Customer Reviews

Continental Gatorskin Wire Bead Road Bike Tire

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I ride fixed in an urban environment and was infuriated with constantly having to deal with small pin-hole flats. I eventually had to start carrying around a flat-repair kit in my bag (patches, tube, levers, mini-pump), which definitely helped in terms of not getting stranded, but it was still a hassle having to take 10-15 minutes out in public fixing a flat or two a week, plus the weight of all the extra kit.

After doing some research on puncture-resistant tires and asking around town I finally decided on the Gatorskins and I have to say I love 'em. The day after I put them on I had to do some riding around town and after all the snow we've had recently the roads have been in less than stellar condition. In addition to the ubiquitous threat of broken glass, I also was dealing with tons of gravel, pot-holes, and left over road-salt, conditions where, with my old tires I'd have flatted out no question. The Gatorskins took these conditions like a champ and provided better rolling resistance than my old tires at the same time. I think the real moment that converted me to the Gatorskins was when I came to a stop at an intersection and a second later heard a good sized rock come shooting out from under my tire with a loud "Pyooo!" Just a day before that sound would no doubt have been a quiet, defeated hiss.

As I said before, the puncture resistance isn't the only benefit to these tires, they roll great and they stick like glue. If you're trying to pull out long skids these tires are definitely not for you, but if you're trying to get from going to stopped in a hurry then I can't recommend them more.

To sum it all up, great tires, they'll handle all the nastiness that torn-up city streets can throw at you, roll with little resistance, and stop on a dime. If you've got the money it'll be hard to find better.

EDIT: 1 Year Update. With one year and countless miles of daily riding behind me I never had a single puncture flat with these tires, and that's not for the road's lack of trying. A quick visual inspection shows a slew of pock-marks, gouges, pin-holes and long, deep scratches in the rubber, but not a single thing managed to get through. In fact, the reason I'm updating this is because I'm back to buy another tire, I rode the back one down to the kevlar.

I've been commuting for years and have thousands of miles on my bike. I've been through about every tire out there and have settled on the Gator Skin as my number one choice.

I ride on city streets with lots of debris. I've never yet flatted with the Gator Skins. Also, they are pretty light weight for having such good protection from flats. Finally, they grip very well in rainy conditions. OK, they are rather pricey but they are the only tires I buy now.

I love and hate this tire. The love is because it's grippy even on wet roads. It has not allowed many flats. I had a few last season of commuting but I'm attributing it to crumby tubes. My current dislike is cheap Chinese tubes. The seams seem to fail after a mere 500 miles or so. The tread on this tire is very nice. I'm running 700x28 which keep my 220+lbs of commuting bike/gear/me from pinch flats on the railroad tracks and bridge joints.

The hate is that the sidewall failed without notice. As in with other tires, it's the tread that wears out and then you can see that's time for a new tire. Or the sidewall fibers start to break and you can see it's getting brittle. This tire exhibited none of those warning signs. From my photos you can see how much tread is left.

What happened on this tires last ride is that I had a car start to pull out into the street in front of me and I hit the brakes in a panic stop from 25mph+. (I had the right of way, but there is no point in being dead right.) The front wheel locked up or nearly so, the tire started to skid, the sidewall failed, the tube popped and I hit the curb and went over the handlebars, as I wasn't able to control the bike. Fortunately by that time I was doing less than 5mph and so sustained no injuries other than a mild scrape.

On other tires in a similar panic stop I've had the tread fail, as it in peeled off the tire but without a blowout. This tread is tough and held on. After the accident I spent some time looking at the tire and I think that the thick tough tread puts a lot of stress on the sidewalls of these tires. So that anyone who regularly commutes with a load should inspect those sidewalls and replace the tire if they show any signs of wear and not wait until some minor casing failure occurs.

So what next? Well I bought another set of these same tires. I could have switched brands but in general I like they way they ride. They are very responsive and I like the wet weather performance.

Pros:
1. Flat protection. Second only to the armadillo. Armadillos wear out way faster though.

