[Closed] 'Grippy' Road Tyres

GP 4Seasons seem pretty good. Trouble is that grip will often come with softer race tyres, which aren't ideal for commuting.

Aye willing to sacrifice a bit of longevity for non-face-smashery, good shout.

What he said.

I swap between schwalble blizzards and ultremos depending on the weather or my mood. In summer I've no problems commuting on 'race' tyres, in winter I just accept I'm going to have to back off a bit. The summer tyres still do enough miles that they don't need replacing, I'm more bothered about puncture protection.

There's a propper set of switchbacked hairpins* near work (yes, south of the M4 in Berkshire!), and I'm often amazed quite how much you can push against even on the winter tyres, any sliding I do is almost invariably due to something else (diesel, gravel, leaves, white lines). No doubt the ultremos are better, but 99 times out of 100 both are fine, the other 1 in 100 nothing will help you.

*even better, they're trafic lighted, so you know there's nothing coming the other way!

Honestly - more likely to be rider than tyres I'm afraid.

If you just sit on it and fling it into loose corners, good tyres will only delay the inevitable slightly, imo.

my default answer to any roadbike tyre thread is GP4000s.

grippy, hard wearing, predictable.i have them on my 2 road bikes, use them for training racing TTs and commuting. had less than 5 punctures in 3 years.

Yes what njee20 said (and molgrips - but sort of assumed you knew what you were doing.)

May be worth running at lower pressures if you are after a bit more grip. On 23 I run about 85 front and 95 rear. Will be gripper than running old skool 110psi front and rear.

Honestly - more likely to be rider than tyres I'm afraid.

A few years back I thought I'd do the old skool roadie thing of running cheap crappy tyres in winter - I went with some Hutchinson something or others. They were utterly dismal. Slipped all over the place - climbing out of the saddle on anything steeper than about 10% was out of the question if the road was wet. I couldn't believe how dire they were. Persisted for a couple of thousand miles, then junked.

Some tires are just shit.

Yeah, of course... but there's shite, then top stuff, and a huge range in the middle I reckon, which are still fine and often cheap.

Of course, the OP's tyres could be in the shite category I suppose, he did not specify...

I tend to go into my good LBS and ask what's durable and good value - I got some Vittoria something with a red stripe on, they've lasted forever, had one puncture and worn well.

Crash was really due to hitting a patch of gravel so rider error but its more of a confidence thing with the tyres, current ones are as smooth as duncan goodhew's bonce and a cheapish compound to boot which on a steep wet descent are soemthing to think about precisely when you don't want something to thinking about.

For the record they're those conti's that on one had on for 2 for £20 with tubes a few months back - so shite.

current ones are as smooth as duncan goodhew's bonce

Smoother is generally grippier, unless it's very wet. Even with some knobbly CX tyres you'll still struggle when hitting loose gravel.

I think smooth is better unless you are at risk of aquaplaning, which is never going to happen with a 23mm tyre anyway.

As others have pointed out, tyre performance varies for many reasons. Ranging from cost to the user themselves.

Either way, during a 4 hour ride, in heavy rain, last Sunday. At one point, while the tyre was submerged, there was a momentary loss of control, however, the slick, Michelin Pro 4 service course, did a great job of re-attaching itself to the road. As is usually the case, this all happened "in the blink of an eye". So, if wear rate isn't so much of a concern. I'd suggest OP consider the Pro 4s.
They're a relatively sticky tyre, good grip, but obviously, for that very reason, slightly draggy.
I'd buy them again.

There's a propper set of switchbacked hairpins* near work (yes, south of the M4 in Berkshire!), and I'm often amazed quite how much you can push against even on the winter tyres, any sliding I do is almost invariably due to something else (diesel, gravel, leaves, white lines). No doubt the ultremos are better, but 99 times out of 100 both are fine, the other 1 in 100 nothing will help you.

*even better, they're trafic lighted, so you know there's nothing coming the other way!

TINAS you're talking about Hose hill are you?

+1 for conti GP4000's rode them round ireland a couple of years ago over all sorts of rubbish roads in plenty of wet and was impressed by their performance..and they last.

Slipped all over the place - climbing out of the saddle on anything steeper than about 10% was out of the question if the road was wet.

I find that as well. My Vittoria Open Corsa CXs are leathal in the wet, whereas the Open Paves are excellent.

The Open Pave is a fablous tyre for UK roads and conditions. They are not more expensive than GP4000s or 4 Seasons, but they don't last any where near as long. They are superbely comfortable to ride though; appreciably better than the Contis.

Another vote for the Conti GP 4 Season from me.

Good grip, roll well, pretty puncture resistant and seem to wear well.

Gp4000s are a cracking all rounder ... Schwalbe ultremo's are bit grippier in my opinion but wear faster..

GP 4Seasons seem pretty good.

Good grip, but I had two punctures on the Exmouth Exodus, with respectively a small thorn and a very small piece of glass going straight through the tread. I'm not overly impressed tbh.

Another +1 for gp4000s cannot beat them

Ride the widest tyre you can - allowing lower pressure and more grip.

Are you sure your tumble was due to the tyre? NOt excessive speed, oil, gravel on the road?

Whatever they've replaced the Michelin Krylion Carbon with (I assume it's the pro4 endurance) should be good and durable. That said I have Schwalbe Durano on my road bike at the moment for the commute and they're pretty grippy, even descending around corners at 40+ mph

To some extent if it's been dry a while and then rains well road tyres are sliddy, you as the rider just have to manage it. Scrub off speed before the corner, and then don't tip it over too far.

