Scarbo

The best Continentals are Michelins.

Racing Dan

Of course. In certain scenarios small, and very small differences, count, but then that should be clarified, rather than claiming that a gp4000 II is "much better" than a Ultra sport II. Is it really? According to bicyclerollingresistance.com the difference between them are ~2 Watts at the tested speed and it only scores a little worse in puncture protection. According to the manufacturer the compound even lasts longer. IMO, the numbers suggest small, but possibly important differences. Not big differences that can be assumed to be relevant to everybody, when price is factored in.

tagaproject6

I ride the tires that I can find "on sale". I am not sensitive enough to feel ride differences. Flats do not seem to care which tires I am using. I am not sensitive enough to feel any resistance to any rolling. If they wear out I replace it with whatever I have on hand.

Use what you believe is useful for your particular values and your sensibility. Snobs don't really care about you or your opinion, they only care about other snobs who care about what each have to say about the other. Life goes on. Ride.

chip1

I own GP4000s, Ultra Sport II, Pro4 Endurance, and some other tires not mentioned in this thread. All 3 seem to have low rolling resistance, but I've had best luck with the Michelins so they're currently on two of my bikes. I honestly cannot rely on the Ultra Sport as I've had too many punctures so I stashed them away as backups. 4000s has slightly better resistance but both front and rear tires developed a small sidewall rip. All in all I find bicyclerollingresistance.com info fairly accurate.

Motolegs

GP4000 "hype" is warranted. Really nice tires, outstanding grip and low rolling resistance. Picked up a flat from a thorn, but that's par for the course where I live.

rm -rf

That thread is from 2014.
I've been riding GP4000S for 6 years or more. A few years ago, I had two that showed fraying sidewalls, so maybe there was a manufacturing problem back then.

Maybe 5 years ago, I had one GP4000S sidewall sliced open, hitting a large pyramid shaped piece of sharp gravel. That was a few months after the OEM tire on my new bike got a sliced sidewall from a metal shard. So I started to worry about thin, vulnerable sidewalls. But no sidewall cuts at all since then. Just unlucky back then, I suppose.

I do tend to ride in the right tire lane. The car kick debris off to the side of the road, so the road is cleaned off. If I was riding on (the non-existent) shoulders, I might look for more puncture protection.

rubiksoval

So maybe not a huge difference between an ultra sport and a gp4000s.

But there can be a pretty big difference between cheap tires and better ones.. If you use a powermeter pretty regularly, you can certainly spot a speed difference between cheap tires that roll like bricks and the alternatives.

Up until last year I always trained on the cheapest tires Nashbar or Performance had on sale. Then I started getting really irritated with the speed differentials and I figured why bother? Enjoy the speed, enjoy the ride.

So now I do.

SylvainG

Yep, got a puncture AND a cut sidewall in less than 500 km on a brand new Conti... Still bought a replacement Conti. Must have been bad luck or the Mr Tuffy because I didn't have any trouble since then ib about 2000 km...

bbbean 

This.

Wileyrat

I just switched from Rubino Pro III's to the Conti's, and I'm sold.

If you (op) think it's all hype, it's simple, don't buy them.

lyrictenor1

To be fair, the Rubino Pro IIIs and GP4000sii are different types of tires at different price points. A better comparison would be the Vittoria Corsa G+ (non-Speed version) and the GP4000sii.

on the path

Tires I've been using for quite a while. Former Conti user, I'm good with the Vittorias.

Wileyrat

So are the tires the op was talking about, and besides what does fair have to do with it?

Masque

Go tubeless. Then you won't have to deal with the GP 4000 S II hype anymore.

('course, when they release the S III....)

WhyFi

Shoot, I'd be interested in a tubeless SIII.

f4rrest

How 'bout a tubeless gatorskin?

Masque

Sure! All the benefits of modern tubeless setups, except with the charming yesteryear feel of Flinstonian ride quality. Sounds great.

Campag4life

Can you elaborate on how the Rubino Pro III's and GP4000sii's are targeted for different applications?

lyrictenor1

Sure. The Rubino Pro III is more of durable training tire, and the GP4000sii is not as durable, and has more supple compound. I'd make a TPI comparison, but with Conti's 110tpi x3 ply setup, it's not really a straightforward comparison compared to the Rubino's 150tpi.

The Conti for sure is a quicker tire, and is MORE of a race tire than the Rubino.

Campag4life

And now where I come down.
For training..how 'most ride most the time', Vittoria Rubio Pro III all day long versus the less durable GP4000.
GP4000 isn't much faster. Fractionally. It is 'fractionally' faster and in my opinion, too great a deficit in wear resistance and puncture resistance. Again, in my opinion the Rubino Pro III has the best combination of speed, wear and puncture resistance on the market. Conti's nor Michelin measure up and the difference in speed if not racing doesn't matter and its small to begin with anyway.

If racing, neither. I would still stay within the Vittoria family because I believe they make better tires per each category compared to Continental and Michelin.

drewguy

To throw a little different view in - can't quarrel with the grip and ride quality. These tires definitely felt faster than the stock Bontragers that came on my Trek

But, 4 punctures in ~600 miles is 4 more than the 1500 miles I got on those rock hard R1s, riding the same roads and in basically the same style. latest puncture I couldn't even find the tire damage, but on the first two there was a nice cut right across the middle. I guess I should be happy I haven't had the sidewall blow out.

Campag4life

And that's the problem as 'many' have reported about the GP4000's and why I don't ride 'em. But...you don't have to default all the way to a heavy, slow, reinforced tire for durability and flat protection. Rubino Pro III's are both relatively fast, very durable and flat proof.

Cyclist0108

I just got a pair to replace my Clement Strada 28 mm x 700, 120 TPI, based on recommendations here and the rolling resistance data. I wanted to like the Clements better, and have a bunch of them on several bikes, and several different versions (MSO, USH, Strada) for my primary ride. Although the GP4000 28mm are significantly wider (like 34 mm), and although I am slow, my speed improved significantly (i.e., reproducibly > 10%), and subjectively I find them more comfortable. They are also supposedly more puncture-resistant than the Clements they replaced, despite having lower rolling resistance.

dmanthree

Funny....I did. And I'm back to the Contis. Tubeless road tires are a solution in search of a problem.

jamesdak 

Too each their own of course. But I put from 5000-8000 miles a year on my bikes which mainly all have the GP4000's . I average less than one flat per year. I did have a sidewall blow when mounting a tire many years ago. Part of that bad batch or my error, who knows. I've never had it happen since and don't even give it a thought.

What impressed me was the time I had to do a panic stop when an idiot in a pickup that was pulling a camper decided to do a U-Turn in front of me as I was descending in the 40 mph range. Accidentally, locked the rear for split second. Anyway got home about 10 miles later and saw that I had worn all the way though the rubber and could see the white inner carcass. No flat, good stuff. Heck I took a BB size chunk out of a brand new tire this summer on some really bad chipseal that was being used as a temporary repair. Didn't realize it and descended on that one at speeds over 50 mph with no issues. Although I do check my tires before descending now, LOL!

Anyway, for me they are rock solid and a great choice.