Only 2500 miles on my Conti GP4 Seasons and the rear has given up, 4 punctures in the last 75 miles.

So, I could just replace it with another of the same but what about Shwalbe Durano, Vittoria Open Pave, Michelin Pro 4 Endurance?

I obviously value puncture resistance, especially on the 0500 commute to work, but I also want a fast tyre so the Shwalbe Marathon is out.

The Marathon is alright, You just need to keep it well pumped up, if it drops just 10 PSI though you can feel it. The downside to the compound and the resistant belt is both weight and ride quality, Like tyres of yesteryear that were just solid bands of hard rubber.

I’ve covered some miles this winter and touch wood,,,,,,, ive not had a single flat, thats riding predominantly B & C Roads, Some A roads and some unclassified. A bit of the TPT as well as local tracks, forest roads.

As soon as the weather picks up though Gatorskins are going on. Mine are 32mm and weigh almost a Kilo apiece, i cant wait to get them off.

Conti Gatorskin’s if puncture protection is paramount… But buyer beware… They’re horrible to ride, with no grip and no feel!

Normal Durano’s are very good, fast, grippy, pretty decent puncture protection. But then there’s the new Durano Double Defence, which is only slightly hesvier but has a Gatorskin-alike extra layer of protection on top. Highly recommended.

Open Pave’s are very grippy, very supple, but they don’t last long or provide very good puncture protection sadly.

Michelin Pro 4 Endurance aren’t tough enough, nice and fast and grippy, but they’re not much tougher than normal Pro 4’s.

Durano+, not as heavy as the marathons but still lots of protection.

I just can’t do it to myself, I love how the bike rides on 250g tyres, Marathons are definitely out. I ride mainly A roads and through town centre in winter, sometimes diverting through the odd B road

I put on Duranos, and they have been brilliant for 6 months and many miles, both in terms of grip in the wet and durability.

Yeah I’ve heard the reputation of the gatorskins in the wet. Those Durano DD’s look great, only 295g and probably worth a go for £27 I reckon. I take it they’re gripper and nicer to ride than the gatorskin hardshells?

I disagree slightly with mboy about pro4’s. They are pretty tough, tougher than average BUT not tough enough for me to ride them around the winter detritus in the back lanes.

Have a look at Lithion 2’s. Cheap, grippy hard wearing and review well but best of all about £11 each. I’ve done a year on mine on my winter bike – with the bike also used on a Turbo with no issues at all.

Michelin Lithion 2

Panaracer Race d2 evo are working well for me over winter.

Vredestein Senso Xtreme are my go to winter tyre. They’re pretty fast, very grippy in the wet and I’m puncture free in 3 winters riding them. 2 tyres from Ribble for under £50 too here

Not lithions, my experience is that they are summer tyres and not tough enough for winter commuting, Kryron you must have been lucky 🙂

Gatorskins are OK on the rear just keep them in the sweet spot for pressure, too high and they lose grip too low and they are sluggish, I find the bottom of the stated pressure range on the trye works for me.

They are the same price as a pro4 so I would choose one of those or try the durano

Been riding these lately…
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/Continental-Grand-Prix-GT-Folding-Tyre-Black-Black-700x25mm/CONTTYRF307?utm_campaign=Googlebase&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Googlebase&geoip=UK&gclid=Cj0KEQiAlae1BRCU2qaz2__t9IIBEiQAKRGDVVnF5RIpsO2TeZCNWpRsk7bfDvJMSb2v32I68P_6V5EaApNc8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I also like race tyres and these feel close enough, but have a bit more meat. Excellent grip in current treacherous road conditions too. Durability TBC.

Put Durano 28s on recently and really liking them so far. Went for the standard ones as the plus do add a bit of weight. Mate has got the the plus also in 28s so we’ll see how we get on

Durano’s get another vote from me, second winter season on them, still going strong, and lots more puncture proof than the conti’s they replaced which also went misshapen.

