SoSmellyAir

I am sort of in the same situation. I have had Ultra Sport III before and am currently riding on Grand Sport Race, and I could not tell much difference between them. My rear tire is getting quite squared. I have a pair of Grand Prix and a single Grand Prix 5000, which I plan to install soon, to see what the hype is all about.

djdelarosa25

What do you think of the Ultra Sport III and the Grand Sport Race? In terms of puncture resistance, can you say which one is better?

Please do get back on this thread when you try out the GPs .

SoSmellyAir

The roads are pretty nice around here, and the only time I had a flat was when I rode into the back of a work truck parked in the bike lane (just after an intersection) without any cones. The "road" in your original photo might be considered gravel riding in Orange County. (Just kidding.) So I know almost nothing about puncture resistance. Also, all my tires are nominally 25 mm wide, so I am not sure the experience will translate. I mainly got the Grand Prix and Grand Prix 5000 to see if I can feel the lower rolling resistance.

znomit

I picked up a pile of these for ~15 bucks each ages ago. No complaints on my training bike.

Racing Dan

I've tried that tyre as well. Beware, it doesn't do well with little sharp flints or glass. I had many flats before binning them. YMMV.

znomit

It's on my training bike. Fixing flats is part of training. Thats a feature, not a bug.

terrymorse 

When I had a fleet of 100 road bikes for rentals and bike tours, we used Vittoria Rubino Pro III tires.

They're medium-priced tires (less than $50 full retail), lightweight, decent rolling resistance, and they last well.

Leinster

I recently put one of these on the back wheel of my wife's bike. The 23c Conti tire she had was getting frequent flats every time she rolled over a pothole or debris with our 2 year old in the seat on the back. With a 28c Rubino, we haven't had a flat since (going on 6 months now, and the kid isn't getting any smaller...)

SoSmellyAir

Based purely on Continental's website, the two have the same compound (Pure Grip), so Grand Sport Race = Ultra Sport III + NyTechBreaker puncture protection layer.

Summer solstice today, so new tires are on: Grand Prix 5000 on the front wheel, Grand Prix on the rear wheel, with new Michelin Airstop (butyl) tubes too. Wheels are not even back on the bike, so no riding impressions yet. Both tires (Black Chili) feel more tacky than the Grand Sport Race (Pure Grip) they replace; I don't recall my fingers feeling this sticky after installing the Grand Sport Race. The new tires are also noticeably narrower than the old tires, even though they are all nominally 700x25 tires. The old tires measure an inch wide, but the new tires measure just over 7/8 inch, even though they are inflated to 100 PSI, which is above my usual riding pressure. Hopefully they stretch a little bit over time.

PeteHski

I ride 32c Pirelli Cinturatos on roads like those. Great puncture protection and still reasonably fast rolling. You can get them in 28c as well, but on those roads I would go 32c for better comfort.

SoSmellyAir

First ride impressions: Thankfully narrower new tires are not bumpier than wider old tires at the same pressures (85 PSI front, 92.5 PSI rear). Rolling resistance does seem marginally lower but only on asphalt, no perceptible difference on concrete. Only one downhill corner today but a truck braked hard in front of me so did not learn about cornering ability. Based on just this first ride I am not sure the GP5000 is worth the price differential (roughly 1.5x Grand Sport and 2x UItra Sport III) for my relatively non-demanding use case. But of course this is not a decision that I need to make for many thousand miles.

aliasfox

PBK has GP5Ks for $80/pair, and Rubinos for $67/pair. I still have an old Rubino, a GP4k, and an Ultra Sport 2 lying around, so none for me right now, but I think $40/each for GP5Ks is pretty good - I like the GP4k, 1500 miles so far.

For cars or bikes, decent tires are among the best upgrades. On cars, ride quality and road noise can be noticeably improved for a lot of entry level and mid priced cars, and going from a slow rolling wire bead to a faster folding bead tire can make your bike feel like new, which is probably what you felt upgrading from the stock Giant tires.

SoSmellyAir

That is a great price for GP5Ks. I have not see GP4K or GP for sale for a long time, even though the latter is still listed on Continental's website.

I think most people agree that the GP5K is a pretty good tire. But the original question by the OP (a self-described "cash-strapped college student" on an "allowance" who rides on pretty bad roads) is whether GP5K is worth the price difference compared to a Grand Sport Race or a Ultra Sport III. Without adjusting for inflation since I was in college, I would say no based on my budget in my college days.

aliasfox

Fair 'nuff. My Ultra Sport IIs came on my Lynskey, which doesn't actually have chainstays wide enough to fit an Ultra Sport 2 28mm on the back (31.6mm inflated width) - I ended up rubbing on out of the saddle efforts, so I swapped the rear for a GP4k. Kept the Ultra Sport 2 on the front, and it's been good - quite cushy, in fact. And besides, I already have it.

Now, would I buy an Ultra Sport? I've looked, and I've seen Ultra Sport 3s online, but only the wire bead, and still $25 or so. In which case, if it's $50/pair of Ultra Sports and $80/pair of GP5ks, I'd probably spring for the GP5ks and get the additional flat protection - or at least Rubinos, which at $67/pair, aren't much more than wire bead Ultra Sports - very grippy, but they square off fairly quickly. That said, the Ultra Sport's done well by me. I also don't ride in thorny goat head country and I stay far far away from glass if I see it. I should go find some wood to knock on now...

popeye

Tires are the last place you want to go cheap on a bike. They are the single biggest change you can make to improve the ride and handling.

canklecat

The Conti Ultra Sport II punched way above its weight, assuming we could find 'em for under $20 each. Back around 2017-18 I bought a couple of pairs in 700x25 and x23, all folding bead, for right at $40/pair via Amazon. I put 'em in my Amazon cart, moved them to the "save for later" option and waited for price drops.

But I had to stuff a Kool Stop bead jack in my jersey or strap it to the seat bag, because it's darned near impossible to mount an Ultra Sport II without a bead jack.

I finally switched to Conti GP Classic, and Soma Supple Vitesse, skinwalls, both of which are great values and I can mount 'em with my hands, yet they don't fit so loosely that there's a risk of the tube sneaking out between the bead and rim and bursting.

I still use the Ultra Sport II on my backup wheelset. And I have one wire bead US2 on the rear wheel I use on the trainer. They're really durable but ride well on a wide variety of surfaces.

If Conti modified the Ultra Sport to be just slightly looser so I didn't need a bead jack I'd go back to using them on my hybrid and steel road bike for casual rides.