Good road tires?

[Drtgirl]

My road bike is in dire need of new tires. I plan to put in some serious base miles this winter so I need to get rolling on this (no pun intended). Any recommendations for good tires that don't cost a fortune? There are so many to choose from.

[Grog]

Schwalbe Stelvio.

[LBTC]

DH recommends the Continental Grand Prix 4000s $49.99 each at WheelWorld.com. They also have the Continental Ultra Race folding $17.99

The GP 4000s is a training / race tire, that wears better and longer than a lot of others. The Ultra Race is rated as a good tire to get your base miles in.

As you may notice, DH is a continental guy. And his choices in tires have always worked for me. :D

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[OakLeaf]

I put GP4000s on my bike this fall. They've only got about 800 miles so far, but what I noticed right away is that they have a much more uniformly rounded profile than the Michelin Lithions that I'd been riding. The Contis turn in much easier, but they definitely feel twitchier for straight-line riding. That also means that, similar to motorcycle tires ridden on too much freeway, the profile will change over time as they wear a "flat spot" in the middle. (I'm pretty sure unless you only ride crits, there's no way to wear bici tires uniformly on the sides... and these aren't really race tires. ;))

This isn't pro or con, just an observation of how the feel of these tires differs from the Michelins.

[Velobambina]

Specialized Armadillos. Very very puncture resistant. The only downside is that they are a devil to get on and off, but then again, like I said, very very puncture resistant. I have them on all my road bikes.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You don't say whether you want skinny racing tires or fatter tires for possible dirt/gravel roads, and you don't say if you want puncture resistant because of road glass and debris, or whether speed is more important to you.
There are tires that do various things well, if we knew more about your riding habits and your goals. If we know nothing except that you want good road tires, well then everyone is just going to recommend their favorite tire, whether it really suits your needs or not.
and...Do you consider $50 per tire to be within your "costing a fortune" category?

[Miranda]

I just got new tires on my road girl. This link below in TE will show the blab I posted about picking them out. I have not had the chance to ride them much as we have gotten a very early winter with snow/ice here in the midwest. The tires are Serfas Seca RS $38. You can scroll down to the bottom of my thread link and look at the pic I posted of how they performed for me right off the bat. Knock on wood, I'm happy with that so far:).

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=27594

[lunacycles]

Conti 4-Seasons are a great winter tire--a bit wider, durable, can handle the crap, etc., but they ain't cheap.
My bro has the Specialized Armadillos. He commutes in NYC and he loves them.

BTW BleeckerSt_girl has a good point:cool:

[Norse]

+1 for the Continental GP 4000's. After changing one too many flat tires I switched to these and am a firm believer. They come and cool colors also.:D

[ny biker]

I use Conti Ultra Gatorskin on my road bike. I only had one flat with them this year.

[MauiRockHopper]

Wow reading this thread makes me realize how limited we are on brands on Maui. Thank goodness for Ebay. I didn't realize how expensive tires are, in comparison to how cheap the tubes are. It is kind of strange because they are both rubber and essential to riding. Anyhow my Specialized Ruby Elite Triple came with Specialized All Condition tires, but after only 200 miles they were hamburger. I soon learned from the LBS I bought them from that usually the stock tires that come with a bike are crap.

I wish I paid more attention to what tires came with the bike because I had to dish out about $100 for tires and tubes already. Now I have Michelin Lithion and am gonna give them a try. Here in Hawaii they are $15.00 a piece (and tubes are $5). I don't care about speed, I just want puncture resistant for now. It sure is a b*tch to put on road tires like putting a condom on a watermelon. At the very end when I can't push the last 6" of tire over the rim, I use the tire levers very carefully like a shoe horn to lift the tire over the rim. But you have to be careful not to pinch the tube against the rim!!!

[VeloVT]

Some tires are harder to mount than others, but with practice you can get a nice rolling motion with the heels of your hands that will get most tires on. I rarely have to resort to levers anymore.

I like my Schwalbe Stelvios. But I don't have a huge frame of reference. BF has some Vredesteins (they are training tires, not super expensive) that have been fairly flat resistant and feel fast, but not as cushy as the Stelvios.

I highly recommend heading over to www.biketiresdirect.com. Good prices and good service.

[sundial]

Michelin Krylium :)

[Crankin]

I have the Conti GP 4000 also and only got one flat this year. They are easy to take on/off. Before that i had the Shwalbe Stelvios and those were great, too. We got the Contis very cheap on Steep and Cheap.

[ilima]

Another Schwalbe Stelvio fan.

I've had trouble with Contis being tough to get on before, so I avoid them.

[ridebikeme]

Another Schwalbe fan here... another brand that makes great tires is Maxxis. I have been using the Courcheval tires the past three seasons and love them...they are comparable with the Michelin Pro Race series... although have been able to get more mileage from the Maxxis and I like the feel of them as well.:D

[PscyclePath]

Vittoria Rubino Pros have worked well for me the past three years... Good mileage, and fairly puncture resistant. Just put a set of the Serfa Secas on the primary road bike, and they have been doing pretty well. I used to run Continental Gatorskins almost religiously, and in fact I have a new pair stashed away in the shop somewhere... but I've been finding I get better service and a smoother ride (as well as a little bling) from the Vittorias.

[tzvia]

I thought I would try something different so I bought some Vredestein Tricomp tires. They are Dutch and they are awesome tires. Light weight and smooth rolling, they have great grip even on wet pavement and so far, no flats. They seem to be holding up well too. Although you can pump them up to around 160, I run them at 120 and the ride does not feel hard or bouncy. I will buy them again when these wear out.

[Dogmama]

Conti 4-season. Definitely.

[fidlfreek]

BTW, there is a difference between the Conti 4000 and the Conti 4000s. In theory at least the s means its their special "chili" rubber material. FYI have about 1500 miles on my Conti 4000 and no flats yet. Heard from LBS dude last week that "the conti salesman came in and said that right now the only difference between the 4000 and the 4000s is the little icon on the side of the tire". So maybe if you get fresh stock 4000 tires they will be the same as the chili aka newer more expensive model.

[PinkBike]

i wanted to love the schwalbe stelvios, i really did, but i just went through my third set - and like all the others the sidewalls shredded.

it happened first to DH, just plain blew out so he had to sag in at 75 miles of a century. then mine blew out going to work one day. so i decided to buy just one more set to put on brand new for el tour de tucson - they're the perfect color match to my bike. well, that was a month ago, i've ridden maybe a half dozen times since then, and i just noticed a big ol' bubble on the sidewall. i'm through with them. sure wish conti still had their gran prix 4000 t-mobile magenta line!

[smurfalicious]

i wanted to love the schwalbe stelvios, i really did, but i just went through my third set - and like all the others the sidewalls shredded.

Well, the good news is I found out from the Schwalbe boys during InterBike that the new Ultremos are an upgraded Stelvio and they say they're going to be just as awesometastic only more durable. The colors are remaining the same AND the lettering on the side will also be colored like the stripes. Yay-ah, behold THE hottness: http://www.schwalbetires.com/files/l_img_ultremo_r.gif

I just put Conti Gatorskins on for the winter because they seemed as durable as 4 Seasons but cheaper. So far so good as far as flats go and super easy to install especially compared to some other "flat resistant" tires. I must say though that it's a rough come down from my Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX tires. *sniffle* I loved my pretty white poor man's tubulars. The gators feel sluggish comparatively but at least I can ride without being totally paranoid about flats. In their defense, everything is going to feel mediocre after 320 TPI goodness.

[PinkBike]

ohmygosh those look excellent! i gotta check them out