I ride 23s to train on and 22s to race on. The bigger deal is going to be durability. I train on Tufo tubular clinchers with a massive thread count - 300+ TPI and enough carbon in them so they last a while.

I have been riding them since January and have only had one flat - a slow leak caused by a large chunk of glass that was wedged in my front tire for a few revolutions before I could brush it out. I fixed in no time with the Tufo tubular sealant.

I think the best thing to get in a training tire is going to be a kevlar belt. This thing will stop a lot of flats. With training tires you are not really concerned about performance, but durability.

If you race on 20s I would say stay with 23s because you don't have to buy different sets of tubes. I have seen 18-23 but not 18-25...

I use some courier tires from vittoria and they have been great, no flats (knock on wood) and they are wearing nicely. I have also heard that specialized armadillos are very durable and flat protective.

My personal feeling is that the high TPI tires are very nice when it comes to performance, but they often lack durability and puncture prevention... and they cost a lot more...

The only 2 brands of race-spec tire that say they have specifically a kevlar belt are the Veloflex's and some of the Avocets. I can't comment of the Avocets, and I will only be able to report on the Veloflex Pave's after a few months of riding....

Vredestein Fortezza Roads are said to be very good tires for feel & durability. Khai, a fellow ST'er, can attest to that.

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Proud member of Team Tooth Pick (TTP): like a leaf in the wind.

Thanks guys, I went with Vittoria Rubino Intrepid Kevlar. However the specialized armadillos sound very good to me also, the guy at my local Tri shop in Portland Oregon told me the specialized armadillos were a bit more heavy. These Kevlar Vittoria's were only 20 bucks each, I am sure I will notice the difference from the lighter tires I was use to riding with, however I dont care for training.

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"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky

What is the difference between the Kevlar belt tires and the specialized armadillos? Are the about the same weight so the concept is the same? They sound like a good training tire also.

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"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky

Hi John,
I have the same tires on mavic open pro rims and noticed rear tire slides on the rim. I tried higher pressure and valve stem screws but still can't keep it from getting tilted after a few rides. Front one stays o.k. but pedal torque makes rear tire slide and putting a lot of stress on the valve stem. How do you manage yours?
Tom

I have run these on some Ksyriums and on some ambrosio's that came with my bike. I haven't had any problems with slipping front or rear. Specifically I run the Tufo Special Hi Composite Carbon - I thought they were 23s, but turns out they are 22s. I keep them at 110 front and 115 rear. Are you running the TT tires?

Do you had also the Kenda Pro tires on your Cervelo. They are worth nothing. In the last two years i had only two flats. Both were on the Kenda Pro that came with my Cervelo One. And the Kenda Pro tires had cracks after only 6 month.
I replaced them with Michelin Axial Pro tires (23mm). This are great tires for training and racing!

Felix

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

They are CS33 special 700x21. I am thinking of sticking cloth tape along edges of rear rim to get good traction between rubber strips on tire and rim.