Sijaro

I am looking for a speedy tire for my trekking bike to get me home asap at night. Does anybody have data/experience with the Vee Road Runner (or Pasela or other equally affordable alternative) to hopefully match the GP4(/5)k. I am trying to find out if the Vee can indeed match the GP4k as is claimed in the review of road.cc. Rolling and puncture resistance, comfort, control?
Many thanks for your input!

Iride01 

They price on the Vee website for the same price you can get GP 5000 for at Bike Closet.

I've never heard of Vee, though apparently they've been around since the mid 70's.

The best thing is always personal experience. So get some and try them. If you have to replace them in a month, will that drain your budget for bicycling? Your riding conditions and use of your tire probably aren't the same as mine or others. How often you ride through broken glass, thorns and how well you install tubes and tires will make a difference.

Sijaro

So you don't have any info on the Vee, if I understand you well?

The reason I posted the question is because I found no info anywhere else than the xcllnt road.cc review and the Vee is less than a third the price of the GP in Europe (bike closet is more expensive and would also imply too much import duties) and my budget is quite limited (all the more concerning 'trying out' although comparing myself would indeed be the best :-) ).

Chi_Z

dude it is just a tire, they wear out after 6 month, just try them

base2 

I've never heard of them before. Their web address ends in .uk So, a native British brand? It should be worth noting that when doing a web search, this thread is result number 4. Right behind a review & 2 results from the manufacturer.

I guess they tick all the boxes. 90tpi casing is above average where 30 & 60 tpi casings are quite common on low end/cheap/oem tires...So my guess is you could do worse.

They claim to have an aramid puncture belt. So that'd get you at least some help against bits of glass.

They make a fair bit on grippiness. That's fine. I don't know how that would translate to longevity. There is a tendancy for there to be an inverse relationship.

Other than that, there really isn't a lot to go on. Might be worth it at the price point. I doubt they are equal to Turbo Cottons, or Corsas, Rubino Pro's, or other suitable racing tire, but that wouldn't make them a bad choice. It would make them just not a racing tire & that's reflected in the price.

Perhaps the biggest negative is it sounds like you want to use them for commuting. For commuting, I'd favor durability, longevity & puncture resistance.

I'm curious to see how they get on. Market competition being what it is, it's always good to have options.

mstateglfr 

Vee Tire is from Thailand. Its a pretty cool company in that Vee owns the farms that produce the rubber, they design in house, and obviously also manufacture tires.
Cradle to gravel operation.
There are some YouTube videos detailing Vee's farms and the tire making process from beginning to end.


Atires how fast that Vee tire is?...I have no idea. I've never seen one on a bike, actually. Seems they haven't broken into this market.
A Pasela isnt as fast as a gp4k or gp5k. That is for sure.

If road.cc claims the Vee tire is as fast as a gp4k, then try it out. For a commute, itll be tough to say a tire is clearly faster or slower than another, when they are in the same general quality category. Too much stopping, turning, etc to easily declare one as faster when they are both quality.

Sijaro

Thank you for you very helpful replies! Other imput (e.g. direct experiences) are still very welcome.

Sijaro

This was a bit of info that I missed earlier, sorry
Can you elaborate on the aspects of proper/improper tube & tire installation in that respect?

Iride01 

Well if you are trying to compare one tire to another, you don't want installation errors to screw up your evaluation.

If you aren't careful when putting the tire on, the tube can get pinched on the edge of the rim and you'll never notice. If you don't specifically check for it, then you might think you are a great tire changer.

When the tube gets pinched so, you'd hope that it immediately fails when you inflate the tire. However many times it does not. The tube is damaged just enough that it takes a few to many rides before it fully fails. Frequently leaving you with no answers for the flat as the position doesn't match for it being a tread puncture nor a spoke or poor or failing rim tape.

Since previously you already assumed your years of putting on tires made you a great tire changer you never suspect such incompetence.

However about eight or nine years ago I was that person with years of experience changing tires for me, my kids and the neighbors kids. Yet it was happening to me. Probably then I had more flats from that in a short time with no explanation than I have in the eight years since. Took me about a four flats to figure out why.

There are other things too, but this I think is the big one. Especially with brand new tires that sometimes are harder to get on the first time or two. With any flat you get, you should always figure out where and why on the tube and tire the reason it flatted. If nothing is apparent, then this might be why.

Branko D

Yeah, that's something to watch for. I got a number of flats on these super light latex tubes (Vredestein) which are very flexible and hence liable to get pinched by the bead - sometimes after riding up to 1000km on one, too.

As for the topic, it's really hard to match GP5000s for an all purpose tire.

Sijaro

Thanks! I also only recently became aware of the importance of explicitly and visually checking for pinched tubes when mounting them. :-)

Anyone else who did try the Vee RR?