smashndash

I currently ride on Gatorskins, which I'm told don't have great grip and feel dead. I enjoy never having to worry about running over debris and getting many miles out of them. But it's more fun to rail down mountains. I've currently got my eye on the Pirelli P Zeros. Does anyone here have long term experience with them? How are they with flats and tread wear? How much nicer are they than something like the Gatorskins?

rubiksoval

Gatorksins are one of the slowest tires imaginable. Nearly anything would be better than those, in my opinion.

Cont GP4ks are a go-to for many people worried about performance and value as they're a bit of a jack of all trades tire and perform pretty well.

clasher

When I switched from schwalbe marathons to vittoria open corsa it was a revelation. There are lots of nice tires out there, try some!

MSchott

smashndash

I'm an aspiring (aka very slow) cat 5 racer who does tight/fast (for me) group rides in the mountains every week. I also ride very aggressively downhill and try to lean as hard as possible. Though I never feel comfortable leaning much with my current setup even at 85psi (135 + 20lbs). I chalked this up to my inexperience but I figured since it matters so much for cars maybe better rubber would help.

kbarch

You can definitely get something more supple and with better grip. Nothing fancy, but I just put on some Veloflex Master 25 (general purpose tires with high thread count) and am very pleased - very supple, and excellent grip.

Colnago Mixte

GP 4000s are very much made to lean hard into corners, soft rubber with a supple casing, that's what those weird treads on the sides of the tire are for. They have way more "lean" that I can effectively use, but it's nice to know it's there, for emergencies.



How did you end up with Gatorskins? Those are definitely not racing tires.

Patriot1

fishboat

Give a pair of Panaracer Gravelking Slicks (not the SKs) a spin. Fun, fast tires. Low rolling resistance, supple, flat protection, light(er), inexpensive, great selection of sizes...

Bikesmiths (Murray Ave, Milwaukee) on ebay(the_bikesmiths) or their own website has great prices. I have a half-dozen pairs of various type from them.

WhyFi

Those treads are for people that won't buy tires without seeing treads on them.

igosolo

For 10 years I rode 23mm Bontrager Hard Case tires, wire bead as I was stuck in the mindset that I needed a heavy and slow tire like this to prevent flats. I just got a set of 25 mm Schwalbe One tires (not the Pro version) on my new bike and after reading great things about them decided to keep them on there for a while I am blown away by the performance difference and so far no flats in several hundred miles and they look brand new. I only got 1500-2000 miles on my rear Bontragers and about 3000 on the fronts. The other thing I noticed is that with the Bontragers I always got little stones and debris lodged in the tire that I had to pick out daily (no flats though). The Scwalbes I have yet to pick out a single chunk of anything.

redlude97

Life's too short to ride ****ty tires, especially gatorskins. If you need something with more protection than the gp4000s, then go to the gp4season or micheline pro4

PaulRivers

gp4000
+ great grip (grip reduces in the wet with all tires but gp4000's are also some of the best for wet conditions)
+ great speed
+ good flat protection
- (drawback) slightly disconnected-from-the-road ride, not worse than the gatorskins but not necessarily an improvement

smashndash

This is exactly why I wanted to try the Pirellis. They seem to be the first tire that cares about things like road feel and handling, which are pretty important to me. I was hoping someone here would have an opinion as to how well they live up to those promises. But I'm definitely convinced that I should at least try a better tire while it still matters.

motosonic

+ 1 on the GP 4 seasons. The GPs/GP4k's are the worst tire I've ever ridden in wet conditions. If you like slipping and crashing hard, put those on your bike, and the sidewalls are as thin as paper.

redlude97

obviously you've never ridden gatorskins in the wet then, they are like riding on ice skates. I don't find the gp4000s to be much different than the gp4season in wet warm weather and I have thousands of miles on but, and it's still the #1 tire I see at wet crits in the PNW and most of those guys can still corner faster than my nerves allow in those conditions. I have gone down in the wet using gp4000s but I blame bad line choice rather than the tire

rubiksoval

I genuinely have no idea what this means.

Disconnected from the road ride? What, through the tires, tubes, wheels, frame, stem, handlebars, tape, and gloves?

rubiksoval

I raced Elite Crit Nats and the Sunny King PRT crit in the wet wtih GP4ks. Grip for days. We were bombing corners.

Done a number of other crits in the rain with GP4Ks, too. Excellent in the wet.

Bah Humbug

And disrupting laminar airflow by bouncing moonlight off a weather balloon into swamp gas.

PaulRivers

Yeah, sorry I don't have an opinion on the Pirelis. I bought a pair of "Specialized Roubaix Pro 25/28" tires for my bike. I've only taken them on one ride so far. For road feel they're great, far better road feel compared to the gp4000's. But I don't know on the other points. Most likely the speed optimized gp4000's are probably a tiny hair faster. Reviews said the specialized tires main drawback is they don't last as long, but I bought them during a sale and they cost me half as much so not a huge deal.

PaulRivers

It really sounds like you're either mixed up about which tire we're talking about, or you got a dud/imitation tire instead or something. I've ridden the gp4000's in the rain and they are pretty good. Sounds like some other posters rode them in more extreme riding conditions than I have. They were definitely a big step up in the rain compared to the tires my expensive road bike came with (which I had gone down in the rain at low speed with).

TimothyH

When you guys are ready to upgrade your GPsomethings then give a pair of Vittoria Rubino G+ Speed a try.


-Tim-

smashndash

I actually do have a pair of Specialized Turbo Pros that came with my bike. I haven't put many miles on those because I quickly replaced them with Gators after getting 2 flats in 2 days (though I suspect both may have been pinch flats...). I can probably give those another shot before splurging on the pirellis. Does anyone have any idea how much of the "good tire" experience I'm getting with the turbo pros? I was under the impression that they were mediocre tires that just had a sticky and fast wearing compound.

smashndash

Those are the tires that come on the new SystemSix right? I was curious about those but apparently they lack any sort of puncture protection and don't roll faster than a Pirelli or GP. The step down from there would be the Rubino Pro not Speed, which seem heavier and slower than the aforementioned.

Edit:
Though the idea of a triple compound does intrigue me. Hm.

redlude97

s-works turbos are very similar in RR and feel to the GP4000s with similar flat protection