Hi,
Traditionally Veloflex tyre's name's reflect their intended use but it can become a little confusing as now all except the Record are available in either black or tan sidewall versions.
Servizio Corse was only available in tan sidewall but since the move to wider tyres from 20mm to 22 or 23 and so forth Veloflex decided to offer their race flagship tyre in both black and tan sidewall versions. Unfortunately the names have lost their meaning in the switchover but you still need to think of them as Servizio Corse tyres meaning for race service primarily.
My experience with older Record and Servizio Corse tyres was that puncture resistance was such that it automatically resigned to races and not much else unless you don't care spending money on replacing punctured tyres. This has been improved dramatically with the wider versions and when properly aged they are on a par with most of the competition.
They're not city tyres in that they will puncture far more often if you ride them in the center of a city of a suburb.
They're not meant to deal with that crap. Other, more natural obstacles such as pebbles and sylex they handle remarkably well.
Some people seem to insist on riding top quality tyres in glass laiden areas for some odd reason.....
Anyhow, the breakdown on Veloflex tubs is pretty straightforward:
Record: tan wall TT and TRI.
Servizio Corse split in Extreme (black) and Sprinter tan has moved from 20mm to 22mm width. Race only but IMO good enough for a varity of uses for as long as you keep out of crap areas.
Criterium used to be a different tyre compared to Carbon but that has been changed a few years back making them identical twins except for the sidewall colour.
This is what the afficionado uses for common use with similar restrictions as the Servizio Corse only less so.
These are still available as a 22mm tyre but new production is 23mm wide only.
Personally I ride Extreme/Sprinter on the FW and Carbon/Criterion on the RW with no problems at. No punctures to date ( a couple of years use equating many thousands km). Always aged for at least six months prior to use.
Roubaix/Arenberg are mainly 25mm versions of the orinal 24mm wide Roubaix which was desigened for pave routes.
Even though I have some in my stash, I don't think I'll use them much. To me their use is as limited as the Record.
Most of the tyres in my personal stash are at least five years old before being used. Not that this is a must, it just happens I have so many. They do not get "old" as in unusable, they are all fine and as said before when used under the right circumstances they do not puncture either. They all do ride great though. In every single respect, that is.
Similar story for the open tubular versions which are exactly that especially when paired to a fine latex inner tube. The latter comes with its set of restrictions but that's a totally different kettle of fish.
Ciao,