Reeses

Hello, my tubular Bontrager Race X Lites are wearing out (balding, cuts, etc). I'm planning to replace them soon. I've been considering the Vittoria Corsa EVO CX and the Conti Sprinters, but I'd like to see what other options there are out there. Anyone riding either the Vittorias, Contis, or some other tubular who would like to chime in? Thanks.

I don't race often-just train-so I'm looking more for longevity. And I'm riding Zipp 303s if it matters.

Fox Farm

Never used the Vittoria tires. Used Conti Sprinters years ago. Have been riding Tufo Elite tubulars for 8 years and prefer them to Conti.

kleng

Veloflex Extreme and Carbon

Blue Belly

What do you want from your tire? Every tire has its good & bad characteristics. I loved the Vittoria's but, they picked up a lot more debri & flatted more often. Gets to be an expensive love affair. I ride cheap/hard/skinny Tufos now. They last long & are cheaper to replace, when they finally do go. I had a buddy that ran Conti Gatorskins & loved them. Very durable. Sprinters are pretty rigid compared to the Evo's, a nice tire though. If I had nice clean roads & my tires would last through the rubber, I'd be happy with either of those. Probably side with the Vittoria's.

Homebrew01

I like Vittorias. Not sure how their longevity since I only race them.

Continental has a rep around here for being a bit lumpy at times. Hard to get centered.

brian416

I started out with Sprinters and moved to Evo Cx tires, I flatted 3 out of the 4 of them (staple, hitting a small stone, pinch flatting (110psi in tire, 145# rider)), the flats combined with the fact that they have hardly any traction in the wet are why I'm back to Sprinters. I run them at 90psi and they're nearly as comfortable as the Vittorias, traction is amazing even in the wet and they're very durable. I've run over glass without any damage to the tires.

Flats can be a normal thing, but in 4 years and 20k+ miles, the only flats I've had were on the Vittorias

Vittoria Evo CX - fragile, terrible in wet, ride nice
Sprinters - ride pretty good, durable, great wet & dry traction

topflightpro

I have the Vittorias on my 404s. I mostly race on those. They are great tires, and I love the road feel. But they lose air pressure rather quickly, from 120 to 80 over night. I would not run them on a daily basis.

I run Conti GP4000 tubulars on my Reynolds 46s. I ride those daily, and so far, they have held up just like the clincher version.

I keep a Sprinter for an emergency repair tubular.

carpediemracing 

I use EVO CXs, EVO Techs (their wet weather tire), Bontrager Race XXX Lites. The CXs aren't great in rain but the Techs are great (and the Techs are fine in dry too). All those tires are much more straight and unlumpy than the Contis.

I have, and removed while still with tread and unflatted, Conti Sprinters and Competitions. I bought them to support an LBS, only reason I did.

Try riding the tires on rollers. The Contis are such that I can barely read the numbers on my cyclocomputer.

I use the tires for racing but have ridden on them on the road 1-2x a year (to see how the wheels handle etc). I usually flat them at the end of the second season, i.e. 60 races or so, regardless of the brand.

teamtrinity

I love Vittoria Corsa CX tubies! Reasonably light, very supple, fast, good grip, OK wear, very very fast. BUT...puncture/cut resistance sucks! I've flatted three this year on smooth roads. Wasn't even nails or glass or anything that punched through. Just a small, sharp pebble! One of my rears gave out after I locked up my braking to avoid a car. One time! I skid on them one time and they pop. The really unlucky part is that none of the three tires I lost this year had more than 500 freaking miles on them.

Suck...

Jay Olson

I ride 25mm FMB Paris Roubaix tubulars on my 303s. They ride well and seem to be quite durable. The only problem I have had was with slow leaks. I'm not totally sure it was the tires. It could have been not using plumbers tape on the valve extenders.

Reeses

I'm looking mostly for longevity. Ride quality and traction are also big factors. Seems like the Vittorias offer good ride quality but short longevity, and the Sprinters are the opposite...how do the Tufos and Veloflex
feel?

escarpment

Conti sprinters. The most expensive and the longest lasting tubular tire I have ever used

edit: ive got a tufo something, dont remember the model but it was also around the 100 dollar range, But Im afraid to ride it on anything other than smooth new tarmac.

kleng

There is a trade off between suppleness(ride quality) and durability, the Veloxflex tires are extremely supple the "Extreme" is 350tpi which is the highest I've seen, the Carbon is more durable at 320tpi, you should be able to get 1800 miles on the Carbon, maybe only 1000 miles with the Extreme

Reeses

The Veloflex Carbon sounded good until I saw the price tag...

NealH

I ride Veloflex Roubaix on my carbon wheels, and they have a great buttery smooth feel on the road, and are durable (so far). Only issue is the expense as they are no cheap. Oh, and they also leak air as do all latex tubulars.

jsigone

I've been on Conti sprinter gatorskins w/ stans in the tubes. Rides fine for being 22c, no flats w/ the stans in there for the past 2yrs. And pretty cheap @ $60 each.

ninjabrewer

It has been years since I have ridden sew-ups, I still have the wheels that I built up back in the mid 80's. thinking about getting a set of these, have no idea how they will ride, just posting the link here. If you have used them in the past, let me know the good, bad and the ugly.

Chris

https://www.yellowjersey.org/tt.html

kleng

Another cheaper lightweight durable option is Continental Competition 19mm , at 230gms per tire

I <3 Robots

I use the Sprinter Gatorskins. Fairly durable...roll decent. Use them for all around riding.

Used to run the Vittoria Corsa CX's...rides nice...horrible durability. Good race day tire.

Reeses

How is the ride quality for the Conti Competition?

Homebrew01

I haven't tried them, but I think I remember posts from guys saying they were decent. If I rode tubulars daily I would try them out.

kleng

They have a butyl inner tube, so they are not as supple. They are optimised for racing so they are fast but maybe not as supple as a wider tubular or one with a latex inner tube

If you haven't ridden the veloflex tires I'm sure you would be happy with these.
For me I find they go better with a slightly higher pressure.

I like them because the are lighter (19mm model) , than most tubulars except for the TUFO elite jet <160.
plus they have good puncture protection and good wet weather performance because of the herringbone thread.

For more supplness you need to go for the 23mm version, but there is a slight weight penalty with this.

chaulky61

.....pricey, but worth it.

Reeses

Perhaps...Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I would feel much of a difference between the Conti Competition and the Veloflex Carbon, since they seem to be both top-of-the-line tires. One question I do have though is do each of these have removable valve cores that allow for the installation of Stans?

kleng

Yes they both have removable valve cores, I'd say for the same width the Veloflex Carbon is slightly better because of the latex inner tube