2. Low rolling resistance lets you go fast

3. look good when new

4 Great all condition tire

5. good but expensive for skidding
Cons:

1. Look ugly when old

2. Although they are flat resistant, they still get a bunch of embedded debris that doesn't penetrate.

There are a few critical pieces of the bike: those that touch the rider and those that touch the road. A catastrophic failure of a bicycle tire can spell serious trouble, especially for those of us who blast down hills, ride close to traffic, or just enjoy riding aggressively. I pedal year-round to and from work just over 18 miles per day on hilly terrain and mixing with traffic on a fixed gear. My bicycle *is* my car. I absolutely depend and put my life into my bike. The tires are arguably one of the most critical pieces that keep you upright and away from spilling on the pavement. For nearly 8 years I've put my money on these tires and I've never been disappointed. I change these tires out about every year to year and a half (I'm about 140lbs) which is when I usually get my first flat. Yep, *first* flat. These tires are bulletproof, yet are a fine balance between weight and flat-free performance. They are slightly heavier than race tires (I haven't weighed them side-by-side, but rather going by perception while pedaling), yet the cornering performance is nearly on par with Conti's race tires (e.g., Grand Pri 4000 chilli's I also ride in the summer). I've come to trust these tires not only on dry pavement, but also in the rain. They are very predictable and instill a sense of trust as you get accustomed to wet riding. I've had several near-spill situations but, believe it or not, I've never gone down on these tires even after 8 years commuting. One time I was turning left out of a driveway and it was near freezing. I hit a patch of ice and my rear tire broke loose, but a moment later it grabbed again after the ice. Scary - yes, but the tire transitioned to grip very nicely and didn't throw me off. Since I'm on a fixie, I have a better sense for feeling the road. There was one time I told my buddy riding behind me that the road is slick, and I took it slowly and really felt the little grip available; he took a spill a moment later. (He wasn't riding a fixie, but I also don't know what tires he was riding. Whatever comes stock on a Cervelo P2 :p .)

I very highly recommend purchasing these tires to enjoy good grip in all-weather situations, predictability, puncture-resistance, and a long tire life.

I think everyone has pretty much covered all the good things about these tires, so I just want to point out these are marked as "directional tires", not that it may actually make much of the differences since these are not even treated tires, but why not make things right from the beginning when you have the chance, the direction of sign is marked on the red sided lable, not very noticeable.

Also these tires will be very difficult to install when brand new, they are very tight and will hug the rims like nothing else, so make sure you got some good tire levers like the Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack or very strong/thin tire levers.

Average around 100 miles a week on my cro-moly frame racing bike which weighs in at 18 pounds fully prepped and loaded. Last set of tires were Michelin Krylion 700x23's folding model. Can't tell you how many punctures I got with them, it was just constant. And they looked like they were 28mm in width after fully inflated. Went back to a pair of Kevlar-belted Schwinn radials I had sitting around the garage from years ago (these had tan-colored sidewalls and were stiff wire construction) but blew the casings due to dry rot pretty quickly. Read some reviews online and purchased a pair of Continental Gatorskins 700x25mm folding model, which are hand-made in Germany. I installed these carefully on my Araya rims which normally handle 20mm racing widths. Though they make the bike a lot faster, the 20mm's give a very harsh ride due to the necessity to maintain 120+ psi pressure and a narrower contact surface. So over the years I have gravitated toward 23 or 25mm widths. Once installed correctly (take your time and do it the right way) the Gatorskins pump up hard as a rock at only 85 to 90psi. These are "directional" tires and need to be installed with the tires facing a specific direction relative to the surface pattern. Ride quality is not to be believed. After a week or so of sticky "break-in" the bike rides like a Mercedes, like there are shock absorbers on both front and rear wheels. It's just so comfortable to ride. Quick and fast on turns, and acceleration is amazingly swift. You're totally attached to the pavement with no skipping or bouncing on fast curving ascents or descents. After three months and around 1200 miles, not even one scratch on the rubber coating on these tires. And the sidewalls are as undamaged and clean as they were when UPS delivered them. Note this reviewer weighs 158 lbs. so I don't as a rule stress tires as much as a heavier rider might.

The Continental Ultra Gatorskins cannot be beat. I have gone through two set of these tires and am about to buy my third set. I have thousands of miles on these tires and have NEVER had a flat! I ride all kinds of roads. Just two days ago I was riding with a buddy who got a huge screw in his tire and a second flat from a metal wire all in one 150 mile ride. We rode the same roads and I had no problems at all. I cannot recommend this tire more highly. I am going to give the 25s a try this time after using 23 for the past three years.

I am your typical 48 year old grey haired rider who has more ability to buy very expensive equipment than ability to win bicycle races. I've always bought expensive 700 x 23 tires. I also kept getting flats, some speculate because of my weight and the high tire pressure. So I went to the Gator Skin 700 x 25 and I haven't looked back. The ride is incredibly smooth with no appreciable resistance to rolling. Finally, the right tire for me.

Continental just simply makes great tires! These are light, roll easily, and I have had one on the rear now for a year and in 2500 miles it's not worn out yet. Even if there are lighter tires out there, I wouldn't trade these for a few grams.