Weight Weenies

Pouring down rain here, so no ride tonight.

But mounting these P-Zero's was like BUTTER on Fulcrum Razing Zero Alu. Soft-n-supple. Honestly, it makes me a little uncomfortable to not battle a little bit during install -- I hope it isn't an indication of the softness (i.e. vulnerability) of this Pirelli.

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First ride impression of the Velo 4s: very comfortable ride, a lot more comfortable than Conti gp 4ksii!

I was going to ride the Pzeros today -- but I'm glad I didn't.

Today was a climbing day (130 miles, 7.5k feet), I took my other bike with GP2K already fitted to HED Ardennes and sadly found myself descending two mountain roads on chip-seal/gravel. In other words, not the ride I want to be on unknown rubber (just yet).

First ride? Not cool. Rear flatted at mile 8 of a planned 45 mile easy spin.

I think the "user error" is to blame. Sidewall shows a MINIMUM inflation pressure of 87 (max 110). At 65kg, I run my Contis at 80psi all the time and have no issue. I *think* the softness of the Pirelli is why they require higher pressures, and when I ran below the minimum, I was probably asking for trouble. Got home, dumped the CO2 and pumped up these bad boys to 95 (which feels almost explosive to my weenie sensibility). I'll give 'em a try again tomorrow or Tuesday.

JackRussellRacing wrote:First ride? Not cool. Rear flatted at mile 8 of a planned 45 mile easy spin.

I think the "user error" is to blame. Sidewall shows a MINIMUM inflation pressure of 87 (max 110). At 65kg, I run my Contis at 80psi all the time and have no issue. I *think* the softness of the Pirelli is why they require higher pressures, and when I ran below the minimum, I was probably asking for trouble. Got home, dumped the CO2 and pumped up these bad boys to 95 (which feels almost explosive to my weenie sensibility). I'll give 'em a try again tomorrow or Tuesday.

Could have happened to any tyre ... not sure 7psi is to blame!

I still run Pzero Velo 25c at 65psi (63kg rider) and no flat yet.

Hexsense wrote:I still run Pzero Velo 25c at 65psi (63kg rider) and no flat yet.

Just got back from a second shake-down ride with a fresh tube. @ 90psi (too high for my liking) everything was fine albeit much less comfortable.

I'll chalk it up to just a niggle in the road or something with my initial mounting (user error!).

my Pirelli Pzero Velo 25c expand in width a little bit.
It is now 28.8mm at 65psi. Start to get wider than Conti 4000sII but doesn't seem to be as tall.

28mm 4s on 18c rim 30mm initially ( 5.5bar ). 248g.

I gotta be honest... so far, I'm not feeling the love for these tires at all. I've got about 400-500 miles on the first set, at various pressures in a variety of road conditions. Today, in 50dF temps with misty/wet roads, I simply felt no confidence with the PZero Velo. On dry days, when climbing hard the rear tire feels "squidgy" or something... like there's gobs of rolling resistance (no, I'm not experiencing caliper rub).

I've got a 100-miler coming on Monday, likely on the Pzeros. If I finish that ride without any improved sense of confidence, I'll probably revert to Contis.

This feeling is called "SUPPLENESS". You finally rode on something different than garden hose...

IMO Pzero is faster, more comfy, and it's definitely upgrade over conti in cornering. Big upgrade.
Even PZero4s feels MUCH better than gp4000s2, to not mention "regular" P0. / I compared P23 to C23 and C28 to P 4s 28. /


Just my curiosity and total OT ; why it seems that people "praising Continental tires" have always between 100-200 posts ? And never any data.... just polite "feelings" That's my "feeling"

Spent some good miles on it, i feel vittoria corsa g+ is a lot more supple. Well it has cotton casing and finer tpi still.


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JackRussellRacing wrote:Pouring down rain here, so no ride tonight.

But mounting these P-Zero's was like BUTTER on Fulcrum Razing Zero Alu. Soft-n-supple. Honestly, it makes me a little uncomfortable to not battle a little bit during install -- I hope it isn't an indication of the softness (i.e. vulnerability) of this Pirelli.

This is a property of most high-end Hutchinson made tires. The rubber is very pliable and you can easily squeeze large sections of bead together. Really easy to mount without levers. That goes for the latest Mavic and Zipp tubeless tires too.

Unfortunately another commonality is tread life. I wouldn't expect to get more than 1200mi out of the P-Zero Velos.

TobinHatesYou wrote:This is a property of most high-end Hutchinson made tires. The rubber is very pliable and you can easily squeeze large sections of bead together. Really easy to mount without levers. That goes for the latest Mavic and Zipp tubeless tires too.

Unfortunately another commonality is tread life. I wouldn't expect to get more than 1200mi out of the P-Zero Velos.

Isn't durability the function of compound used? Zipp Mavic etc. design the shape and spec but use Hutchinson's rubber.
At least Pirelli make their own Smartnet Silica compound in house and then ship to Hutchinson to make the tire.

BTW, Bicycle rolling resistance review are up for a few days already.
The Velo TT perform superbly, faster than Continental SuperSonic.
Velo and Velo 4s is however, not faster than competitors in their section. But i like their feeling. It's just a supple tire that doesn't provide any problem to me right now even in rain ride.
Velo TT: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.co ... lo-tt-2017
Velo: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.co ... -velo-2017
Velo 4s: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.co ... lo-4s-2017

The 100-miler this weekend was pretty uneventful. I will concede that perhaps I was a bit harsh on the Pzeros -- the cornering on fast descents is was excellent and very confidence inspiring. I'll need to simply get used to some other aspects of the feel, but do appreciate the buttery soft installation and removal on my Fulcrums.

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