Road bike – winter tyre choice

A roadie question from a mountain biker…

I would like tyres for my road bike providing reassuring grip when braking on steep inclines in wet conditions for the winter (minor roads in the Peak District). I've seen Continental Ultra Gators recommended but the measily tread is off-putting. Would a low rolling resistance cyclo-cross tyre be a better choice?

All thoughts welcome. Thanks.

On road, tread gives you less grip not more. Best grip is a slick.

Continental GP 4000 S is a good tyre all year round – pretty puncture resistant for a fast tyre, good grip in the wet, and jolly lovely and fast rolling.

Whatever you do, don't get Bontrager tyres. They appear to be designed by people who only ride in the sunny parts of California. If it rains, you will feel unsafe.

Joe

Yep, you don't need tread.

The stock STW answer to this is GP4Season, which is like the GP4000 but with additional sidewall layer for extra protection. It's what I use, in 25mm size. They do still cut somewhat and the mileage isn't fantastic – but grip and speed are very good. Ultra Gators are a weightier sturdier option which I've also used.

A cyclocross tyre would be very noticeably draggier, and might not fit in the frame anyway. A 28mm touring tyre would be better for the road.

what rims?

I run 28mm GP4Seasons through winter but my rims are wide-ish A319s and I have plenty of clearance.

A 25mm Mich Krylion is also a candidate.

Never that impressed with the gatorskins myself and the Bontys are pretty bad too, as joe says

Conti's can be a pain to get on Campag rims if you have em' (as can other tyres for that matter) and the sidewalls are horribly fragile

Personally i dont think you can go wrong with Schwalbe Blizzard, i run them all year round no problems

I've got hutchinson reflex tyres on but they seem to get bad reviews. Can't see why myself.

It depends how much debris you have on the roads around you.

Around this way, the best thing I've found are Schwable Marathon Plus. Heavy duty, but VERY puncture resistant!

Use 25mm conti GP 4Seasons and they seem pretty puncture resistant even on glass strewn cycle paths

Used Michelin Krylion over summer and wasn't that impressed – cut up easily, not impressively puncture proof and didn't last well.

GP4Season is actually very easy to get on (Shimano Ulterga wheels) but I do agree that sidewalls are delicate. I've actually ridden off road on Ultra Gators, but similar on the 4Seasons was not a great idea.

As all the above tyres are very good I'm going to recomend a pretty expensive tyre, the Vittoria Pave Evo CG. You can get them at just under £30 now utterly fantastic not a single cut or tear.
24mm green/black ones

I've used Conti 4000 s in the summer which are great.Pinch punctured one in the winter as sidewalls are a bit fragile! This was pumped up to 115psi! Went back to the venerable Conti Gatorskinz.Even at 110psi no pinch punctures and with plenty of grip on the winter roads.
Thanx Max

Been thinking about a set of those Vittoria Pave Evo CG for my commuter – can't find them near £30 anywhere. Can you point me in the right direction please.

On road, tread gives you less grip not more. Best grip is a slick.

Mmmm – that's why car use slicks. 🙄

Maybe the OP was enquiring about tyres for use in wet conditions? Slicks do not provide the best grip when it rains.

geoffj cars generally travel at much higher speeds than bikes.

I've got GP4000s on mine with the Black Chilli 'stuff' (I don't know if they all have it).

I got caught in a sudden downpour over the summer and had to make my way home on wet, greasy minor roads in the Peaks. I was very impressed with the grip they gave.

I don't really ride on the road enough to have season specific tyres but I'll be leaving these on 'til they wear and and then replacing them with more of the same.

geoffj cars generally travel at much higher speeds than bikes.

But you can aquaplane at the speeds that bikes travel.

geoffj – Bike tyre is so narrow and round that water is cleared without channels. Car tyres have several inches of contact patch to move water across. Slick or near slick road tyres have always stuck in the wet for me (white lines/diesel/road welds not included!).

But you can aquaplane at the speeds that bikes travel.

On a 23mm tyre or even a 50mm balloon bike tyre? Bet you can't.

Joe

Car tyres need groves to clear water to avoid aquaplaning in the wet.

Road bikes tyres are too narrow to aquaplane. Tread is not required for wet use and would, as pointed out before, reduce grip on any relatively smooth surface.

OK – so what tyres for slippery wet Edinburgh cobbles 😆

But you can aquaplane at the speeds that bikes travel.

Really?

As all the above tyres are very good I'm going to recomend a pretty expensive tyre, the Vittoria Pave Evo CG. You can get them at just under £30 now utterly fantastic not a single cut or tear.
24mm green/black ones

Saved me typing that put. Fantastic tyres.

Been thinking about a set of those Vittoria Pave Evo CG for my commuter – can't find them near £30 anywhere. Can you point me in the right direction please.

I got mine from Sigma Sport for that price when everyone else wanted £40 a tyre.

As above, a fantastic tyre, though a soft compound so not sure how much wear you'll get commuting over winter. Mine will be going on the winter bike at the end of October.

