Slowman wrote:
GreenPlease wrote:
The prior version tested very well in the tunnel. I'm not aware of any testing of the new version but I intend to take it to the tunnel this year along with one other tire. BRR should have a new CRR test sometime soon (hopefully) on the 23mm Attack which should give you some confidence.i dispute this. i know it's heresy to contest the notion that the 4000 doesn't cut through the wind like an SR71, but i don't see it.
paul lew is fond of pointing out that it's systems that matter, and that a tire has to have a particular, precise relationship to the rim for it to be aerodynamic (and, according to paul, a slower wheel/tire might be the faster wheel on a different frame).
swiss side's ballard is a fan of the 4000 but i believe one test swiss side touted from a few years ago found that the 4000 wasn't even the fastest continental tire on its wheel (aerodynamically).
yes, FLO likes it, but FLO didn't test it against many tires and it didn't test but marginally above the bontrager r4.
conti itself said they didn't consider aerodynamics at all when making that tire, as i remember.
i have rims that have an inside bead width of 17mm to 24mm. based on lew's comments, no way can the 4000 be just "the fastest tire" across these wheels.
accordingly, and while that tire is a great tire, good rolling resistance, good price, good puncture resistance, it doesn't raise the dead. so, no, absent a lot more than what i've seen i don't stipulate that the 4000 is a "more aero tire" regardless of what the prevailing wisdom is. it is on certain wheels, of given widths, in certain tests. otherwise i think its reputation is half earned and half urban myth.
I'd say that the reputation for the 4000 was mostly earned by how well it performed (aerodynamically) on quite a wide range of rims, as evidenced by independent data points (Zipp, Flo, Hed, etc.) at the time. Additionally, once they introduced the "Black Chili" compound in the "S" versions (S for "Scwharz") and gave it one of the best Crr values at the time (see http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/...ire-crr-matters.html ), along with it's relatively robust nature, it really DID become the Goldilocks tire of the time (best combination of aero, Crr, and durability). Sure, the aerodynamic properties were more a case of "accidental excellence" (its parabolic profile and side tread), but why look a gift horse in the mouth? Don't forget, at the time I first roller tested the 4000S (April 2013) it was the lowest Crr tire I had tested to that point ;-)
Since then, and as a result of the more recent appreciation (and independent testing) of Crr on bike performance, other tires have leapfrogged the 4000S on the Crr front...which is great, because as I've long said, really low Crr can make up for a lot of aero sins. That's why I personally would run Specialized Turbo Cottons or Vittoria Corsa Speeds in a TT over 4000S.
http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/