urban_cyclist

Do Continental Gator Hardshell tires, offer good puncture resistance?

I just bought a set of these thinking they must be exceptionally good at preventing flats, because they are Gators.

Anyone here have experience with these tires? Can you share your opinion of these tires and their puncture resistance? These are Continental Gator Hardshell tires, not Gatorskins.

Thank you in advance.

texbiker

I use these tires and rarely have a flat. The usual cause when I do have one is the tiny wire or I run over a large piece of metal.

easyupbug 

↑↑↑ Same here, they help with thorns which are on anything green in Southern AZ but not with steel belted tires that should have been taken off the road instead of shredding bits of wire on the road.

randallr

I rode them commuting in Denver for four years, about 6000 miles per year. Had a couple of punctures from goat heads, both were slow flats that required repair after arrival, not on the commute. They are as advertised.

billridesbikes

I have a pair (25mm) on my 'Spring training' wheels. But I prefer my Conti 4Seasons (28mm) that have very similar flat protection but slightly better rolling resistance and feel a bit better on the road than the gators but could be that they're a size wider and run lower pressure too, YMMV.

urban_cyclist

Thanks for the replies. There were no Gatorskins at the LBS, so I bought these. My only criteria was good puncture resistance. I have no experience with any Continental tires, but the Gatorskins get great reviews.

I assumed these would offer similar puncture protection to the Gatorskins, but I haven't been able to dig up much information on these tires.

easyupbug 

I agree and I believe most major manufacturers offer flat protection of some kind and they help, and I believe they ride a little better but don't protect as well.

noisebeam

They are intended to offer better protection than Gatorskin.

But if you fill them with concrete they won't run much worse and then you will be certain not to get a flat.

caloso

I have a set on my training/commuting wheels. Lord, they are hard and heavy, but they are pretty damn puncture proof.

urban_cyclist

So after having these tires for a while, they are holding up great. No flats, and I have unintenionally ridden over broken glass a few times on my commute.

I don’t mind the weight of the tires, or the rolling resistance of the tires, (to me, they roll just fine).

The tires offer excellent flat protection and that was exactly what I was after.

mschwett 

rolled on these for a few thousand miles, mix of city streets, rural roads, ill-advised gravel. no flats. then again, same mix of surfaces for more thousands of miles on GP5000 tubeless and also no flats.

Groasters

The way I see it if you're going to go for Gatorskins you might as well go the whole hog and get the hardshell version. I used both Gator types for winter commuting for a few years and of course they both feel a bit dead and they don't have much grip especially near freezing point, but they do their job, being pretty trustworthy in getting you to work puncture free and they keep you upright as long as you don't try to corner or climb on them like they're GP5000s!

The caveat is always that every person commenting on these threads has their own n=1 experience. As in the case of the last poster, I have since switched to some new-old GP4000sII I've had for years and I've had the same number of punctures per mile during winter use as the Gator Hardshells, which is to say, very, very few.