Weight Weenies

i've put about a thousand mile on the pro4's and have ridden the conti's for well over ten thousand miles....here's the diffence, conti's have excellent protection, good handling, decent wear, but conti's will crown...wear a flat spot down middle, also they are really stiff and don't give you the feel for the road....still and excellent training tire, i don't feel they are a race tire because the feel of road is poor....the pro4's have excellent grip, great feel, but they wear quickly and have poor flat protection, great race tire, just not a training tire, i train on the krylion or pro4 endurance(higher carbon content) they have better flat protection and get far more mileage...

Just an fwiw: just received 2 PR3 Service Course, which I got from Jenson for $25 each. 206 grams each on the scale. Haven't ridden them yet. But I can say, they appear to be genuine rubber bicycle tires at first glance.

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I suggested Duro Slikster ( weight +- 190 g ) .
I use them about year, and this is better than Michelin and Conti, but this is my opinion

I used also Duro Hipersonic, better rolling than Michelin Pro2,3,4.

ghostrider1tm wrote:but conti's will crown...wear a flat spot down middle

That is a symptom of any tire that has thick tread.

I need some new tires and would rather have more Puncture Protection. How does the 4000S compare to the MICHELIN PRO4 Service Course . I think the 4000S is 330 tpi and the pro 4 is 180?

Continental can do all the maths in the world, but 3 times 110 tpi is not equal to 330 tpi, it's only equal to an uncomfortable tyre.

Tour tests tyres at too high pressures which will advantage harsh tyres with low tpi like the contis.

1 bar less in your Vittorias/veloflex in bad weather will make for better grip and not much higher rolling resistance.

If you want puncture resistance, buy Armadillos, or better, Schwalbe Marathons (no compromises huh).

If you only get 600 miles out of your Vittorias, you are skidding too much with your fixie.

Schwalbe tyres will explode, in the end.

Tyre width is strongly dependent on rim width.



...

last: life is too short to ride crappy tyres.

Should I go on?

I have to agree with ghostrider1tm. I too have put about 1000 miles on the Pro4 Sevice Course since they were the only available to buy at the time. I have sice had about four flats and all from sharp objects through the middle of the tire (the part thats supposed to be the strongest). Their traction is amazing and they feel great but I had no idea they would be like my pro3's with more rubber. The only thing I can say is if you don't mind changing tubes and like a nicer ride then purchase them. Otherwise get a harsher ride and deal with less aggrevation.

+ 1 for the votes of confident in the new Pro4. I have about 3000 miles on a pair and very very impressed.

Did a video review for those who want to see how they wear: http://youtu.be/xMUaJ0mUA9U

Disclaimer: I have not ridden the Pro 4's.
I'd love to see what the Pro 4's have to offer, but unless I can get them at a ridiculously low price (like free), I don't even want to bother. I've been riding 4000S's for years now, and they are bombproof, last forever and grip. I put 2K miles on a set of Pro 3's and the casing was showing through the tread (I weigh 145# in the off season). If I was really concerned about performance (rolling resistance, "feel", blah, blah, blah) I would be riding tubies, because, in my experience, the ride difference between tubies and any clincher is noticeable. The difference in ride quality between the Pro 3 and the 4000S was almost insignificant (Pro 3's better ride maybe, and 4000S's better grip - both debatable). The difference in durability was huge.

de zwarten wrote:Continental can do all the maths in the world, but 3 times 110 tpi is not equal to 330 tpi, it's only equal to an uncomfortable tyre.

Tour tests tyres at too high pressures which will advantage harsh tyres with low tpi like the contis.

1 bar less in your Vittorias/veloflex in bad weather will make for better grip and not much higher rolling resistance.

If you want puncture resistance, buy Armadillos, or better, Schwalbe Marathons (no compromises huh).

If you only get 600 miles out of your Vittorias, you are skidding too much with your fixie.

Schwalbe tyres will explode, in the end.

Tyre width is strongly dependent on rim width.



...

last: life is too short to ride crappy tyres.

Should I go on?

At least for me, I'd rather have a little less of a nice riding tire then on the side of the road fixing a flat. I've been on 4-seasons for years with maybe 2 flats in 15k miles but that brown around the sides makes me sick to see so since I'm ready to try another I thought the 4000S might be close to the 4-season as far as flat protection but might try a MICHELIN PRO4 Service Course if I thought it was as good.

Run your GP4000S' with Conti Supersonic 50g inners and suddenly they are not "dead" at all and are still as puncture resistant.

I Run a 25mm on the rear at 100 psi and 23mm on the front at 110 and that works very well for me. My wheel/rim makes more difference to the feel (I weigh 84Kg so aint light)

madmole wrote:Run your GP4000S' with Conti Supersonic 50g inners and suddenly they are not "dead" at all and are still as puncture resistant.

I Run a 25mm on the rear at 100 psi and 23mm on the front at 110 and that works very well for me. My wheel/rim makes more difference to the feel (I weigh 84Kg so aint light)

Actually, if you want a supple ride, get some latex tubes. They ride evidently better than thin butyl tubes. I've run both Michelin Latex as well as Vittoria Evo 55 tubes, the Michelins are better at the same pressure.

And the the downsides aren't a lot, as even if you talk about tyre pressure, thin butyl tubes don't hold pressure much better than latex. Better yes .. but not by a lot, unless of course you ride everyday. Whereby you can get by pumping up the thin butyl tubes every 2~3 days, whereas the latex requires air almost every day. But if you ride like 1~2 times a week, then it makes no difference, you still need to pump it up every ride!

I'll stick with butyl.

shokhead wrote:I'll stick with butyl.

I agree. In in my somewhat limited and dated experience with latex, they didn't hold air pressure nearly as well, and had me wondering if it would be possible to inflate them to optimum pressure before a long ride (century of double), and have them be close to that at the end. I've found some butyl's that ride very close to latex, and hold air for days. I'll stick with those until proven wrong.

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Which butyls u use that are close to latex? Would like to try them!

I switched to latex a couple of years ago and won't prob ever go back to butyl, as the positives far outweigh the (1) negative.

Having to put 10 to 20psi into them each day is a small effort when u consider how much better they roll, the added puncture resistant they are, and the fact that they tend to never go immediately flat when u do happen to flat. Nothing worse than the instant butyl flats at high speed, where latex will more often than not just slowly deflate, allowing for safe stopping (ESP on front flats).