Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
Wow, these GatorSkin Hardthingy's feel really slow! It's only one ride and it did feel a little like I had a headwind all the time... but it also felt harder work than normal. Most segment times were pretty slow.
So, I don't mind having a few tyres for different occasionsWhat are people's recommendation for tough, but fast tyres? Maybe I should just get new GP5000's? Maybe I should try those Roubaix that Roady linked?
I went DJI for my last action cam, mainly for the front facing screen... a quick look at the GoPro 9 has me very tempted. I think all your money could be lost in all the accessories they have!
I used Gatorskins on my first bike purchase as everyone seems to rave about them, but as this forum confirms they are pretty awful.
I am now using tubless GP5000s on my carbon wheels and currently have a set of Michelin Pro4's on my winter wheels. The Pro4s were great but I will be replacing them with these https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-rubino-pro-folding-clincher-tyre
Old but they have decent reviews (https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/road-bike-reviews/vittoria-rubino-pro-iii-2014) and are now only £14 a tyre. Hopefully they hold up.
I have also heard that the standard Continental Grand Prix Tyres are meant to be decent winter options so may be worth a look.
Or on a PS5!
I'm not saying the Roubaix are fast, but they're not slow either. For a cheap tyre they have been a fantastic winter option for me and the 32mm tubeless I got I was so pleased with last summer I didn't switch them out to a lighter/thinner summer tyre, only doing that this summer. I've not switched between a summer & winter tyre for several years (was probably 25mm GP 4Seasons). The previous Roubaix 28/30 (28mm tread / 30mm volume) I rode where heavier, but the early 2015/16 tubed ones which came on my Diverge. The 32mm '2bliss' (tubeless) ones I like are the newer 2019 ones.Wow, these GatorSkin Hardthingy's feel really slow! It's only one ride and it did feel a little like I had a headwind all the time... but it also felt harder work than normal. Most segment times were pretty slow.
So, I don't mind having a few tyres for different occasions
Yeah I'd spotted that, had really hoped them to drop in price as they dropped out the market but really the opposite has happened. With the poor camera on the FLY devices (for the price they are), the continued crazy high prices of the GoPro/latest Garmin VIRB along with the stupidly cheap and rubbish knock-offs I'm very surprised someone branded (with a good name!) hasn't come with something aimed at cycling somewhere in the middle. They can't compete with GoPro, nobody can, but there is a huge market of riders who want a 'safety' camera who buy the overpriced FLY devices.
Considering I bought my VIRB v1 in 2014 for £72. I know it was an amazing deal, but if a comparable 'basic' 16MP camera, designed with more modern components/battery came in anywhere around £100 I really think they'd gain a huge market...
Or they're the riders who puncture a basic rubbish & cheap tyre, go to their Halfords and buy the 'best puncture proof tyre they have'.
It's like driving a Fiat 500 and getting it stuck in a puddle, so getting a Land Rover Discovery to replace it.
Soldato
Hmm, looking over the chart, maybe I just need to take the plunge and go tubeless with the GP5000...
If your intention is to ride outdoors through winter then you may want something slightly more robust as if the tubeless fails (i.e. the sealant doesn't seal) on a wet and cold day it could be a miserable experience if you are far from home! You may of course experience no problems and they have been faultless for me (so far!)
Soldato
With tubeless, are there any options if something happens? Do you still carry a tube and switch it in, in a pinch, so to speak?
on a mountain bike where you want to run the lowest pressures you can a lot of the time, brilliant.
On a road bike where that really isnt the case, not so. Performance benefits vs a good latex tube are marginal.
Absolutely.
It's all nonsense.
Same way we now have "gravel" bikes. It's just a road bike. Or actualy no, it's a CX bike.... it's a lightweight aero road bike with clearance for big stupid tyres.....
People fall for this nonsense left right and centre and buy into it.
Manufacturers can't come up with anything actually new. So they take things from other bikes/other disciplines and force it into another and make everyone believe they "need" it.
Tubeless: 1 puncture in 1.5 years.
Tubes: 5 punctures in 5 months.
I am a tubeless convert, but the GP5000 is not a winter tyre and if even you didn't puncture it would cut up rather badly after a few months of winter use.
90s mountain bikes with drops and discs. some of them dont even bother with the drops any more!
Yup as mentioned. As I switched to tubes after a hole (which didn't seal) I rode the tyre for a few weeks with a tube in. Then put tubed 'summer' tyres back on (GP4000 sii). I'm still carrying 2 tubes now.
Oh the group(s) I ride with have had a couple of tubeless incidents but considering the groups are small (5-20 riders) I'd say 50% of the rides we have to stop for someone punctured. Just the roads around here are grim for rough surfaces and holes. I'd bet most are pinch flats and not debris this year, as the roads have been pretty 'clean'.
I'd argue it is, one of the huge benefits for me is running lower pressures for comfort. You can't run many road tubed tyres at 40-50 PSI.
Its not nonsense but I agree so much of it is 'trend' and marketing hype these days. Just a way of selling more bikes by making people realise what they're missing.
But I would argue that the Gravel bike, certainly in the UK, has become more of a replacement of the 'Sportive'/audax type bike. So rather than using old beaters with guards and old components, people are now using lightweight expensive carbon bikes with disks and wide big tyres instead. It's diluted the CX bike down and combined it with the others, while encouraging people to buy a new one, rather than use their 'old' road bike.
For me, I might be in the minority, but my Gravel bike doesn't really see any gravel. But it's replaced me having any kind of 'endurance' type bike (Defy is on the trainer) so the only bike I would buy now is a lighter, stiffer, less comfortable, aero 'summer' (faster) bike. With a well setup Gravel/do-it-all bike, you don't need a beater/commuter/bad weather/winter/audax or endurance bike.
They cut up just as much as the GP4000? I'd thought they'd changed the compound to make them a little tougher?
Tredz have some 'clearance' sales on, there's various tyres in there: GP 5000 Tubeless 32mm @£47 seem a good price, the tubed sizes less so.
Urgh... I hate gear acquisition syndrome.
https://ronwheels.com/en/ron/64-ron-air-62-front.html
Yes, they're heavy, but hmmmmmmm...
https://ronwheels.com/en/ron/64-ron-air-62-front.html
Yes, they're heavy, but hmmmmmmm...
I ran GP5000 non tubeless all winter last year and never flatted. The rear tyre squared off and had started to cut up. But it was affecting the handling by then so I changed it out.
For me, it’s completely not worth moving away from tubes. I rarely flat, maybe once in the last 4 years on tubes, most of my flats when I am running tubulars. (Glass, wore down really thin from use and then flatted and a stone caught in between frame/tyre).
It takes 2 minutes to change a tube, they are just as light, more convenient, don’t have to worry about sealant drying, tricky setups, and cheaper to buy too. Plus you’d have to carry a tube anyway incase you split your sidewall
For me, it’s completely not worth moving away from tubes. I rarely flat, maybe once in the last 4 years on tubes, most of my flats when I am running tubulars. (Glass, wore down really thin from use and then flatted and a stone caught in between frame/tyre).
It takes 2 minutes to change a tube, they are just as light, more convenient, don’t have to worry about sealant drying, tricky setups, and cheaper to buy too. Plus you’d have to carry a tube anyway incase you split your sidewall