Michelin Lithion 2 year round for me, excellent, not one puncture as of yet.

Pro4 Endurance are tough as old boots, fast and grippy. Pro4 Grip are even better in terms of grip and speed but aren’t as tough and come up quite narrow – a 23 is more like a 21.

Lithion 2 convert here as well, amazing for the money.

GP 4 Seasons have slightly more grip, but cost 3 times as much, and when they start puncturing towards the end of their life you have to replace them or they’ll keep puncturing. Worth the premium if you’ve got the cash, if not the Lithions are great and cheap enough to keep a few spares.

currently running Marathon’s on the commuter/winter bike – they have been great so far (touches wood)

For commuting/winter riding I would rather have something heavier but less prone to punctures tbh.

Also better training for when I jump on the good bike 🙂

I was going to replace my Marathon Plus with gatorskins, I take it these aren’t my best option for dry weather use.

Nibby, that was my theory, rather than fixing a flat in the cold and rain, haul ass with 32 marathons so that when I do put something a little more racy on then i can fly…..

Michelin Lithion 2 for me too. Cheap as, light and i’ve not had a puncture despite my dubious choice of commutes to work and i’m 100kg.

Dont be put off with the grey versions, i couldnt even tell they were grey.

Been using Gatorskins for 3,800 miles. No punctures so far, and they were sh tyres. I’ve recently added slime tubes for extra protection. Also used Vittoria Rubino Pros and they were good too.

Seriously though, slime tubes, the future.

I have Gator Hardshells running on slime tubes.

No punctures in the 800 miles since my last set of 4Seasons gave up, but they are nowhere near as nice to ride.

I put open Pave 27s on for the tour of flanders last April, and they’re still on now.
I rode them all through summer and the winter up to now and had no problems and no punctures*
* I do understand that having written that down that I will be experiencing trouble at the weekend!

Conti Gatorskin’s if puncture protection is paramount… But buyer beware… They’re horrible to ride, with no grip and no feel!

They’re truly appalling in the wet, so fairly useless for winter. I’m running GP4s, which seem pretty tough and roll better, but they’re twice the price of Pro4s. Not sure they’re worth the extra.

27c Open Pave run with lightweight tubes on my training bike – no punctures even after several thousand miles. I would rather run the risk of a puncture or two for the much better grip and road feel.

They’re truly appalling in the wet

This 100%. Gatorskins are only good for one thing, turbo trainers.

Just got around to inspecting my GP4 Seasons that punctured again last night, wanted to make sure it wasn’t a bit of crap stuck in the tyre causing recurring punctures. There is a 1cm open gash in the main tread! So as far as I’m concerned nothing would’ve stood up to that. So for that reason i think it’s worth giving the Lithion 2 a go for £11.

Cheers for all the advice guys, if my £11 turns out to be wasted then i’ll probably go for a Pro4 Endurance or a Durano + or DD.

Another vote for Durano Plus here. Grip is good wear is ok so far too, other than the flat spot where some numpty pulled out on me I’ve done 1000+ miles on a rear one and it looks almost new other than that

Duranos all year round previously. Now GP400S II and Clement Strada LGG depending on the bike. Can’t say I’ve punctured with either but most of the “hazards” in winter around here are to do with stones, wood, mud etc as there’s a lot of countryside and forest moreso than city roads.

Used to run GP4Seasons which were very good but now on tubeless

I used to do a 20mile commute in winter, and puncture protection was the most important factor. Getting a puncture was a nightmare in the dark, cold wet conditions and happened a lot with all the glass around Salford and Manchester.

I used Gatorskins but didn’t find they gave me much extra puncture protection and wasn’t a very great tyre. Highly overrated in my opinion and reading by what people say above they agree, so why are they so rated?

I then went to Marathon plus which were slow and heavy and worse of all made the bike feel horrible. They shook the bike apart on the poor roads we had and with spending over 2 hours a day riding it wasn’t good.

