Jarrett2

I've been riding 25's for years and want to give a slightly bigger road tire a try. I'm thinking 28-30mm, clincher, with decent puncture resistance and preferably faster rolling. I do not want tubeless.

My first thought is a Conti 28mm 4 Season tire, but wondering if there is anything else out there worth a look.

Any suggestions?

rgconner

Love my Gatorskins. Tough as nails. You lose a little suppleness, but it is not that bad.

https://www.amazon.com/Continental-C.../dp/B00BCU87AW

Senrab62 

Agreed. Me, more for puncture resistance. Mixed urban and semi rural riding and these are my go to tires. Also wear fairly well.

Barrettscv 

Michelin PRO4 Endurance. After using Gatorskins, Vittoria Rubino Pro, and a half-dozen other tires in the 25-33mm size, the Michelin PRO4 Endurance is the best rolling and riding tire with better-than-average flat protection and durability. See: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance....urance-v2-2015

The 700x25 is about 28.5mm wide on a 23mm wide HED Ardennes rim. I use a Vittoria latex tube to further improve ride quality and to reduce rolling resistance. It performs like a consumer race tire while offering the same level of flat resistant as lighter weight commuter tires.

The Michelin PRO4 Endurance is also available in a 700x28 size. This tire could be 30-31mm wide, so this might not fit many road bikes with short reach caliper brakes.

https://road.cc/content/news/144232-m...endurance-tyre

Yendor72

If you do decide on Gatorskins make sure to price check Bike Tires Direct. I just picked up 2 sets for my wife and I and they were cheaper than amazon and had free shipping as well. Shipped fast too.

gregf83 

Gatorskins may be durable but definitely not fast. 28mm GP4000s are fast and durable for most. Durability depends on where your ride. I seldom get flats with GP4000s but ride on relatively clean and smooth roads.

jsigone

panaracer gravelking file threads in 28c and only $33 on amazon right now IMO they handle way better then gatorskin but not as good has GP40002s I have on the aero wheels right now

Flat durability and suppleness is nice from the gravelkings. I've abused the snot out of these tires with thousands of miles + dirt, sand, gravel, grass, only 2 flat tires over the span of using 3 different tires, 2 rears per front.

https://www.amazon.com/Panaracer-Gra...+gravelking+28

https://www.amazon.com/Panaracer-Gra...+gravelking+32

Jarrett2

I've used 25mm Gatorskins for a long time. They ride ok and never flat.

I've used some 25mm GP4000's in the past and my roads ate them up in 400 miles.

For this set, I'd like to sacrifice a little flat protection for a better ride. I'm kicking around the 4 Seasons. They seem to be a middle ground between the GP4000's and the Gatorskins. I'm hoping getting them in 28mm will help durability a bit.

But before pulling the trigger on them, I'd like to see if there are other interesting options.

Black wallnut 

I'm happy with Specilized Roubiax. They are not fast. Good flat pretection, good durability.

Jarrett2

Thanks. I ordered the 28's. Hope you are right

jsigone

enjoy!

I'm debating on getting the 32's for this years Belgian waffle ride/race

IAMAMRA

Schwable Marathons are what i run on both my bikes!

DrIsotope

If I were given a free lifetime supply of Gatorskins, I still wouldn't ride them. The simple of inclusion of the words "Gatorskin" and "fast" in the same sentence is only correct if the purpose is to compare and contrast. The aforementioned Michelin Pro4 Endurance are good, but the durability drops of really fast as the tread wears. They will go several thousand miles without incident, then flat three times in 2 rides. This is a very aggressive version of a wear indicator.

You should be pleased with the Gravelkings-- I'm past 1k miles on a pair of 700x28 Panaracer Paselas-- the cheapest, wire bead ones-- and they are absolutely brilliant. They are wonderfully supple, quiet, appear to be wearing very slowly,] and they are plenty fast. They mount true to width, measuring 27.9mm on my 20mm internal wheels.

prj71

Anything wrong with this tire?

https://www.amazon.com/Continental-G...+prix+4000s+ii

Jarrett2

They are fine for most folks. I just ride on some bad roads.

netman9718

I ride daily on Armadillos. They work great for the sharp crap I run over all the time. They are getting pretty rough from cuts and gouges. I bought a set of the Continental GP4000 from biketiredirect last week.
I'm hoping to get a lot more miles out of the dillos and use the gp4000 for my trip to Colorado this summer.
I'm riding 25mm now and my gp4000 are 28's.
Can't wait to get faster tires on the bike.

Shimagnolo

28mm Schwalbe One.

chaadster

I'm also a delighted GravelKing slick user! Currently running 32s and 26s, but used to run 23s with great success. They feel great and hook up confidently, especially in wet. They don't feel like they slow my roll at all compared to my straight race rubber, and the 32s were a dramatic improvement in feel over a pair of Vittoria Randos they replaced.

Just be aware there are file tread "slick" models and "sk" or semi-knob variants. I'm talking about the slicks.

EDIT: I should add that the only time I disliked GKs was when running a tire oversized for rim width. 23s on 14.4mm bsw Velocity Aerohead were great, 26s on 15mm bsw Mavic Ksyrium Equipes were tolerable, but 32s on those rims sucked. Putting the 32s on 26.6mm bsw Velocity Blunts was all win.

Jarrett2

In 25mm, I've run the Roubaixs, Armadillo Elites, GP4000's, Gatorskins and Gator Hardshells.

The only ones that didn't flat were the Gator products, but they do feel like riding on frozen water hoses as someone here once said.

I've had good luck with all the tires I've ridden that were 32+mm on my roads. My current Clement USH 35mm are working well, but just slow. Hoping the 28mm GravelKings will be a nice addition.

My roads are bad though:
chipseal.JPG

rgconner

Mmmm.... chipseal.

prj71

My bike currently came stock with 25 tires. Would I notice a difference with 28 tires?

jsigone

first you need to check to see if the frame and fork will clear 28s and you will notice more comfort from the added air volume and ability to run few PSI less air. Rolling speed likely has very small of difference, but mostly on the top end spectrum of higher speed decents.

Jarrett2

Just got an email for this deal:

https://www.excelsports.com/main.asp...jor=1&minor=27

FrontRanger

Another vote for the file/herringbone-tread Gravelkings.

Drew Eckhardt 

The GP4000SII is a fast rolling tire that's puncture resistant and long-lived. Puncture resistance and lifetime don't match tires built primarily for those goals. At 225 pounds and 18 MPH they save about 12W over the GP4 Seasons and 17W over the Gatorskins as in you'd average 17 MPH at the same power riding Gatorskins (not the hard shells which are worse) instead of GP4000SIIs.

The Gatorskin is a puncture resistant tire that's faster than others built for that purpose. Speed and ride quality don't match tires built for going fast. Lifetime doesn't match tires built for durability - I get about the same mileage out of them as GP4000SIIs.

If it takes you 15 minutes to change a flat tire, you'd need to puncture more frequently than once every 5 hours on flat ground (90 miles at 18 MPH) to be faster on the Gatorskins than the GP4000SII.

In practice, outside the rainy season I never noticed a difference in flat rate between the three tires although I got about half the mileage out of the GP4 Season as the other two. During rainy season none will protect you from a stray piece of steel belted radial wire that washed onto the shoulder

The GP4 Season offers slightly better traction in wet weather than the other tires, although outside criterium racing in the rain that doesn't help because you need to severely limit cornering speed for road snot/utility covers/wet leaves which don't allow any tire to grip well.

I think the 4 Season is an answer looking for a question.