Dear (nearly) everyone:
Tire sizing only contains one "c" - after the 700. There is not two C's there. There is not a C after the width. Just a single "c", to be only married with the 700.

700C refers to overall diameter: 622 mm, as supposed to A (642), or B (635). It means nothing, other than it not being A or B. The width is just a nominal measurement in mm - thus, no C. Or CC.

Love,
Drunken Enim.

After using some different brands, Continentals win my vote!

Continental Gatorskins ( nuff said, might be lil harsh, but very good puncture protection and fast rolling)

Continentals GP4000s (if you don't skid because thses are more of an entry road racing tire that is more than $50. good grip, good ride qty, good rolling resistance, only heard good things about them)

This was my reasoning too until i experienced it for myself.

For bikes or those who are not TOTALLY! all about performance
I Can't Recommend continental Contacts enough! They last simply for ever, flats are unheard of even with 25psi in the tires. which seems to be what your looking for. they are a bit heavy but you get over it. the ride isn't too bad either

if you want a performance tire your spoiled for choice

pro3race, gp4000, Rubino, Ulthremo, cadence

I like Pro3race and Rubinos myself.

I get most of my tires free, and conti's are they only one i've been compelled to buy with my own $ more than once.

There are in fact tires that will improve the ride quality overall. The tires are what send the shocks and vibrations of the road to the rider so the smaller the tire you're riding in, say 23c, and the higher operating PSI for that particular tire will affect how hard it is when making contact. Some 23s require being aired up to 160+PSI, you think maybe a tire that stiff won't affect ride quality compared to another more supple one in the same size that will run at 100 PSI?

Perhaps it's not about brands but tire construction but one easy way to improve ride quality and get rid of that road buzz you get from narrow high PSI tires is to move up in size. Even then you run into the same issue of tire construction. I had the $20 Panaracer tires from Performance in 32c and they are in no way comparable to my Paselas in the same size. The sidewall of the Panaracers was like a stone yet the Paselas is like silk, you don't think those two factors affect ride quality?

If you don't then I'm sorry but you need to get out there and ride some more cause it seems like someone has been feeding you some BS on tires that you have yet to test out on your own.

you know, i ran gp4k for a while (one set of 3, F + 2x R) and i found that i really disliked them. they wore like bricks, lasted forever...that's the good. but they rode like bricks as well, and i found the hard compound to not be particularly grippy. they were the 'chili' compound, and yes, i had them at reasonable pressures (~110psi @ 180lbs, 23mm carcass).

tried pro2/pro3 and they were so frickin hard to mount that i abandoned them. then the original ultremo...which had some (warrantied) QC issues to start, and then was a very nice tire...if a bit fragile. light, sticky, comfortable. i'm curious about the newer revisions.

finally settled on the open corsa cx (and now cx2). super easy to mount, very grippy, and absolutely the most sublime ride quality. i have a vintage bike with a set of 25c hand-sewn tubulars on it, so i have what i consider to be a pretty good reference. the vittorias, in combination with latex tubes, is awfully close as a clincher. over 5ish years, several bikes, and 10s of thousands of miles, i have not found reports of poor durability to be true. not as tough as the gp4k, but oh so much nicer in every way.

pricey. best bet is the UK mail order places where they hover around $35. domestically, $60 per is not unheard of. on par with any other premium race clincher, however.

link to the $35 open corsas? been waiting for some gp4000s but no good deals lately. probikekit where you at? it's been a while since they had any good deals.

I'm a cheap bastard so I roll with Vittoria Zaffiros, the cheapest available at my LBS. I've got them on two of my bikes and they seem to hold up quite well. Granted, I don't skid like crazy. The guy at the shop said to be wary of running them on low PSI though, apparently the sidewalls aren't very strong.

oh, hey...did the euro/pound improve? i bought a pile of tires last summer and haven't needed any lately. wiggle/ribble/probike were the sites i used.

wow thanks for the ribble site. never knew of it. picked up some 4000s for 31.47 bucks a piece! came out to 35 a piece after shipping to us. score! saved 12 bucks over probikekit. hope it doesnt take months to get here though lol

well done, I bought my GPs from Ribble too, took 2 weeks to get here. I've heard tales of folks getting them in 5 days though