Conti Gatorskin vs Gator Hardshell vs GP4000S

I'm a long time user of Gatorskins on my commuter – 23's in the summer, 25 or bigger through the winter. It's a 15-mile-each-way trip on a mix of busy-ish urban roads, back roads and a bit of cycle path – the unifying element of all these routes is that they seem constantly covered in glass and other sharp detritous, to the point that the tyres end up being retired after about 9 months as the tread and then carcass get ripped to shreds leading to an increase in punctures long before the rubber is worn out.

Due to sheer bad luck, I've had to bin two tryes in the last two weeks as the sidewalls have torn so I now have the option of either:

a) simply replace them with more Gatorskins which seem to be a good compromise of cost/grip/longevity
b) try some of the Gator Hardcases which promise improved life and puncture resistance for a bit more money, probably at the expense of comfort and grip
c) go the other way and and get some GP4000S' which will potentially roll/grip better but won't be as puncture resistant, again, for a bit more money. My worry here is that they are as 'fragile' as some Michelin Pro3's I tried once which felt/rolled/gripped fantacticly, but were cut to shreads and in the bin inside 2 months…..

The heart says try the GP4000S'…. the head says try the Hardshells…. Comments on the longevity of the GP4000S' or the extra robustness of the Hardshells appreciated.

sounds like you are in exactly the same position of me.. i can normally eek out a year from a set of gatorskins (15 miles each way, urban/suburban roads and glass covered cycle lanes), but by the end they are looking very fragile.

I'm tempted by the hardshells, but there is no way I'd go for the 4000s, I tried some 'normal' tyres a couple of years ago and I was forever fixing punctures!

Dave

Alfabus – yeah…. the act of writing it all down has swayed me towards giving the Hardshells a go. The Pro3 experiment was an expensive one I don't really want to repeat….. I've persuaded a work colleague who does a similar journey to try the GP4000S' so I'll have an answer in the next 6 months or so, but it's dumb luck that I actually need to buy some new tyres right now! 😉

I've done over 4000km in the bristol area on a set of GP4000s with one puncture so far (a big thorn from hedge cutting). So they're not that fragile. But I run marathon +s on my commuter, and I'd deserve a medal if I punctured them…

hehe, i like the idea of recruiting yourself a guinea pig 🙂

slightly different train of thought: If you can't decide whether you want the greater longevity of the hardshells or the increased grip of the 4000s, aren't the gatorskins a good compromise?

They obviously work fine for you now… why move in either direction?

Dave

They obviously work fine for you now… why move in either direction?

I ride a bike…. therfore, I BELIEVE all the marketing hype put in front of me….. therefore change for the sake of change is good, right? 😉

Ian – this is another option – get a set of GP4000s for the summer, where standing around fixing the ODD puncture isn't so bad and some of them-there Marathon+S jobbies for the winter. Comments on the Marathon's performance – are they not a touch, er, 'harsh'?

I got some conti 4 seasons – great grip and longevity compared witht eh GP4000 (not s) as those wore v badly and tyre blew out of the side wall after hitting a stone in the road 🙂

IME Bontrager X-Lite's are way more durable than Contis.
Flying against the face of roadie fashion , I know. But I speak from 15 years of commuting.
Currently have a Bonty on the back and a Gatorskin on the front. Guess which one punctured on the 2nd ride?
Nope it wasn't the Bonty.

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/bontrager_rxl_hc.html

Hmmmm….. I'm getting strangely drawn to the Marathon+ in 25 or 28 as my winter tyre…..

For the summer….. GP 4Seasons and the X-lites are also good shouts… <roadie fashion victim>, but the shiney silver lettering on the GP4000S look cool and it uses Black Chilli rubber, I mean, c'mon!!!! </roadie fashion victim> 😉

My mate chucked his Gatorskins as they puncture far too often.

I'm getting on well with my Conti supersport plus:

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti%20supersportplus.shtml

This table might help for Cont tyres:
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/citytouring.shtml

it uses Black Chilli rubber
Is good for about 2 months, then it cuts to pieces.

Surely for roadie fashion victim-ness it has to be Schwalbe?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-X-SCHWALBE-ULTREMO-R-WHITE-700-X-23-BRAND-NEW-/320522058434

DezB – Can you see into my head or something?!?!? 😉 I've had to have a serious chat with myself to NOT get some of those Ultremo's for the race bike!!! Also – top feedback about the Black Chilli rubber…. that was my fear, that it couldn't magically give all the extra performance Conti claim without sacrificing something.

tiger_roach – that is a useful table, thanks. The Super Sport Plus now enters the mix.

