I love my Gatorskins, they ride great and never give me any problems... Except after about 2k miles I'll get a flat, usually some slow leak that I don't find until the next day. Its all downhill from there, the tires seem to actively seek out little glass shards, wires, and bits of metal. For me that means a new pair of tires every 2 months. Sorry little bit of a rant, 3 flats on my last 3 commutes.

I've had one pair of Gatorskins, and my experience was exactly as you describe.

The Ultra gatorskins were designated as racing training tires when they came out. At the time they had lower rolling resistance than many dedicated racing tires. 2K miles isn't so bad for such a low rolling resistance tire, and the sudden increase in punctures show how effective the tires puncture protection was when they where new. You simply get used to riding through glass without any problems, so when the rubber layer gets too thin, you suddenly see an increase in punctures, but the glass/ radial tire steel wires/tacks /nails /flints were there all along.

The Gatorskins are no longer being made. The new tire is called Gator Hardshell and is no longer a fast racing training tire, but is now designated as a commuter bike tire. They have improved sidewalls and much more rubber so they ought to last longer and have improved puncture protection. But they also weigh more and their rolling resistance are probably higher than the old Gatorskins.

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Regards

About to turn over 5,000 miles on a pair installed in 2007. Had one glass flat in back at around 2,500 miles.

Are you sure about that? They're still on the Continental web site here under Race tires.

I believe they are still making the Gatorskins, they just added the Gator Hardshell to the line-up.

I have more than that on my gatorskins in 700c.

Currently at 3,500 miles on a pair of gator skin ultras. Had my first flat on the back about 300 miles ago.
The back tire is squared off and getting thin, so probably in the next month or so I'm looking at a replacement.

I thought the same thing at 3,500 miles, but then decided to see just how far it would go. It's looked like that for 1,500 miles now, closing in on 5,000.

Well it turns out I was wrong. The Gator Hardshell press release combined with the fact that I couldn't see the Ultra Gatorskins in the new 2010 Continental UK catalog made me think they have discontinued the original Ultra Gatorskins. They haven't, but apparently they have been renamed to "GatorSkins" only. The anti-puncture layer have been upgraded too to their new "Poly X Breaker" layer.

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Regards

3500 miles, no flats and plenty of thread left. (more so in front) I'm a feather weight and mostly ride in the cleanest parts of the lane.

I got a little over 3,000 on my first set of Gatorskins. My current set is over 3,000 now and seems to have a lot of life left.

i have not used gatorskins but i have had 2 pairs of 4 seasons that had their sidewalls cut at around the 50 and 100 mile mark. no more conti tires for me

4200 miles on my current set of ultra gatorskins without a flat. The back one is really squared off, but I am going to keep riding it for at least another 1000 miles.

One thing I find helpful is to go over the tires every couple of weeks looking for anything that is embedded. I've picked small shards out of the tires that may have eventually worked their way through to cause a flat.

I averaged 3200 miles on a 28mm Gatorskin in the rear. After that, I'd start getting bits of glass and rocks causing slow leakers.

The compound tends to pick up a lot of stuff when it's wet, too. On a pair with only 2000 miles on them I got 3 flats in 10 miles during a rain soaked 200k. (That's when I switched to Pasela TG 32mm folding bead).

I get about 6k on them. 3K on the front and then 3k more on the back. Its been about 3K since my last flat which was right around the time that everything needed to be rotated

Get some mr. tuffy tire liners.

Thanks for the tip tsl. I'll probably buy a replacement tire just in case and keep riding the current one to see how many more miles I can get out of it.

My experience mirrors the OP, except for me they usually last closer to 3K miles. Once they appraoch that mileage, they seem to pick up little shards of glass, metal etc, especially when the road are wet. No fun changing a flat in the rain.

Absolutely keep a replacement on hand. I keep replacement tires for all my bikes, 'cause you never know. (Of course I cheat, and buy my tires in sets of three, since the rear wears at about twice the rate of the front. So I have the replacement available right from day one.)

Meanwhile, it's now become a bit of a game to see how much I can get out of that tire. I'm checking it regularly for the first signs of the casing to show through.

So I got my first flat on my Gator Hardshell, with tire liners, at about 150 miles. I will consider it a fluke since I have had good luck in the past with Gatorskins.