In the end I went tubeless. I’ve now got a fast comfortable tyre and never had a puncture with it. I always hear roadies say how it’s not needed but it’s been a great solution to the commute.

I’ve never had any problem with Gatorskins, wet or dry. Mind you, there’s so much mud on the road at this time of year where I ride no tyre’s going to feel that secure.

Looking out of the window at the rain and hearing the cars ploughing through the water the ride home at 10:30pm after a long governors meeting will be fine as the Pave’s just grip the lovely Calderdale roads.

Granted they are not cheap but they are the only thing stopping me sliding along the road so a few quid in the right place sits OK with me.

How can I justify £100’s on bike stuff but not an extra £10 on each tyre.

Life is to short to ride sh1t tyres that feel numb!

Gatorskins really aren’t as bad as some people make out. They’re a quality and durable tyre. I ride them all year round on one of my bikes, and they can be a bit skittish in the wet, but I think you’re always going to have that trade-off between grip and durability. And they ride fine imo. It’s not like riding Marathon+.

…4 punctures in the last 75 miles

Any tyre needs a good clean out after a while. After a couple of thousand miles they’re going to have picked up a lot of glass and flint, which will work its way through any puncture resistant layer eventually. Let the air out, and go check all the nicks in your tyre for any foreign objects, and pull them out with a knife.

Big fan of Michelin Pro 4 Endurance. I find they wear out before they puncture. I do clear the tread out every few months though. No punctures in the last 12 months/2000 miles that I can recall.

WhyTF did I go and say that?

Done over 3000 miles on the Gatorskins fitted to my commuter and they’re still going strong, while I’d accept they perhaps aren’t the grippiest tyre on the planet, they’re not un-ridable in the wet and comfort is substantially improved if you don’t run them at silly high pressures…

They’re just not race tyres, but then they aren’t sold as that, they are durable road tyres for training or commuting, they last well and resist puncture due to the carcass construction and the use of a harder rubber compound, that’s the compromise, want more grip? Accept more flats and faster wear…

Maybe fit something with softer rubber up front, where the wear rate is typically less (like the GP4 you already have?) and shove a Gatorskin on the back if you can tolerate the tradeoff in rear grip for puncture resistance…

Maybe fit something with softer rubber up front, where the wear rate is typically less (like the GP4 you already have?) and shove a Gatorskin on the back if you can tolerate the tradeoff in rear grip for puncture resistance…

Thats sort of what I have done, the GP4 on the front is still going great but I’ll have to see how I get on with the cheap Lithion 2 on the rear. If the Lithion is no good then I’ve learnt my lesson and I’ll happily spend more next time

If your prime consideration is avoiding punctures (whilst not feeling like you’re towing a bath full of concrete) then it’s the Duran Plus all the way. I get at least 3,000 miles out of a pair and the only time I’ve ever punctured is when I ran a pair so far down the protection layer was showing through like a blue stripe. The buggers are bullet proof!

I’ve had a lot of trouble with Schwalbe tyres in general and Durano plus specifically due the layers of rubber delaminating on the sidewall possibly a one off but I also find the extra thick rubber deadening to any ride feel( we are still on bikes here) and one of them randomly grew an egg on the sidewall and burst. Various issues with other tyres in their range means I don’t touch that brand anymore.

I recommended Lithions earlier here’s my experience with others:

Duranoplus as above
Marathons extra dead, very heavy and not very p proof I think the tread traps Flint etc and extremely hard rubber so very sketchy.
Gp4seasons long term fave but can delaminate when worn, come up small in size and are expensive.
Gaterskins, no issues with these ran them for a couple of years wore well seemed fine. Not sure of the exact model they were though.
Various bogo standard basic stuff Luganos, Detonators etc are generally too thin as are high end low weight race tyres.

The lithions are 270g for 25’s maybe 50g above pricier versions but its just extra rubber that will last a bit longer and provide some protection, they feel great wear well no grip issues of course £11 a go is nice too only down side is they are tight so you’ll need to work on your fitting skills.