Conti more supple and better grip? This goes against seemingly every other review and BRR...

Among the fast tires, Conti is the least supple.

Bicycling, Velo, BR, CN, CW, etc. all scored the Conti high/highest/best and note the already excellent grip is improved.
Also noted is the tire's road feel (so, suppleness).

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...est-road-bike-tyres/
https://www.cyclingnews.com/...ss-road-tyre-review/
https://www.bicycling.com/...est-road-bike-tires/
https://velo.outsideonline.com/...-on-a-rough-surface/
https://www.bikeradar.com/...best-road-bike-tyres

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That was my thought, in terms of my N=1 experience. There may be other ways to measure "suppleness" than feel, but for me, Contis don't feel as supple as Vittoria, which I assume has to do with Vittoria using a cotton casing. I much preferred the roadfeel of the Vittorias and, FWIW, I ride Veloflex now.

It’s TLR tyre, isn’t it? I was thinking about the same tyre, but wasn’t sure if using it with tube makes too much sens.

Has anyone tried a new Pirelli P Zero Race TT?

I haven't seen anything on it, but in general I have no idea why anyone runs pirelli tires on the road. They're just not that fast, from my recollection at least.

None of those reviews say it's more supple than the equivalent Vittoria, Tufo, Veloflex, Turbo Cotton, Power Cup. They either just say it's more supple than the TL or that is "supple" with no reference to what they're comparing it to. Yes it's supple compared to most stock tires. In it's category, it's one of the least supple tires.

It's such a vague, subjective thing, particularly since it's very hard to normalize with things like pressure, size, etc.

But n=1 as much as I can trust my subjective perception I swear that Vittoria 320TPI cotton is noticeably smooooooth. And though I'm a big Conti fan, the GP5000s are a bit more "buzzy/jittery" in feel compared to the high-grade cotton.

Pirelli just came out with a new tire that is supposed to be much faster... plus I can't imagine pogacar would ride on something that's not a decent tire. I know the team is doing it based on sponsorship dollars, but I'm sure he would want a quality tire

This would imply otherwise

https://twitter.com/.../1537777662646702081

I tried the pirelli when they first came out 5 years ago? Possibly a bit more. And they were completely lethal when new as the release compound was still on the tyre way more than any other, which made for a nighmare first ride. And then second ride it was a bit better, but hit a big stone/rock on a fast descent in the shoulder of a busy state highway with 100kph traffic beside me that caused a front tyre blowout and dented the (thankfully alloy) rim (also second ride). And that was as far as I got with them, swapped back to my usual mix of specialised roubaix pro for training and vittoria cosas for racing.

I did recently try a gp5000 (tubed) as I couldn't get anything else and it's been ok, but 100% not as nice to ride as the vittoria, nor the specialised for me, and it's taken a while for me to get used the different shape as that does change the feel both i a straight line and when cornering.

It's quite easy to normalize for size and pressure, and the difference in feel is substantial. A 28mm Power Cup is nearly the same size as 30mm GP5k. I measure all my tires in multiplier spots with calipers and then blow them up to the pressure recommended by silca's calculator, using the same pump/gauge.

The first time I rode the Power Cup TLR after switching from GP5k/latex, I kept pulling over because I thought I had a flat. The Power Cup at 70 psi felt like GP5k at 20-30 psi, without exaggeration.

Sharpie marker does wonders for the pros.

Yeah, I didn't mean the normalization part is hard if one were to actually try to be "scientific" about it. I just meant that as we go wider and wider, people might conflate the effects of tire construction with air volume - air volume probably dominates "feel."

It depends on your wheels. I can put the tires on with hands with no problem. Zipp wheels and tires are GT5000.
I have one Chinese made cheap carbon wheel and oh my goodness. It's a lot of hassle to put the same tire on.


For the wheel/tire combo you spend the most amount of time training on - this is key!

If you are still on clinchers and you do get the odd flat while out training (or possibly racing), you want to be able to change that tube as quickly as you can and get going again. If you know what you are doing and the wheel/tire combo is easy to get off/on, it's a 1 - 2 min max switch at the side if the road!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Good point. I guess I just expected it to be legit since I just watched a video of him and someone else riding in Manaco on the pirelli tires.