Gatorskins in the wet…

…are they as bad as I remember?

I’d rather ride around on the rim than use Gators in the wet

Very squeaky.
Pay a bit extra for 4-seasons

I thought they were generally fine but I’m now on GP4Seasons. I’m cautious in the wet anyhow.

caused me to slide out on several occasions in the wet but seem to be puncture proof and a good all year tyre!

I had a couple of accidents on them last year, so switched to summer tyres, but with winter coming…May have a look at Vittoria.

Need a high pressure, lightweight, puncture resistant, 32c tyre. Any other recommendations?

Schwalbe Durano[/url] is available in 32c wire bead. But Schwalbes come up pretty wide, so I’d go with a 28c kevlar bead. They are fine in the wet and robust to punctures. For fully bomb-proof Durano Plus, but unavailable in 28c.

Hmm, Fitted a 28 4season to the front of my fixed commuter the other day as previous (generic) tyre had died (and the 4season was already in the garage waiting to go on the road bike). I was amazed at how good the ride was despite it being smaller than the prev tyre. Was just about to buy some Gatorskins in 32c for it as assumed they would be near to the GP4season in grip, obviously not. Dont want to drop £70 on tyres for a fixed, would a gatorskin on the rear only be ok matched to 4season front, or asking for trouble?

What a load of bollocks! They’re great for a cheap generic puncture resistant tyre. 23mm in a straight line for the most part. If its wet be cautious. Used them on my old Ridley year in year out, through all weathers.

Almost laughable responses on here. Its a Road tyre not a 2.4 High Roller!

Bloody awful ride and puncture protection was IME no good at all.
First I accepted the hard ride, even put up with wheel spins and slips on white lines and metalwork, but then getting punctures on top of that I thought what’s the point?
I ride for hours on end, and a puncture only uses up a couple of minutes. So forfeiting ride quality for random puncture protection just doesn’t seem worth it.

What a load of bollocks! They’re great for a cheap generic puncture resistant tyre.

Gatorskins are £20 each for wired version, id not call that cheap.

What a load of bollocks! They’re great for a cheap generic puncture resistant tyre. 23mm in a straight line for the most part. If its wet be cautious. Used them on my old Ridley year in year out, through all weathers.
Almost laughable responses on here. Its a Road tyre not a 2.4 High Roller!

As opposed to a genuinely laughable response such as yours? 😆

They’re not that cheap, they have a very hard plasticky compound that doesn’t grip well at all, they have a very poor ride compared to much more supple tyres, and although they’re good for puncture protection so is not riding at all!

Gatorskins are popular because people know the name. It’s catchy, and they immediately associate it with puncture protection. Average Joe that walks into a bike shop wants “puncture proof” tyres as they call them… You can see where this is going.

For people with low expectations such as yourself, the Gatorskin will be fine (in a straight line as you put it). For everyone else, there’s Schwalbe Durano’s which are so much grippier than Gatorskins, as well as lighter, faster rolling and they have 95% as good puncture resistance too.

I’m going to try some of the new 28c Hutchinson Sector tubeless tyres soon as I’ve heard very good things. Not cheap, but then if they’re as good as the reviews say, they may become my new go to winter tyre…

rumbledethumps – Member
What a load of bollocks! They’re great for a cheap generic puncture resistant tyre. 23mm in a straight line for the most part. If its wet be cautious. Used them on my old Ridley year in year out, through all weathers.

Almost laughable responses on here. Its a Road tyre not a 2.4 High Roller!

Well, aside from being the most laughable response so far, I agree they are cheap, but they are (when cornering) near lethal when trying to corner on a commute.

I’ll try the Vitoria

Lethal from new, grip does improve after a couple of hundred miles.

Looking forward to putting some new tyres on, only ever ridden wired Garorskins, maybe I’ve been making my life slow and miserable without realising!

Terrible things, slippy and not as puncture resistant as they out to be. Avoid.

I always found them a bit shit in the wet, seem to have or develop a very square profile. I reckon cheap tyres replaced regularly is the way to go in winter.

I was out on my newly assembled road bike yesterday on 25mm gatorskins and TBH they weren’t quite right. I went for them for two simple reasons, one, saved £20 over a pair of GP four seasons, and two I have been happy with the 28mm gatorskins on my fixed commuter.

The thing I noticed was how much more twitchy they felt going into the few damp, greasy corners we managed to find. And under braking, not especially hard braking, I managed to lock the rear a few times, I put it down to the new brakes being quite sharp and possibly having a few too many PSI in them, but now I’m wondering whether I should have spent a bit extra for GP four seasons or plumped for Rubino Pro’s ignoring the slightly lower TPI for more grippy tread…

I would go the otherway. Buy some cheaper tyres.

