCal country roads, nope.

bigbossman 

I weight 230lbs and keep mine at 120psi with no issues.

well biked

The limitation with clinchers much beyond 120 to 130 is usually the rims, they're not designed for much more pressure than that. So even if the tires say something higher, the rims are the limiting factor.

Also, with the Vittorias, I've seen some with the tubular max psi printed on one side of the tire (200psi I think), and the clincher max pressure (which is much less than the tubular max pressure) printed on the other side. Seems like a bad idea to me, because someone is sure to try and inflate their clinchers to 200 psi........not good. But it does show that these open tubulars do indeed use the same casing as the corresponding tubulars.

CV-6 

Ditto. I have good results with VeloFlex. PBK has them usually for around $36 a pop and free shipping to US.

JML

The 320 tpi Open Corsa Evo CX, in 25c, is an amazing tire. Looks good, too. It comes only in black/black.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'm around 200, so I dunno whats up...maybe they just don't deal with junk on the road very well.

bigbossman 

Well...... that's yer problem, right there.

Seriously though, I don't live in an urban environment that has lots of stuff strewn about. I'm out in the 'burbs/country, and we have pretty clean roads, I guess. I do ride in centuries all over the state though, and aside from the odd goat-head have never had a problem.

I did slash a brand new Continental on some road debris last month though. That sorta pissed me off - tossing out a new $40 tire. Still had the damn nubs on it.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'm definitely in the 'burbs...actually quite a bit of farmland too out this way, but ya know... its New Jersey...you can go from 6 lane highways to busy town centers to the middle of nowhere in the span of 10 or 15 miles. There's always a highway to cross somewhere and that always means some crap on the road.

I only paid 30 bux a tire for these...I won't be horribly upset if I have to shelve em and only dig em out for a track day.

any recommendations for something a little tougher?

These Michelin Krylion tires are well reviewed (and have an awesome yellow stripe)

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...5_10000_200523

bigbossman 

I've had great luck with Continental GP4000's - they roll nice and last a pretty long time.

Ablaut

+1, I love my set. The grip feels good even in pouring rain. Lot of grit and glass where I ride in Chicago - they look a bit cut up pretty quickly but they hold up without flats really well.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Those look nice too....just found em on sale for 40 bux a piece. Plus the color choices are great. They even have a Gumwall w/ a black tread....and most importantly for me they've got blackwall w/ Yellow

bigbossman 

How bad off are your Vittoria's? I have a slightly used set of GP4000's in black - 700x25. Maybe a trade?