Good for puncture resistance but far from the best for rolling resistance. GP4 so much better but a good deal for this tyre

Hello. I am after some advice from anyone. I am doing a 100 mile charity ride. My tyres are in need of a change anyway. I am looking for a tyre that will protect as best as possible from punctures. Are these tyres recommendable or are there better ones?

Brilliant thank you. I will order those

I use GP4000S's on the Summer Bike, as has been suggested great rolling resistance, great grip. They are though slightly venerable to side wall punctures on poor road surfaces. The Continental Grand Prix - GT uses the same black chilli rubber but with a slightly reinforced sidewall to improve puncture protection without losing as much rolling resistance as with the Gatorskins. I use these on the Winter Bike but could be used all year round if puncture resistance is a priority.. Worth considering and cheaper than the GP4000S's.

I tried these and the Continetal Grand Prix folding 25c tyres i now use, in comparison the
Gatorskins gave a harder harsher ride, and i found the Puncture protection was similar with both.
My rear Gatorskin's sidewall was cut and the tyre ruined by riding over broken glass hidden by wet leaves.
Not a fault of the tyre as i was just unlucky not seeing the glass.

Chainreaction have the folding Grand Prix On offer for about the same price which seems a better deal for a lighter tyre with good puncture protection.


Here's a brief description,

"The Grand Prix now sits below the GP 4000 S II in the range, at a different price point,
offering a 180 tpi casing,Poly-X anti puncture technology and a BlackChili compound"

There are some good deals on tyres at the moment - Vittoria Rubino Pro 3's can be had for under £15 each for 25Cs , great rolling resistance, puncture protection etc I love mine. Perfect if you have narrow rims and on a budget.
If your rims/bike can take them Continental Grand Prix Folders at 28C are £20.99 at Wiggle, which is a great price for a quality 28C tyre IMHO. Wider tyres like 28s are regarded as having better comfort, grip, less areo drag, better rolling resistance etc - probably why most tyres on sale are 23Cs.

Just to add some context I've been running Gatorskins for past couple of years but started looking around after some scary moments at speed in the wet then a puncture (to be fair - just 1 in 100s of miles of riding!). If my pockets were deep enough I'd be running the 4000S for summer and 4 season for winter :smiley:.

Good price for this tyre but have to agree with the GP4000 statement. I wonder if these are cheap as they're 23mm which are going out of 'fashion' for use as the trend moves to 25 and 28.

However I find Contis are great but perish and crack fast, two seasons cycling is usually all I manage.

I stumbled across Michelen Pro4 Endurances after reading some reviews and they have rolling resistance matching the GP4000 and puncture resistance beyond them, see the reviews. Even more annoying they are becoming EOL so hard to find and the replacements aren't as good. Though Decathlon carries them in store at £22.99 which is a very good price.

Some experience

I started to use Gatorskins on my daily commute in September 2016. I travel 30 miles a day and so far I've had three punctures. All of those punctures were as a result of glass from the road during wet conditions.

The tyres are a right **** to get back on...lots of swearing!

Previously I used to use Schwarbe Marathon Plus on two bikes, and I've never had a puncture with these. The gatorskins came with my new bike, so I thought i'd give them a try.

Now its warmer and dryer, I've put one standard Specialized tyres, which offer no protection, but are easy and quick to remove and put back on. No punctures so far with these.

Gatorskins are a little heavier than normal tyres, so if I were you, for a 100 mile sportive I'd take a spare inner tube and use either:
SPECIALIZED ESPOIR SPORT 700C CLINCHER TYRE
SPECIALIZED S-WORKS TURBO CLINCHER TYRE

Also Tannus tyres which eliminate punctures entirely which can give people piece of mind knowing they won't have to deal with punctures or carry spares related to sorting punctures.

http://www.tannus.com/

No good reason to take 23c over 25c, I'm assuming the shift to a 25-28c standard for most riders is why these are so cheap?

Love this tyre, use it to commute and have only had 1 puncture from an evil bit of metal. I now have the 25c as i feel it works nicer than the 23c. Excellent price to replace standard tyres for amateur commuters.Hotty McHot