When I saw the title of this thread, I just KNEW that the OP had bought Gatorskins before I even opened the thread to read it.

Good news! Since JensonUSA has a nice return policy, I'll be able to return them and start my search for another set of tires.

Is the max pressure actually 95psi? The site for Gatorskins showed 85PSI as the minimum and 102PSI as the max. Just curious. Glad to hear you can return them if you aren't happy with them. To me it sounds like they are simply underinflated.

I went to the site and saw the same thing you did; however, the sidewalls of the tires say 95 psi, so who knows...

I had Gatorskins on my older road bike. 25mm width. My new road bike came with Schwalbe Duranos (also 25mm) and these lasted 5000 miles and I had relatively few flats. I now have about 500 miles on Continental GP4000s and I like them. The roads here are paved, smooth and in good condition overall. YMMV.

No issues here with G-skins at high speed. I ride with 28 mm wides. I like them, mostly due to fact that I have not had a flat tire with them since 2009. I'm on my third or fourth set.

One of the problem people forget about new tires be the bike, motorcycle, or auto tires is there is like a hundred mile before they work properly and grip. Friend was killed about 30 minutes after putting new tire on his crock rocket, he rode like a crazy man tring to die all the time. His fatel mistake was doing crazy stuff on a freeway circular road at 95, when the tire started to skid it was all over.

BTW a little rubbing with 600-800 grit sandpaper on a new tire surface breaks that new film, and the tire work better.

I'd agree with the previous posters who point out that Gatorskins are not for everyone. I have a friend who swears by them and thinks they are fast tires, but I'm with the OP and can't stand them, to me they feel stiff and roll slower than almost any other road tire. And I'm pretty sure I know why this is so: I'm a lightweight rider but my Gatorskin-loving friend is deep in Clyde territory, his extra weight is enough to force the Gatorskin's stiff sidewall into compliance, allowing the tire to flex and absorb road variations, while under my 150 pounds the tires are nearly rigid, regardless of inflation pressure.

OP, if you're a lighter rider and like me are not especially flat-prone as a rule, try the GP4000s. I have those on my main commuter (and on a couple of road bikes too), and I cannot recommend them highly enough - they roll very fast and comfortably, have moderate flat protection, and a very good lifespan for such a soft, fast tire.

I'm about 170, so not too light, but I'll put the GP4000s on my radar while I decide what to do. For now, I've put my old tires back on, but they're getting close to needing replacement.

I dislike Gatorskins as well. Put some 25s on my commuter bike and removed after a couple of months because I just did not like the ride. They have lots of wear left on the tread but I don't know if I could stand riding them long enough to wear them out. I don't recall them being squirrelly, but stiff and unforgiving.

I had the same experience with my Gatorskins (700x28, 145lb rider). Give it couple hundred miles and they'll calm down.

Yeah, sounds like the gatorskins are not much enjoyed. If you want to stick with the 32 width and try to achieve your original goal of lower pressure and a more comfortable ride, I would do some research into good tires at that width. I love my Maxxis tires. But in 700c their largest is 28mm.

Tractive force is independent of contact surface area.

F=muN, where mu is the proportionality constant (coefficient of friction) and N is the apparent force of the surfaces pressing together (or W for weight, in this case).

Ok. What I find is too high of a pressure causes the tire to lose (some) contact over road imperfections. Lower pressure (which gives a larger contact patch) maintains better grip / road contact. So if it's not the contact patch, what's the science here?

There's your problem: The minimum pressure for those tires is 85. Biggest Gatorskin I've used is 28; nice tire but it is slow, sluggish. Fine for a twitchy bike you want to lobotomize. The thousand 5 star reviews on Amazon ain't lying, but in no way are they a plush tire.

F=muN only applies when the two surfaces are in contact. Bumps, debris, cracks, etc. all cause higher pressure tires to rebound with more apparent force due to the conservation of energy which states that, in a closed system energy only ever changes forms. In a higher pressure tire, the energy with which you hit a bump returns to the tire in such a manner that the tire skips and contact between the two surfaces is momentarily lost, so F=muN collapses to 0 (the tire is essentially in the air; in the case of sand you've then changed the surface and thus the coefficient of friction, or mu in the equation). When a lower pressure tire hits a bump, the tire conforms more to the shape of the bump and energy is conserved in the form of momentum and heat. So the issue then is one of whether or not the tire is actually in contact with the ground surface, lower pressure tires are better at this than higher pressures.

It's not exactly that simple, but that's the gist. You may then ask "why are dragster tires so wide then...?" That is just a matter of applying forces over a larger area so that the tires can actually be used, because the tires themselves are soft and sticky.

I had a similar problem trying to run 25mm on some 19mm (outer width) rims. At the correct (low) pressure, the tire would squirm all over the place, so I had to inflate them to where I was riding 23mm tires. You're basically stuck riding the same pressure you would on your only 28mm tires, unless you want to get some new rims. As a quick test inflate them back up to where you used to run your 28mm tires, I'll bet they stop wandering.

If you are looking for recommendations for a nicer riding 32 mm tire, I have had excellent experiences with Vittoria Voyager Hypers and Panaracer Pasela PTs. The Hypers roll nicer, but the Paselas are less expensive and have a little bit of tread that is better for unpaved surfaces..

I'm on my second set of Gatorskins. First set were 28mm, second set is 25mm. I've never had a flat with either, which is important to me and why I use them. And I've never any stability issues, at speeds up to 50 mph on downhills. It could be due to my weighing around 200 lbs.

Anyway, I like them!

Mark

A fatter tire should still be a bit more forgiving than a thinner tire at the same pressure. There is a bit more room to accomodate the displaced air inside the fatter tire, so that absorbs a bit more of the jolt as you go over a bump.

What about folding vs. wire bead Gatorskins? Is there a difference ride wise? I have folding Gators in 23mm size and like them a lot more than the wire bead Armadillo's that they replaced.

The ones I had were folding bead and I haven't ridden the wire bead versions.

Just thought I'd give an update. I threw my old 28s back on for a while and finally got around to trying 32s again. This time I picked up 700x32 Panaracer T-Servs. Good news - They ride great even on descents...nice and stable. Very happy with the ride. The bad news (which isn't directly the tires fault) - I got 2 spoke side flats on the way into work this morning. Time for new rim tape. This happened on the front tire last time I switched tires, but I was lazy and only replaced the rim tape up front. Weird how it happens right after putting on new tires. I guess everything worked in concert with the old tires and the new ones just rub differently.

Glad to hear you found tires you like and that you like the 32's and thanks for the update. Sometimes you don't know if advice given is heeded or not.

i bought a used coda elite that the guy had put on 32 gatorskins. Didn't like them. Switched to my previous favorite Panaracer T-serv 28's and couldn't be happier.