New Tires

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 10:31:03 AM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike.
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.
I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

I forgot that I ordered a set of ProLite Brachiano wheels from Chain Reaction in GB. They just arrived and I forgot just how light these things were inside the shipping container with a handle on it, the box weights 8 lbs even. My deep section carbon wheels weigh almost 4 lbs by themselves.

sms wrote:
On 6/8/2021 2:35 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

snip

Bit redundant since they are all out of stock!

snip

Tubes and tires are one victim of the pandemic and Trump's tariffs, a
double whammy.

Whoever thought that one insane president could cause so much damage to
the bicycle supply chain? On the other hand, Trumps bungling of the U.S.
pandemic response did increase demand for bicycles, parts,
accessories, and repairs, so in that sense it was good for bicycle shops.

As far as I’m aware the part shortages are worldwide due to COVID19
knackering the supply trains, I don’t get the impression that it’s only
some places. Could be wrong but the story occasionally pops up on news
sites, and it’s claimed to be worldwide.

A couple of months ago, my friend called me all excited that the tubes I
wanted were back in stock and he was placing a large order. He quickly
ordered them before they went out of stock again. I also happened to see
some Panaracer tubes in the size I needed on Amazon for $4.49 each.

Some things are out, for example the tire I ordered from the bike shop one
of the G-one Gravel tires wasn’t going to be in for months but the
evolution ie top end I could have next day, and wasn’t much more to be
honest so that’s fine.

Roger Merriman

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 1:24:02 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
sms wrote:
On 6/8/2021 2:35 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

snip

Bit redundant since they are all out of stock!

snip

Tubes and tires are one victim of the pandemic and Trump's tariffs, a
double whammy.

Whoever thought that one insane president could cause so much damage to
the bicycle supply chain? On the other hand, Trumps bungling of the U.S..
pandemic response did increase demand for bicycles, parts,
accessories, and repairs, so in that sense it was good for bicycle shops.

As far as I’m aware the part shortages are worldwide due to COVID19
knackering the supply trains, I don’t get the impression that it’s only
some places. Could be wrong but the story occasionally pops up on news
sites, and it’s claimed to be worldwide.
A couple of months ago, my friend called me all excited that the tubes I
wanted were back in stock and he was placing a large order. He quickly
ordered them before they went out of stock again. I also happened to see
some Panaracer tubes in the size I needed on Amazon for $4.49 each.

Some things are out, for example the tire I ordered from the bike shop one
of the G-one Gravel tires wasn’t going to be in for months but the
evolution ie top end I could have next day, and wasn’t much more to be
honest so that’s fine.

I just ordered a set of deep aero carbon wheels from China and a set of Aluminum deep aero wheels from Great Britain. They both arrived - from China in three weeks and from GB in less than one week.

Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 1:24:02 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
sms wrote:
On 6/8/2021 2:35 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

snip

Bit redundant since they are all out of stock!

snip

Tubes and tires are one victim of the pandemic and Trump's tariffs, a
double whammy.

Whoever thought that one insane president could cause so much damage to
the bicycle supply chain? On the other hand, Trumps bungling of the U.S.
pandemic response did increase demand for bicycles, parts,
accessories, and repairs, so in that sense it was good for bicycle shops.

As far as I’m aware the part shortages are worldwide due to COVID19
knackering the supply trains, I don’t get the impression that it’s only
some places. Could be wrong but the story occasionally pops up on news
sites, and it’s claimed to be worldwide.
A couple of months ago, my friend called me all excited that the tubes I
wanted were back in stock and he was placing a large order. He quickly
ordered them before they went out of stock again. I also happened to see
some Panaracer tubes in the size I needed on Amazon for $4.49 each.

Some things are out, for example the tire I ordered from the bike shop one
of the G-one Gravel tires wasn’t going to be in for months but the
evolution ie top end I could have next day, and wasn’t much more to be
honest so that’s fine.

I just ordered a set of deep aero carbon wheels from China and a set of
Aluminum deep aero wheels from Great Britain. They both arrived - from
China in three weeks and from GB in less than one week.

Oh there definitely is supply problems, I had to get the posher version of
the tire I wanted as the normal version was out of stock and none expected
for another 2 months. And stuff like brake pads at least ones for the
Gravel bike that has some nice new bits of kit on it, are simply out of
stock.

Same for occasional car parts as well.

Roger Merriman.

jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge
mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because
they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of
the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally
disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire
had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and
handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more
miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet
the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best
allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something
right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike.
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.

I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I
think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and
better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that
offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on
smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really
outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season
were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

-- Jay Beattie.


Gatorskins are notoriously bad in the wet, was the only tire I could easily
get to step out the tire on a damp day, they are tough and what not but the
grip is frankly appalling, I only had them on the rear, on the front they
would be terrifying. By a long way worse than your cheap training/commute
tires.

They where by a long shot the worse grip I’ve ever had on a road tire and I
tended to use cheaper training tires as I favoured slightly more robust
tires. So quite a low bar set anyway!

Roger Merriman

On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 1:47:48 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge
mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because
they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of
the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally
disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire
had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and
handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more
miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet
the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best
allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something
right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike.
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.

I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I
think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and
better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that
offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on
smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really
outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season
were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

-- Jay Beattie.

Gatorskins are notoriously bad in the wet, was the only tire I could easily
get to step out the tire on a damp day, they are tough and what not but the
grip is frankly appalling, I only had them on the rear, on the front they
would be terrifying. By a long way worse than your cheap training/commute
tires.

