The best road tacing clincher tyre

[martinSL]

Since the subject is racing and clincher I'd go with Veloflex Corsa 23 (+ latex) or Vitto Open Corsa CX III ISOGrip (+ latex). I race on tubies and for me Veloflex Carbon\Extreme is simply out of this world but I train on clinchers and the above two are my summer ones. In winter and crappy fall/spring conditions I train on Ultremo DD and ZX and really enjoy their suppleness. The above is tarmac only. Kermesse is a different story.

[Devon]

Yes, no reason to use Gp4000 for racing. Attack/Force are a little lighter and have lower Crr due to less tread.

Does the higher tread of the GP4000/s not improve grip and cornering confidence/speed though? (However marginal that may be).

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Since the subject is racing and clincher I'd go with Veloflex Corsa 23 (+ latex) or Vitto Open Corsa CX III ISOGrip (+ latex). I race on tubies and for me Veloflex Carbon\Extreme is simply out of this world but I train on clinchers and the above two are my summer ones. In winter and crappy fall/spring conditions I train on Ultremo DD and ZX and really enjoy their suppleness. The above is tarmac only. Kermesse is a different story.

Agreed.

Now if either (clincher or tubular alike) version is aged properly for about a year and be graced with the best latex inner tube, it will be hard to beat.

Sadly enough, some of us just have no clue what a good tyre can be like... The engineers at Conti know how to formulate rubber, Vectran belts are great too but that's where it ends.
What's sorely missing is suppleness and soul.

Maybe it's about time we tell manufacturers what our tyres should be like instead of them shoving product down our collective throats?

Ciao,

[PinaRene]

Best road race clincher is IMHO :

Vittoria open corsa evo CS 23 or...
Veloflex Pave 23mm

I have the GP4000s on training wheels or when I go to work.....but is :

* Not a racing tyre
* Just a black tyre
* Not a supple tyre
* just a 23mm tyre , like 1000 others but not near the above 2 I mentioned.

[djconnel]

The pros are definitely shifting to 25's. I saw a fairly even split 23's versus 25's at the finish of the Diablo stage of the Tour of California this year, even though it finished with a cat 1 climb.

[ultyguy]

Not a single Fat French guy vote? Not that I like them especially but the pro3 can be found for cheap now and have good grip.

Veloflex Master- come up super narrow 20-21) and I've had terrible puncture resistance with them, also found them greasy in wet.

Conti GP4000- feel like crap but work.

[rjk8]

+1 for Vittoria Open Corsa cx. Ride like tubs at lower pressure

[fdegrove]

Hi,

The pros are definitely shifting to 25's. I saw a fairly even split 23's versus 25's at the finish of the Diablo stage of the Tour of California this year, even though it finished with a cat 1 climb.

Business as usual.

A 25mm wide tyre is inevitably going to meet much more wind resistance than a say 22mm one. So where's the gain I wonder?

Kinda funny when you're riding a so called aero frame and so on.....

Appropriate tyre choice and wheel choice remain one of those determening factors in races. Marginal to some, crucial others.

Ciao,

[WMW]

The pros are definitely shifting to 25's.

Tubulars. A 23mm clincher on a wide rim is ~25mm wide... same as a 25mm tubular.

[WMW]

Does the higher tread of the GP4000/s not improve grip and cornering confidence/speed though? (However marginal that may be).

No. All that matters is that there is *some* tread on the tire. Minimal tread would be more supple.

[WMW]

Vittoria open corsa evo CS 23

I must admit... I have a Corsa on the back and an Evo Tri on the front and they do ride nice. Even though they have a little more resistance on rollers than the best Contis, it doesn't feel that way on the road.

If you care about aero at all, the Evo Tri is a nice small tire with smooth tread.

Dammit... I'm going to get spoiled and end up spending way too much on tires...

[sawyer]

The fast Specialized efforts look the best if puncture risk is minimal

Otherwise Conti GP4000 SII for a combination of speed and puncture resistance

Ride quality is ok - not as bad as some here pretend. Just make sure you have steel spokes. On a wider rim the 25mm are nice

[Marin]

I've been running high end high-TPI tires for the past few months: Turbo Cottons, Open Paves and Gravelkings.

For some reason, I thought I'd dust off the trusty GP4000s I had in the cupboard and ride them again. Mounted a 28 rear and a 25 front on some A23s, where they came out as 30 and 27, put in Vittoria latex tubes, aired them up to only 5.5/6 bars and went for a ride.

I was really suprised how much worse the ride was compare to what I am no used to. I caught myself steering around imperfections and tarmac edges I had ignored before. I even let out some more air mid ride.

I felt good descending, because the grip is probably the best you can get, but I still sold the 28s (which were almost new) the next day. The 25s are almost worn down, and I'm only keeping them as backup.

[sd5500]

26mm Turbo cottons for my brand new 4.5s, can't wait!

[Nefarious86]

I run the 24s on my Tarmac and love the feel/grip. No idea on real world puncture protection as they are crit tyres and havent really been ridden anywhere else. I have mates that train on them and don't seem to have any more greif than usual with our litter strewn roads. Add to that they look Pimp AF haha.





The Turbo Cotton is made by Lion Tire (a subsidiary of Vittoria) in Thailand with that company’s 320tpi Polycotton casing fabric and Specialized’s proprietary puncture breaker material and Gripton tread compound. The tread design is borrowed from the time trial tubulars Specialized provides its top pros.