So over the past year I've been riding Vittoria Rubino Pro's. As it's my first year on a road bike I'm wondering what brand and type of tyres you ride on your road bike during the winter.

Anyone have any suggestions?

No need for telling me I should get a CX or an MTB. I just want to ride the road bike again this winter as last winter was a joy, but the grip wasn't all that awesome at times.

Conti Garorskins in 25 with an old 23mm one with the bead cut off inside the rear tyre. Prevents punctures even when I ride it right down to the canvas, then I move front to back and put a new one on the front. I get huuuuuuge mileage that way. Grip is poor and the ride is harsh and slow, but the bike's a total dog anyway (tatty old fixed with mudguards extended with chopped up milk bottles) so kind of goes with it. Also makes me love my tubs when summer comes around. I put in a LOT of miles in in the winter, so the fewer times I have to get my hands cold fixing a flat the better. Happened once all of last winter, so I'm happy with this setup.

You have any specific conti gatorskins you're referring to? All gatorskins I can find have less profile on them than the GP4000 All Season tires.

Innova studded 700 x 35c. Didn't use them at all last winter, shame on me!

low grip in what conditions? If you are riding on the pavement and there's no snow or ice, a slick tire gives the most traction, even if it's wet. You simply want the most rubber on the road you can get - and bicycle tires are so narrow and high pressure that you need speeds on the order of 90mph to get them to hydroplane. Motorcycle and car tires run at lower pressures and are wider, so the tread is there to let water evacuate, thus preventing hydroplaning. The tread patterns cut into bicycle street tires are marketing for people who don't understand that point.

You might want to go wider and at a lower pressure in the winter. Wider tires at a slightly lower pressure should still roll well and will give more grip. Our winters around here are really mild (rarely gets below freezing, even overnight) so I just use the same tires as the rest of the year.

JB

I'm looking for a new tire just because I'm worn down. I'm a total noob at what the different sizes mean so right now I have a 700x30 cross tire and I want to get to a good road tire... Can someone tell me what the numbers mean?

Start here.

That may be more info than you wanted, though. The 700 refers to the standard rim size for road bike tires. If it's a clincher, it will be 700c. Even after reading that Sheldon Brown article I'm not sure why they use the number 700, but it's standard. The second number is the width in mm. 30 would be wider than most road bike tires - most come with 23 or 25mm. Racers use narrow tires, sometimes even narrower than 23's, but lots of other riders will trade the ability to run very high pressure, slightly lower weight and slightly better aerodynamics of the narrow tires for the cushier ride and higher traction of a wider tire run at lower pressure. Personally, I'm using 25's.

JB