Maybe the OP was enquiring about tyres for use in wet conditions? Slicks do not provide the best grip when it rains.

On a car, aquaplaining is the main issue with slicks as the large cross section of tyre meeting the water means for the water building up at low speeds more readily. On a thin road bike tyre, IIRC, the speeds needed to get straight line aqua plaining on a road bike tyre are in excess of 100mph or something ridiculous.

The thin bike tyre cuts through the water to the ground better. There is also the school of thought that the grip comes from the on/off contact between tyre and road which in the case of a roadie slick is provided by the tarmac … its the tarmac's lumps and groves from its construction which provides the on/off contact, and the slick tyre bites and grabs the little dips and ridges.

I quite like contis personally. Ultra Gators worked really really well on my mtb commuter, which did a lot of high speed descent on wet roads and handled it fine. I'll probably get another set onto the roadie commuter once the existing tyres wear out ( Bonti's )

I bought some GP4 Seasons from someone on here and they have been top dollar – that was six months ago and since then I've not had a puncture (jinx!), that's approx 2500 miles on very crappy roads.

Very good in the rain, noticably better than the bonty racelights and conti ultrasports i had before

Fair dos, I will bow to your lot's superior knowledge 😳

Now then, about them tyres for Edinburgh?

Probably something with black chilli compound, basically the softer/tackier the rubber the better. They'd probably also cut up a lot easier and not last very long but that's the trade-off you have to make if you want to ride over wet cobbles.

Now then, about them tyres for Edinburgh?

I refer my honourable friend to the answer I gave some moments ago. 🙂

Or, in other words, Vittoria Pavé. They're a bit overkill as a commuting tyre, but the clue is in the name: pavé is French for cobbles, and they (well, the true tubular version, natch) is the tyre of choice for the professionals in the cobbled classics like tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix.

Oh, and they'll appeal to the sceptic in you that doesn't believe that slicks are the best tyres for a road bike: they don't have sipes as such, but the tread isn't completely smooth either.

Gary_M
Try Bike bits UK.

Conti GP4000S (with black chili) all year round.

A pave tyre on pave.

cheers oldgit, some good prices on that site. If they don't waer well then they might not be such a good idea for a 20 mile each way commute.

Re aquaplaning

I recall something like 9 x sqr tyre pressure [PSI] = aquaplaning potential [mph]

so that's ~90mph for a 100 psi tyre – I think

Warning this could be a load of bollox, but I remember it for some reason

Schwalbe Ultremo DD's are quick and grippy. Not the longest lasting though.
Bontrager Hardcase are very durable and have good puncture resistance, but a little heavier than most road tyres.
Conti Gatorskins are a good all-round choice and quite cheap.

RE: Aquaplaning…

Sheldon Brown said no.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ho-z.html#hydroplaning

V 0.9143SD P (TD 0.794) A 0.04 0.3 0.06 = V = Vehicle speed (km/hr) at which aquaplaning occurs

SD = 100(wd-ww)/wd

Where SD = Spin down Speed (10% at initiation of aquaplaning)
Wd = Rotational velocity of wheel on dry surface
Ww = Rotational velocity of wheel after spindown due to
contact with flooded surfaces
P = Tyre Pressure (Kpa) (165Kpa recommended design
value)
TD = Tyre tread depth (mm) (0.5mm recommended design
value)
A = the greater of the equation 7 and 8.

Not sure how that relates to bike tyres, but it's a car tyre one!

Or a simpler one from NASA with K at about 10 but that's different for each tyre.

Vp = K sqr(p) = (
Where Vp = Tyre aquaplaning speed (mph)
K = Constant dependant on fluid and flow dynamics
determined from experimental data for specific tyre and
road combinations
P = Tyre inflation pressure (psi)

Anyway, I dont see it happening.

another vote for conti GP4's, tried them and conti ultra-sports (cheep) and they came out much better.

Got some schwable CX tires on the tourer/commuter at the moment, but thats because I like the larger size and tend to get bored on winter road rides and go explore bridlways for a bit instead. But yes, they do drag horribly, even at 90psi.

Re the Bontrager Hardcase, I've tried them – heavy, not very puncture proof, horrible wooden fel to the ride. I wouldn't but again.

Might want to have a look here at some new conti tyres coming out.

I'm using GP4000s all year round here in France. The rough rural frost damaged Limousin roads, and Belgian toothpaste of the winter give way to pot hole fixes galore and endless tyre cutting gravel in the summer.

This year. One set of Conti GP4000s have seen me through. Not a single puncture, and still going strong. I use the 25mm ones over the 23mm skinny ones for a little extra comfort with no sacrifice in speed.

I recommend them to you without reservation – Continental GP4000 25mm.

SB

BTW – ><(((((º> what a totally superb username! 🙂

oldgit – glorious photo.

Oh, and on Bike Parts UK, not somewhere I'd recommend to deal with. Mate had to threaten to sue them for repayment of money for parts that were never posted….