Winter road bike tyres?

Just wondered which ones you all are using??

I have Mavic Askions on the road bike as they were matched with the Askium wheelset. Been looking at some Conti Gatorskin the folding bead one’s im sure they will give better grip.

schwalbe durano plus in 25c for me.

ive never used gatorskins but have heard their grip in the wet isnt too good

I’ve gone for Michelin Lithion-2, there are a few Ebay sellers doing pairs for around £25.
My only real concession to winter is that i’ve gone up in size to 25c.

Continental GP 4 seasons in 25mm get very good reviews.

I use 23mm GP4000s.

GP 4 seasons in 25mm are very nice tyres indeed. Pricey but they do last well.

LBS pointed me towards GP 4 seasons in 25mm. They were a bitch to fit but I’m happy with them in use. They’re on sale at Evans 😉

Gp 4 seasons are great but expensive. I do most of my winter miles on rubinos.

Schwalbe Blizzard 25c. End of….

GP 4 seasons as well here if the temp is 5C and above.

anything lower and studded tyres

i live in Norway btw and have to use studded tyres for about 4 months of the year
🙁

25C GP4 season on the rear
25C GP4000S on the front
(I mostly get punctures on the back)

Another very happy gp 4 season used here. Excellent grip in winter road grime.

Blazin-saddles – Member
Schwalbe Blizzard 25c. End of….

It will be ‘End of….’ when they wear out (unless you have a stash somewhere) as the Blizzard is discontinued and has been replaced by the Lugano. It was/is an entry-level tyre anyway.
If you’re going Schwalbe then the Durano Plus is the way to go. I’m running 25c on the winter bike and 23c on the summer bike. They’re virtually bomb-proof and very durable, providing me with 1,000s of trouble-free miles.

+1 GP4Seasons

28mm but they measure a real 26mm.

Those mavic tyres are the devils work, trust them not.

GP 4 seasons are the way to go.

GP 4 seasons for me. Changed over from Gatorskins and they seem grippier in cold weather. I will probably leave them on now as the bike is only my commuter so will just ride them til they wear out now.

I Put some gp 4 on last year and have been really impressed. Just 1 puncture since. My only slight regret is getting 23s instead of 25s. I’ll go to those next time I change.

Michelin Pro 4s, great in all conditions. Available for £22 if you look around.

Rubinos 25c. Gator/slip slide away/skins are on my garage wall.

17 quid

Michelin Pro 4’s or Duranos for me but run at about 90 psi for better grip.

Blazin-saddles – Member
Schwalbe Blizzard 25c. End of….
It will be ‘End of….’ when they wear out (unless you have a stash somewhere) as the Blizzard is discontinued and has been replaced by the Lugano. It was/is an entry-level tyre anyway.
If you’re going Schwalbe then the Durano Plus is the way to go. I’m running 25c on the winter bike and 23c on the summer bike. They’re virtually bomb-proof and very durable, providing me with 1,000s of trouble-free miles.

Lucky I have 10 pairs in stock then! Entry level tyre it maybe, but it grips very well, rolls fast, and doesn’t seem to puncture easily. I’ve been using them for years and many thousands of miles. I’m actually still using my 25c Ultremo ZX’s at the moment though, should get round to putting the summer bike away!

Michelin Lithion-2 in 25 flavour here too. Cheap as chips online.

I’m on Gatorskins, never had an issue grip wise when I had them on my commuter

I use conti ultra sport, don’t roll great but give plenty grip

Had 28mm GP4Seasons on the Tripster for a while but replaced them (on cost grounds) with Gatorskins. They’re not as grippy to start with but seem to have got better (or maybe I’ve got used to them?) The GP4Seasons seem to cut a little easier than the Gatorskins but they’re both good, relatively light tyres that offer a lot of protection for a lot of miles. If you can justify the cost (or get a good deal), the 4 Seasons are better, but I’ve no complaints now I’ve stuck 1000 miles or so on the Gatorskins.

I’ve got the Gatorskins in 25mm for spring / autumn, 28mm for winter and some 25mm Pro4 Service Course waiting to go on for the fortnight of summer… 🙂

GP 4 Seasons +another.