However, as mentioned above GP4000's are a decent tyre.

Just gone from 23 to 25mm GP4000s - great tyre, very happy with them, lots of grip and roll well. Enjoying the added grip of the 25's.

Got a pair of uncut GP4000s 23's, never punctured, about 500 miles wear, that I need to sell, email in profile if of interest.

thisisnotaspoon - Member

I swap between schwalble blizzards and ultremos

+1 for Blizzards. I run them all year round on my commuter.

I also concur with most of the comments above, judging the road conditions outweighs tyre choice.

"Crash was really due to hitting a patch of gravel"

And therefore the tyres are irrelevant?

I'd say the variation in grip between different levels of road tyre is far less than the variation in grip between gravel and tarmac. So probably 🙂

TINAS you're talking about Hose hill are you?

Yup. Not sure which is more fun, trying to get down it quickly on the bike, or up it in the car!

I found those Conti Black Chilli one's that I can no longer afford the most grippiest tyres. Force and something (front/rear specific). Ribble do em. Incredibly confidence inspiring on corners.

Climbing up it on a bike can be interesting, the traffic light sensors don't seem to detect bikes and the "Cycle lane" painted on bits of it is simply a gutter full of detritus all year round, plus there's run off from the hill in winter so you get icey mulched leaves, awesome...

The odds are you'll be slipping about in that while being over taken up the hill, then as you get to the top you're faced with a range rover who's just been shown a green light...

It is a nice little section of road though isn't it is and pretty quiet round that way at weekends...

If you want another scary descent try Ufton lane going past ufton court and then descending to where it meets Church lane, you can get a good bit of speed up and then you're faced with a LH Bend on narrow road, with visibility limited by the hedgerow there's a junction but the markings are long gone, so nobody's sure who has right of way and the whole thing is covered in loose gravel... Its Ace!

I'd suggest going up to 25mm. I've got gp4000sII tyres, really like them.

I used Michelin Pro4 Endurance 25c in the London 100 and was happy with those as a compromise grip/toughness/weight. Cost around 1/2 of what the GPS4000s costs so sensible for commuting I think.

I'm not sure how you would measure absolute grip but I have no complaints about the gp4seasons that have just done 8k puncture free in the last 12 months.

the crash was due to the gravel but it made me question how happy id be coming down gummers how in the wet on OEM cheap compound lookylikeys. so thanks to those with the good advice, wide as possible and drop the pressure abit and those withe recommendations GPs 4 season pr otherwise in the running. for the smartarsery i thank you too but in a churlish sarcastic whine

Here's a question, I know on the MTB I often mix different front and rear tyres (Tread/Width/brand/etc) for their respective benefits, do people often do this on their Road bikes? or is the generally done thing simply having a nice matching pair of tyres?

I can see both sides of the coin...

Unmatching tyres? That would be far too distressing.

Actually some might have mix a 25c and a 23c of the same tyre I suppose.

I've got some Michelin Pro 4 Grip on mine and they seem really good.

I had original Decathlon tyres on and came off mid roundabout so I've been more careful since even with the Pro 4''s on but they definitely feel grippy.

[i]Unmatching tyres? [/i]

I've got red tyre on the front, black on the back. Same model of tyre. Looks pretty shit, but its only my road bike.

Here's a question, I know on the MTB I often mix different front and rear tyres (Tread/Width/brand/etc) for their respective benefits, do people often do this on their Road bikes? or is the generally done thing simply having a nice matching pair of tyres?

I think the variation between good tyres is so minimal that it'd be pointless. Conti tried selling force/attack models for front/rear for a while but it never really took off.

unless they're hard puncture resist tyres all of them are trippy....to a degree.
Racing the same closed circuit for thirty plus years will soon tell you that. The way YOU go round corners makes the difference.
Lat year I won a race in pouring rain on £19 25c Rubino Pros. In the dry virtually anything grips, but its best to look around at race tyres if you want to turn at race speeds

Here's a question, I know on the MTB I often mix different front and rear tyres (Tread/Width/brand/etc) for their respective benefits, do people often do this on their Road bikes? or is the generally done thing simply having a nice matching pair of tyres?

DezB - Looks pretty shit, but its only my road bike.

BURN HIM!!!

Mavic Yksion Pro Griplink are, well, grippy. They also have Powerlink for the rear. I find them to be very good in both 23c and 25c. They do come up quite narrow, but are a nice match to Open Pros.

Schwalbe Durano S are my stock winter tyre. Good wear, good grip and low rolling resistance. I have raced them in wet conditions. Marathon are heavier and even more grippy, but also a good choice for commuting.

Don't be tempted with any tyres that aren't black (sidewalls excluded). The colour additive makes the tread less grippy.

Currently Ribble are offering two Veloflex Open Corsas for £52, which is good considering that they are a stunningly superb tyre with 320 tpi and a grippy cross-hatched tread in soft sticky rubber. Pumped up to 110 they ride like a Pro 4 at 100 and in the apocalyptic rain on the Ride London 100 last Sunday they felt super-secure on wet polished London roads. I really do believe they are faster than my Pro 4s and they definitely feel more secure.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/tyres-road-tri-track-folding-veloflex-corsa-twinpack2/velxtyrf351