I’ve had cheaper tyres for a while fancied better durability and more grip, they do seem to wear better and resistant punctures it’s really down to their grip being “sufficient” or not, I need to ride them a bit more before deciding for myself, the interwebz has various POV to offer, but should I decide they’re not up to the task they simply become spares and I go shopping for something else…

Vittoria open pave. Even in 25mm they’re immense. Super comfy, shrug off puncture….best tyres I’ve ever bought

Scwalbe Ultremo DD (double defense).Stick like sheet to a blanket.Last ok.Not had a puncture in 3000+ miles and cheap on crc.Winning.
Gatoeskins are only beaten in the crapness stakes by Bonty Hardshells.

they are ok if you run at a low pressure (no more than 7bar) and I have mine on the back not the front

They’ve been on my commuter for well over a year and I thought they were fine – cacking it about the ride in now. 🙁

You’ll be fine for another month or so 🙂

they are ok if you run at a low pressure (no more than 7bar) and I have mine on the back not the front

Interesting you say this actually:

I’ve been running those 28mm Gatorskins on my commuter at 6 – 6.5bar (Circa 90-95 PSI-ish), and of course they have more volume, The new pair on my geared Road bike I went and blipped straight up to a shade over 7 bar (so 100+ PSI) and thought nothing more of it till I was out riding, but essentially I’m running a narrower tyre at a higher pressure and then whining because its a bit less grippy… 🙄

It’s a good point though, how much of an effect does width (volume) and pressure have on Grip levels for a road tyre?
Most of what I’ve read talks about how +/- 10 PSI and/or +/- 2mm width has an effect on rolling resistance and “Feel” but what about cornering grip?

I’ll reduce the pressures a bit and give them a fair chance…

You know when you read a thread that makes you question your own experiences…?

I’ve used gatorskins (23mm, 100+ psi) on and off for years and never had an issue with them be it in dry, wet, snow, ice. I’m now wondering what I’ve been missing out on but I have used other tyres that people go on about without finding a noticeable/significant difference.

Maybe I’m just a riding god. Works for me 🙂 (I’ll be off next ride now…)

Put it this way – on motorbikes (yes I know they are “slightly” different) tyre pressures make a HUGE difference to grip.
I.E. 42PSI rear is recommended – drop to 36PSI and the increase in grip is massively noticeable. HOWEVER tyre wear is increased too.
The lower the PSI – the more deformation at the contact patch there is. Also the contact patch is larger due to the deformation (see the link?)
So 100PSI in a road tyre will have a huge difference to the rolling resistance and there virtually no deformation at the contact patch, hence less grip, etc.
Lower the PSI, increase the deformation, contact patch, etc…..

32mm puncture proof tyre? I’ve had a few thousand miles out of some Conti Sport Contacts, commuting, audaxing, winter riding, can only remember 1 puncture.

Never had an issue with them.

Not done a huge distance on mine, but almost all in the wet.

I’ve not noticed them being any worse than other cheapish tyres, but maybe running them at 80psi (25mm versions) helps?

Selling mine due to new tyres coming on new bike, so check out my classifeds ad if you fancy dicing with death!

I’ve been running those 28mm Gatorskins on my commuter at 6 – 6.5bar (Circa 90-95 PSI-ish),

are you 16-18 stone? otherwise thats a very high pressure for a 28c

I find the GP 4 seasons much grippier in the wet, but more puncture prone. It might be worth looking at the Michelin Pro 4 endurance.

I find the GP 4 seasons much grippier in the wet, but more puncture prone.

I second this exactly. I covered a good 2000+ miles on a set of Gatorskins with no punctures, but swapped to GP4S after some sketchy cornering experiences last winter. I find the GP4S much more confindence inspiring, but have had a three punctures and a small tear in one tyre in about 1500 miles of riding.

They aren’t that bad in the wet. If its wet run a slightly lower pressure and be less aggressive under braking and turn in, and you should be fine. They aren’t a race tyre, so to treat them as such is silly. I’ve used far more scary cheap tyres from the likes of Bontrager and Vittoria.

I accept they aren’t the comfiest tyre around and are not immune to punctures, but as a commuter/winter tyre that isn’t a silly price they are fine IMO.

They aren’t that bad in the wet. If its wet run a slightly lower pressure and be less aggressive under braking and turn in, and you should be fine. They aren’t a race tyre, so to treat them as such is silly.

Who said anything about aggressive riding? I find they slip under extremely modest provocation, on “social pace” club runs.

not as puncture resistant as they out to be. Avoid.

I’m surprised more people haven’t said this. The tread is fine but the sidewalls got shredded on the single pair of Gatorskins I’ve ever bought in no time at all.

Second the Sport Contacts being great. Use them on my ‘wet’ road bike, grip for miles and yet to puncture on them over 2000km. Wearing very well, and rode a few miles on flinty farm tracks and bridleways on them, which is better than my record with Racing Ralphs!

I agree about SportContact but they’re almost 500g per tyre. The GS and VHA are around 250-300g That’s over 0.5lbs per wheel.

True, but would never use them on a ‘race’ bike. The wet bike weighs a ton anyway, and will take the reliability over light weight when it’s pissing down!