What grip issues do folk get?

I’ve never had that, used loads of different (and cheap) tyres.

From what I can ascertain by the feel of them I’d say a tyre like the GP 4 season has softer rubber over a harder shell which gives a more grippy feel to the ride. Cheaper tyres seem to have harder rubber throughout. both seem to work ok but the 4 season feels better on the road.

What grip issues do folk get?

I’ve never had that, used loads of different (and cheap) tyres.

According to Strava I did 5500 road and 1500 off road last year I don’t record commutes but used the bike every day I was working locally so say 45x4x20k=3600 kilometres.

Well over 10000k

The tyres used were high rollers/ cross mark mixture, the only mtb tyres I use now. Lugano’s which were ok but wore square extra quick and became prone to punctures. Durano Plus which are like have sex with four condoms on but grip and don’t puncture. Gp four season which I did most of the distance on without incident and two pairs of Mavics that came with the two pairs of Aksiums.
The first set of Mavic tyes were sold before fitting to the bike, the second set were (in my mind) the cause of the worst injury I’ve had in 2013.

They were fitted to my commuter as a result of being run into the week before, I was doing the same route I had done c.40 times last year on Duranos or Four seasons. I took a corner at the same speed in the same conditions as I have for years but in a flash the bike was gone from under me no warning no opportunity to save a slide.

The result was sprained shoulder joint (which I can tell you is very painful)with a three to six week recovery. It’s not a scientific test but difficult not conclude that those tyres are shite!

Michelin Pro4 Endurance – meant to be a year round training tyre. Proving as puncture proof as the Krylions that they replaced. There is a Grip version for winter iirc

Michelin Pro4 x 25mm – Stand up really well to the harsh muddy + gritty Herefordshire roads. Usually get about 2000 miles out of a rear.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/commuting/article/ww-Wise-Words—Tyres-0

If you’ve got the cash, 4 Seasons are great, if not, these are very puncture proof, a bit slower, but lots cheaper
http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/.Bontrager-Race-Lite-Hardcase-Road-Tyre_119612.htm

I was using Durano 25’s, but have had a rash of punctures since winter kicked in, and something slit the sidewall too. It’s a shame because they ride brilliantly in all conditions. Have had to invest in some heavy ‘puncture proof’ 40mm tyres (it’s a cross bike) for the winter months.

Continental Gator Hardshell for me. Never had a puncture with them, touch wood, but one of my inner tubes blew out the other week (unrelated).

Good tyres but very heavy.

Durano 25s (think they are the dual compound Performance ones, not the Plus ones). Less than £20 an end from Germany, and massive improvement on the cheapo rubinos I had on before. Much better grip in wet and would happily leave on all year.

GP4 Seasons here.

GP 4 Seasons on one bike, Marathon Plus Winters on another. Both brilliant tyres.

Hi, sorry slight hijack as I can’t recommend a tyre but this seemed the thread to ask this. I’m a bit of a noob to this road cycling and wondering how much difference winter tyres will make. Having recently bought a bike I’ve been out 3 times and have come off once when turning right into a junction, a junction that I’ve taken many times at faster speed on my mtb. Understandably I’m fairly keen to improve this average. I live in NE Scotland where typically its about 5 deg C for most of the winter, do you get specifically low temp tyres? The tyres currently fitted are Schwalbe Lugano 700 x 23c – internet reviews (which of course must be believed) suggest these are not the best in the damp. From the above it seems like most folk rate GP4’s – pricey but I’m willing to take a punt if they stop me falling off. I’m thinking of going for 25c as opposed to 23c, perhaps daft question but will these grip better than 23c? Any thoughts much appreciated

Personally, I’ve given up on proper winter tyres after being pitched off once to many times. I’m now in Schwalbe Ultremo ZX HD’s which grip properly in the cold and wet.

A bit confused by all this talk of sliding, pitching off etc while using Gatorskins. Do you (as in those complaining) try and corner in winter like you would on a warm summers eve or are you just a bit gung-ho?