Yours, increaslingly indecisive 😉

I went from Ultremos (excessive wear + bulging sidewalls + punctures) to the 4000S over a year ago. the Contis are sublime, roll much smoother, last longer, no punctures (just jinxed myself).

"Is good for about 2 months, then it cuts to pieces."
That is a bullsh!t statement if there ever was one. Done over 2000miles on my set of GP4000S's , not had a single puncture and they are still rolling and gripping beautifully.

….GP4000S re-enter the mix for summer tyre following mixed review shocker…. 😉

what about 4seasons?

having used gatorskins/4-seasons/gp4000's the gatorskins do not have the grip or ride quality of the other 2.

have 4 seasons on the commuter/fixed and gp's on the road bike and not had any problems with either, the gp's will wear quicker though.

dunno what the new hardshell's are like? do they have a higher tpi or different rubber?

having used gatorskins/4-seasons/gp4000's the gatorskins do not have the grip or ride quality of the other 2

This is what I suspected and the reason for moving away from the Gatorskins for the summer. Am considering the 4-seasons over the GP4000S, but they are a bit pricey.

dunno what the new hardshell's are like? do they have a higher tpi or different rubber?

They have a triple polyamide layer on the carcass (compared to the Gatorskins 2 layers), the anti-puncture layer is wider, but I think the tread layer is the same…..

the other one to consider is the grand prix.
was given a pair of 24's to put on for the tour of flanders. they did the job o.k think they are cheaper than gp's

if the rubber is the same as the gators i persoanlly wouldn't bother with the hardshells as i hate the squeaky ride they give in the wet.

as these are for commuting i would go for the four seasons if they are a bit cheaper than gp's

sputnik – Member
"Is good for about 2 months, then it cuts to pieces."
That is a bullsh!t statement if there ever was one

Awfully kind of you to say so. But the Attack & Force I used were fantastically fast and grippy. But after a few months use there were cuts and nicks all over them. (Said the bullshitter for no apparent reason)

I am a huge conti fan and have them on all my bikes, with the exception of my commuter, which until recently had Gatorskins on.

I didn't really like the new Gatorskins, so tried the Bontrager hard care tyre and really like it, grippier than the gatorskins and tougher. Probably a bit heavier, but good value.

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/119612.html

And yes I realise this doesn't feature in your original shortlist, but as my shortlist (which got longer) was the same as yours I thought it relevant.

I use GPS4000s all year round. The 25mm ones. On the rough rural gravel strewn roads where I live. I've found Spesh Roubaix's and Michelins cut to shreds in no time.

I also race on them. I like the extra comfort of the 25mms and in my experience they aren't any slower.

I put a new pair on at the start of each season. I think they are great.

SB

DezB, I believe you when you say that your tyres had cuts and nicks all over them, I just don't get it that the Black Chilli compound is to blame.

I have the Grand Prix 24's on my race bike and they are really nice, nothing like the Gatorskins. not sure how robust they will be though as I have barely ridden it

I've tried loads of tyres on my commuter and settled on the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season as the best. My commute is very similar to yours – 20 miles each way on urban pot holed roads, cycle path and back roads and I've tried bontrager hardcase, michelin carbon krylion, pro3 race and quite a few others.

I've been using my 'proper' road bike for the past few weeks for my commute and I have the 320 tpi vittoria open corsa cx on them and I'm very impressed so far.

I think the GP 4Season's look like being the best compromise for summer, but are a bit more pricey than the others – about double the cost of the Gatorskins…. so I'll need to be getting 18 months life out of them for the economics to make sense.

Moving away from the Hardcases as the extra Vectran layer seems to be the onyl improvement – the actual breaker belt is nominally the same (thickness), as is the rubber tread.

The last pair of GP 4Seasons I bought in March had a vectran layer. They set I fitted in March will probably last me till the end of the year, so around 4500 miles.

Gatorskins are sh1te. Really. Dreadful grip, the sidewalls are a joke and they;re not even that puncture resistant.

Gatorskins are sh1te. Really. Dreadful grip, the sidewalls are a joke and they;re not even that puncture resistant.

I don't think that's entirely fair – they do a job, at a price. IME, they are adequately puncture resistant UNTIL they start to cut up. If you want better puncture resistance you can have it either for more money or less feel (see GP 4Seasons ot Schwalbe Marathon+ respectively).

Maybe i was (extremely) unlucky, but i've honestly had more durability out of Michelin ProRace 2s than Gatorskins

I've done 500 miles this year on my Pompino fitted with Gatorskins, 20 mile ew commute on country road, cycle paths etc, hardly worn yet. Grip and roll much better than the crappy top touring things that came on it (but lasted a couple of thousand miles and only punctured twice).