Symox

In short, I'm very impressed. Just did my first ride with a GP5000 in the rear and Gatorskin in the front on some hills . (The rear tire that wore out first. I only replace tires when they wear out and the front usually lasts 2x as much, thus the new GP5000 in the rear) Both are 28mm, the max that fit on my frame/rims. I feel like the GP5000 has better grip, speed and comfort than the Gatorskin. The grip in particular feels much better.

Don't know about longevity or puncture resistance, but if this tire holds up like its reputation, I may have found my new tire . Looking forward to when the front tire wears out and I can put a GP5000 there too.

The GP5000 looks skinnier but after a couple of days at high pressure it measures almost the same in width.

I really like the fact that the sidewalls are rubber and hopefully won't "thread out" like the Gatorskins do as they age.

Don't get me wrong, the Gatorskins are a great tire (I know some don't like 'em), but the GP5000 seems more fun to ride.

HTupolev

Heh.
For spirited riding, people almost always come around after trying performance-oriented tires.

Symox

wow, you have a good memory

or are stalking me 😀

shelbyfv

I'm impressed that you are able to feel all this with the new tire only on the rear!

stevel610 

I had a similar experience. I have ridden the GP's on light gravel paths without flats so far. I still like the Gatorskins and still use them, but the GP's are a much better road tire so far.

I think the rear tire would demonstrate a more noticable change in rolling resistance and handling characteristics.

Thsnkfully with the shortages I have a spare set of 28c GP5000S in waiting.

Wildwood 

Personally, I find the 5000 to be less supple than my Veloflex or Vittoria or Specialized, or Challenge tubulars. I think of the 5000 as the Gatorskin of the high-end tires. But, as stated, the grip is good and it seems to wear less than those mentioned.

I have Wolfpack clinchers that seem to ride about the same as the 5000. Not too many miles on Wolfpack but on gravel they resist little cuts well.

SoSmellyAir

All the more reason not to defer happiness; just install the front already (assuming that you bought more than one).

If you can feel a noticeable difference from just the rear, imagine how well the bike will ride with both.

HTupolev

The worst thing about Gatorskins is that they last a really long time.

SoSmellyAir

Symox can just save the Gatorskin for his next bike-packing adventure:

Bikepacking on a road bike video - Bike Forums

PeteHski

Of course you are impressed. They are night and day better riding tyres. You buy Gatorskins for puncture protection and longevity, not for their performance. GP5000 puncture resistance is very average and only time will tell if it's good enough for your use.

downtube42

I must have a numb butt or something.

I started a 1200km brevet in new GP5000 tubeless tires, and suffered a massive sidewall cut early on day 2. Maybe 400km in. I booted and tubed the tire roadside, limped in to Astoria, OR, where the LBS installed a generic tubed 700x32 tire. Looked like an OEM tire off a hybrid. I finished the 1200, and couldn't tell a damn bit of difference. Check the rear tire.

SoSmellyAir

Maybe, maybe not. But the giant saddlebag probably attenuated most of the feedback.

Must ride sans chamois to truly evaluate a new tire.

Symox

you sir, are not a friend to my wallet

jaxgtr

Anything, and I mean anything, will feel more supple and comfortable than the Gatorskins.

SoSmellyAir

Except perhaps Continental Gator Hardshell or Schwalbe Marathon. Resist road hazards and maybe even small arms.

Carbonfiberboy 

When putting on a new tire, one should switch the front to the rear and put the new tiire on the front. Leaving a front on until it is worn out is a little risky as rubber does age. Put that Gatorskin on the back and wear it out.

popeye

It surprises me how many people will put gators on sweet riding expensive carbon bikes. You lose the feeling of the great ride you paid for. It takes me 4 min (no outliers obvious cause) to change a flat.

look566 rider

Agreed! Rotate your tires! I have been chastised here for this statement in the past.

I am very much an astetic ninny, can't take mis-matched tires!

rm -rf

The GP5000 tires are great on rough roads if you keep the pressure reasonable. Don't inflate them rock hard. Let that flexible side wall absorb the roughness.
I have GP5000 28mm, measuring 29mm on my wider rims.
At 170 pounds, I usually run 68 psi front, 80 psi rear.

I'm noticing fewer punctures in the group I ride with. Maybe two all year, with close to 5000 miles or more for each of us. Less broken glass these days. We ride on quiet country roads, usually out in the right tire track, away from debris that's kicked to the edge of the road.

Two years ago, I had a few front pinch flats at these pressures. But that was from unnoticed sharp edged small rocks that were out in the middle of otherwise smooth roads. And going faster downhill -- slower speeds wouldn't have pinch flatted on these. No pinch flats last year, so it's random luck.

dmanthree

While there are differences, they are not as pronounced as the makers would claim. And riding the way you did, likely at lower speeds, actually reduced those difference. The lower the speed, the lower the RR.

I was riding GP5000s but moved to the GP 4 Season full time. Just got sick of flatting. I've never flatted a GP 4 Season. And never will since a recent bad crash has sent me to a trainer full time.

HTupolev

Lower speeds mean less power consumed from rolling resistance, but that's true about nearly all sources of resistance to a moving vehicle. As a proportion of total resistance, rolling resistance actually tends to be higher at low speeds, except if those low speeds are due to climbing (where gravitational resistance becomes dominant).

On flat ground, the proportional increase in speed from switching to a faster tire is actually higher for a slow rider than a fast rider.

dmanthree

Forget proportional. More instances of the hysteresis loop per minute mean more resistance, doesn't it? Curious, though, while BRR does RR tests at a set speed, is there a source that performs tests at various speeds? Honestly, I believe what I'm saying is true, but I've got no empirical evidence to back it up.

Lancercool1992

I only use gatorskin because I'm afraid of punctures, kills all the fun biking brings, gp5000 is advertised to be puncture resistant and ultra high performance so I'm really anxious to see if it'll be an replacement

Symox

ended up ordering a gp5000 for the front too.

Geesh, this site is a bad influence

HTupolev

It means that you require more power to overcome the resistance, yes. But as I noted before:
The power required to overcome a given source of resistance is equal to the resistive force multiplied by your speed.

The force of rolling resistance doesn't change much with speed, so the power to overcome it is roughly linear with speed (more on this below). By contrast, aerodynamic drag force increases quadratically with the relative wind speed, which means that aerodynamic drag power increases roughly cubically with rider speed. This results in aerodynamic drag becoming very dominant at high speeds, making changes to other sources of resistance less pronounced.

That's a reasonable objection. Most tests - both those conducted by people using Virtual Elevation measurement methodology, and this article on BRR - suggest that the force of rolling resistance does increase with increasing speed. However, they also generally agree that this effect is pretty subtle. For instance, in the Bicycle Rolling Resistance article, doubling speed from 4m/s to 8m/s caused a 9% increase in the force of rolling resistance, while the same change in speed would cause the aerodynamic drag force to quadruple (i.e. increase by ~300%).