I use Gatorskins at the moment, because I hate dealing with punctures on the road bike. Is there anything out there (any manufacturer) that has similar levels of puncture protection but is faster/more supple/offers more grip/lighter/makes me look more attractive?

Conti Four season – not had a puncture since fitting them in October and ride to work 3 times week on back roads 🙂

GP4000. Lighter, faster rolling, smoother, even better puncture resistance.

Lots more expensive… you can't have it all.

Have had bad experience of gatorskin, used a basic conti tyre with better results.

TBH – ran GP4000 (not the s ) red tread and the tyre wear was awful compared with my new 4 seasons and tyre wall blew out on puncturing but each to their own 🙂

GP4 season 😀 fantastic tyre

Colleague in work ran a 4 Season tyre for commuting. It literally fell apart (tube hanging out) in a very short period of time. This put me off them quite successfully. Maybe he had a duffer? This was a about four years ago.

gp4 season – better grip but wears faster than ultragator. They are meant to be a 4 season race tyre, not a training/commute tyre.

Whilst gp4000 is faster/ lighter still, I would not say the puncture protection is as good as the other 2.

Tyres are always a compromise between cost, weight, longevity, rolling resistance and puncture protection. The nivana of all 5 at the same time not exist so compromise is always needed.

I've done about 4000 miles on a pair of GP4 Seasons commuting in London. More expensive than Gatorskins but seem to have lasted well.

I had a virtually non-existent puncture rate on GP4000's, it was a noticeable improvement on the Gatorskins I had before (which were also good, just not as good). That was on the same bike over the same commute over a period measurable in years (probably ran Gatorskins for about four or five years, then GP4000's for about two years). I was running the 25mm version of both.

I've been using Conti Four season for the past couple of years on my commuter and I'm pretty happy with them. I don't get many punctures, mmm maybe I shouldn't have said that, but I'm using Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX 320tpi on my road bike, which I use for commuting on sunny days and they have been fantastic so far.

Conti GP4S are winning then. Any other brands I should consider? Funny, but for MTB i'm not tempted by Conti, but for road I am.

Am v happy with my cheap puncture proof vittorias or vredesteins (I'lll have a look if it matters!)

I run Vittoria Pavés as my winter/commuter tyres.

Current pair have done, er, some thousands of miles. I have a nearly new set from this years Tour of Flanders to go on next winter.

It's complete extravagence, but the only thing between me at the ground are those little contact patches – and I want it to stay that way.

A friend ran a pair of his Pavés, and alternately uses Vittoria Rubino (most basic version) and Vredestein Fortezzas for same sort of riding (winter training and 30+ mile round trip commute).

Specialized Roubaix Pro. Absolutely awesome tyre.

GP4S +1

i like my ultra gators.. when for 28's rather than 25s though i don;t like the reddy color of the sidewalls..

I use Vittoria Rubino. They are cheap, so I don't mind replacing them, which is important for me in a commuting tyre. Probably don't have the puncture resistance of Gatorskins (which I've never used) but they've been quite solid for me.
Michelin Carbon's are the ones people keep recommending to me so perhaps consider them also.

Anotehr happy GP 4 Season user. I run 28s on my commuter/tourer with only one puncture (so far) in over a year of use.

Note that isn't the same as a 4000S which is faster, quicker rolling and thinner.

Easily the best road tyres I've used – Bontrager Race X Hardcase http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/bontrager_rxl_hc.html

I used the bontrager hardcase for about a year, they were okay puncture proofing wise, but no better than the gp4 season. Felt horrible though, really wooden feel.

GP4000S are the best tyres I've used in terms of speed/grip/comfort etc, but whether they're up to really rough roads and lots of grit is debateable.
GP4 seasons were marvellous in terms of grip and lack of punctures but the sidewalls on mine started to fall apart after a while. Since then I've been using Michein Krylions on the winter bike and I think they're brilliant – tough as you like, but still fast and grippy. At 80psi in the winter (I'm 70kg) I had no moments at all, and no punctures either.

depends a bit on what size of tyre – for puncture protection and training then the 23 bontrager race x hardcase are my choice. Bit of a weight penalty like all puncture protected tyres but pumped up to 120psi they roll pretty well. And at about £15 they appeal to the cheap bastard in me. One of my mates doesnt like them though and he was using the 32 version, they were apparently a bit sketchy in the wet.