As I age, comfort is getting to be a bigger issue. I ride an aluminum framed Nishiki Maricopa, and through some upgrades, I've softened the ride a bit (carbon fork helped big time)

So now, it's onto the tires.

I ride Gatorskins, but after a few years with them, I'm seeing tiny cracks forming on the outside. They're getting a bit worn too. I'd like to switch away from them to something less harsh, but as fast or faster of a tire. I've read reports of people moving onto GP4000's and actually feeling a difference in the ride quality. Is it that noticeable?

The other tire I'm considering are schwalbe One's. But reading reports, GP4000's seem to be better built. I just know that I need to move away from Gatorskins.

My compromise is to put a GP4000 on the front and a Gatorskin on the back (where most flats happen). Also use 25mm or wider tires if your bike allows them.

after years of using Gators, I switched to the 4Ks...

night and day difference in feel. don't notice any difference in number of flats I get either. get very good mileage from them too. one pair went 5,800 on the rear and 9,000 on the front.

tried Schwalbe ONEs...nice tire, not great for mileage tho...<2,500 on the rear.

Another Tire to consider is the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season. Sort of a cross between the GP4000 and the Gatorskin. They have a more subtle ride while still offering some flat protection. I ride them and love them.

Continental Grand Prix 4-Seasons

Continental Grand Prix 4 Season Vectran Bike Tyre | Chain Reaction Cycles

Got my Gators and I'm never looking back!

I've gone to the Grand Prix GT Continental Grand Prix GT Folding Tyre Twinpack - Folding Tyres - Ribble Cycles To me, the ride is similar to GP4000s but they seem to be more durable. Great price right now at Ribble.

I've been riding the Gator Hardshell tires for around 7,000 miles now. I switched to some GP4000's and they were smoother and faster, but I chewed them up in about 400 miles. I got them on discount from PBK. Wondering if I just got some ****ty tires from them as others have said their GP4000's last long than that. My roads are really bad where I live and I often find myself on stretches of gravel.

In another few thousand miles when these Gators wear out, I've going to try the 4 seasons.

I like feel and comfort more than mileage... the gatorskins are not good for either of those.

I use a 28 mm Gatorskin on the front. It is not too bad except on chipseal it will rattle fillings out of your head. I run them with a few pounds less air which helps comfort quite a bit.

I've got a Gator Hardshell on the rear, and a GP4S on the front...
At least for now.

Pressure and tire size makes some difference, but I can't say I feel a huge difference from one tire to the next.

I recently switched from Gatorskins to Schwalbe One's, because I got tired of the Gatorskins becoming slippery as hell when they got wet. (A lot of wet this time of year from badly maintained sprinklers.) No more skidding in the wet, and as a side benefit, the Schwalbe One's feel softer at the same psi.

It's all about compromise. Gatorskins offer excellent flat protection, but truthfully the GP4000s aren't too bad, although I definitely flat more with them. I really like the feel of the GP4000s. Maybe the marketing hype got to me, but to my body they feel smoother.

As others have mentioned, the GP 4 Season is an excellent compromise between the two. They are my go-to winter tire.

You won't gain anything by putting a Gator on the rear and a 4000 on the front, the Gator will slow you down a bit like both are doing now. Actually if you're concerned about flats then get the 4000's for front and rear then on the rear add a Panaracer FlatAway liner which is very tough and it's the lightest weight liner on the market.

Personally I wouldn't even use 4000's but I know how everyone thinks Conti are the bees knees of tires, but in reality they're not, there are other tires on the market that are at least as good if not better for less money.

Michelin Pro4 Endurance V2s in 25mm. Great compromise tire.
https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-ty...ductsuggestion

Which ones?

Almost the entire line of Vittoria tires are fantastic like the Rubino Pro 2 and 3, Rubino Pro G+ Rubino Pro Endurance G+, Corsa G+; Michelin Pro4 series, Krylion, Specialized makes great tires too but they rarely go on sale except once a year in the Spring where you get 2 for 1; Maxxis makes a couple of good tires as does Schwalbe. All those tires can be found on sales and closeouts at highly reduced prices that Conti never has (Conti on occasion will have a 10% sale, but the others will have 40 to 65% sales and sometimes even more). I never pay more than $25 a tire and I routinely get tires that normally in season retail for $55 and above, most of the time I spend between $14 to $20. Just have to watch for end of season sales and closeouts and stock up for the next season.

Of course I buy everything on sale or closeout anyways.

I used to ride with Vittoria Rubino Pro tires until I got a flat tire . It was so hard to get the tire off the rim I was cursing at the side of the road for at least 10 minutes . Now I am on Conti 4000/s for the last 10 years and can not be happier . I can take off/put on the tire in less than 10 minutes with mininum effort .

On the other hand I find Conti tires to be among the cheapest, particularly on the newest model out. I just ordered two GP4000S II last night from Wiggle @$34.49 delivered to my door. That's even high because I remember people saying they paid less than $30 from other sources recently.

I prefer the ride and handling of the gp4000s over the Gatorskins and have not had problems with flatting. Current pair are in their second season without a flat.
I also ride Vittoria Rubino Pros, which hit the sweet spot for me in terms of the price/performance/comfort/durability balance.

The problem is this source is awful. Look at their free shipping for example. You need to buy four tires just to qualify. They are notorious for slow shipping, lost orders, and credit card issues. And good luck if you ever need to contact them to check on something.

That's the lowest I've seen those tires, for some reason in England you can get Conti and Campy stuff cheaper than in the states. Still though I never pay more than $20 for a tire.

By the way to the poster that was complaining about how tough it was to put on a tire, in this case a Vittoria. THAT IS A GOOD THING! "What's that?" you scream thinking I'm some sort of idiot for saying such a thing, yes, in case of a blow out or even a fast air leak where you can't stop in time, the tire will be less likely to come off the rim vs an easy to put on tire, and thus put you on a slippery aluminum or CF rim skidding as if on rails to a crash landing someplace with or without injury to yourself and or your bike, but at the very least unrepairable damage to your rim.

The Michelin Pro 4 Endurance and new Power Endurance have the same puncture protection but much better comfort and performance than the Gators.

The Pro4 is on sale on line for as low as $26.99 a tire.

Actually, I ride both. My "fastbike" has GP4000, my "farbike" has Gatorskins. I ride on NJ roads that provide lots of "puncture opportunities." I have replaced some very light, very comfortable tires because they just flatted too often, even though the ride was truly superior. GP4000's have been quite good, only about 3 punctures in maybe 700 miles, to guess. Definitely better ride than the Gators, but... The Gators: do. not. flat. Of course, I don't want to tempt the Gods, but, seriously, I have not gotten a flat with the Gators since install. So when I'm going "really out there" on a long haul, I'll take the Gators everytime. And running them at about 85psi, they're certainly not harsh or distracting.

you cannot even compare the GP 4000 II's to gators or Gator Hardshell

Gator Hardshell or the normal Gator's suck .... they don't grip in the wet

if you want better than Gator's or Gator hardshell, get Schwalbe Durano Plus .... they roll better than gators, have better puncture protection, and grip very well in the dry aswell as wet (I commute over 350km a week and have tried all of the mentioned)

Durano Plus on my commuter, and GP4000 II on my carbon fast bike for weekends

Don't know that I'd characterize them as awful but, for reasons mentioned, I agree they're not really all that good. I'm not intending to purchase from them again.