They where by a long shot the worse grip I’ve ever had on a road tire and I
tended to use cheaper training tires as I favoured slightly more robust
tires. So quite a low bar set anyway!

Roger Merriman
Here's a tire you might like to try for hard wet conditions. https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-t.../11407803.html

On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 2:06:26 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 1:47:48 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge
mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because
they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of
the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally
disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire
had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and
handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more
miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet
the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best
allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something
right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike..
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.

I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I
think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and
better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that
offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on
smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really
outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season
were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

-- Jay Beattie.

Gatorskins are notoriously bad in the wet, was the only tire I could easily
get to step out the tire on a damp day, they are tough and what not but the
grip is frankly appalling, I only had them on the rear, on the front they
would be terrifying. By a long way worse than your cheap training/commute
tires.

They where by a long shot the worse grip I’ve ever had on a road tire and I
tended to use cheaper training tires as I favoured slightly more robust
tires. So quite a low bar set anyway!

Roger Merriman
Here's a tire you might like to try for hard wet conditions. https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-t.../11407803.html

Unlikely for that price. The Power Endurance is a better value and I get EP on all Specialized tires, so I'd just go with one of those. I doubt the compound on those Challenge tires is any more magical than the Michelin or Specialized. The TPI is impressive, but super-supple tires sometimes feel squishy to me because I'm not light.
-- Jay Beattie.

Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 1:47:48 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge
mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because
they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of
the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally
disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire
had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and
handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more
miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet
the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best
allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something
right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike.
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.

I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I
think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and
better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that
offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on
smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really
outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season
were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

-- Jay Beattie.

Gatorskins are notoriously bad in the wet, was the only tire I could easily
get to step out the tire on a damp day, they are tough and what not but the
grip is frankly appalling, I only had them on the rear, on the front they
would be terrifying. By a long way worse than your cheap training/commute
tires.

They where by a long shot the worse grip I’ve ever had on a road tire and I
tended to use cheaper training tires as I favoured slightly more robust
tires. So quite a low bar set anyway!

Roger Merriman
Here's a tire you might like to try for hard wet conditions.
https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-t.../11407803.html

My only Road bike is my Gravel bike and as such has plenty of grip on
tarmac, on the whole the Gravel tires seem to be slightly tackier compounds
vs pure road bikes plus a fair bit wider and hence lower pressures, even
wet debris strewn lanes are fine, similar for all but the largest of
potholes and what not.

Roger Merriman

On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 5:26:44 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 1:47:48 PM UTC-7, Roger Merriman wrote:
jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:34:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 6/4/21 12:49 AM, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 12:05:19 AM UTC+2, Mark cleary wrote:
I have been using Conti GP 5000s regular tube required. I get huge
mileage out of them say 5000-6000. I put a new set on today because
they seem to be squared pretty good but I could still get a glimpse of
the wear indicators. They were wore down to the end but not totally
disappeared. I think I could have gotten more miles but the back tire
had a small sidewall type mark but nothing drastic or popping out.

Well I road the new ones and I sure could tell my cornering and
handling was better. Did I imagine this or should I have gotten more
miles out of the other tires. I guess my feeling it they are what meet
the road don't be cheap with it?
Deacon mark

Life is too short to ride crappy tires. IMO the GP5000 are the best
allround tire at the moment. Continental seems to be doing something
right for more than a decade now.
IME not on their Gatorskin tires. They were expensive but three out of
the four that I tried failed prematurely with sidewall blowouts. Ok, I
milked 2500mi out of the lone survivor but at $45 that is still worse
than the 1200mi out of a $18 Vittoria Zaffiro and those never blew their
sidewalls on me. So Zaffiro are my go-to tires now for the road bike..
I've also tried CST but those were no good, less than 1000mi and the
rubber on the sidewalls began showing lots of little cracks.

To me reliability is key, with everything. Getting there without a flat
or blowout is much more important than cornering, rolling resistance or
other road-handling performance. My experience with a lot of bike parts
is that you do not always get what you pay for.

I haven't blown a sidewall on either the Gatorskin or the Zaffiro. I
think the Gatorskin has better flat resistance than the Zaffiro and
better wet traction, except that the Zaffiro has a tread pattern that
offers better grip on grass/leaves, etc. Wet traction differences on
smooth pavement are minimal. I don't know any tire that really
outperforms on wet pavement. The Michelin Pro4 Endurance and the 4Season
were good. I've got some Power Endurance, but I haven't ridden them in wet weather yet.

-- Jay Beattie.

Gatorskins are notoriously bad in the wet, was the only tire I could easily
get to step out the tire on a damp day, they are tough and what not but the
grip is frankly appalling, I only had them on the rear, on the front they
would be terrifying. By a long way worse than your cheap training/commute
tires.

They where by a long shot the worse grip I’ve ever had on a road tire and I
tended to use cheaper training tires as I favoured slightly more robust
tires. So quite a low bar set anyway!

Roger Merriman
Here's a tire you might like to try for hard wet conditions.
https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-t.../11407803.html

My only Road bike is my Gravel bike and as such has plenty of grip on
tarmac, on the whole the Gravel tires seem to be slightly tackier compounds
vs pure road bikes plus a fair bit wider and hence lower pressures, even
wet debris strewn lanes are fine, similar for all but the largest of
potholes and what not.

What has happened? My road bikes used to be for any surface though very steep dirt hills were bad with 23 mm Gatorskins. Not to mention you couldn't stop downhill. It appears that manufacturers are all making very special purpose bikes instead of the old "one size fits all". Slightly more tire clearance and semi knobby tires really don't have enough additional traction on gravel to make them very worth while does it?