Building up a 650c bike for the wife. Would love to use GP4000’s tires but they only come in a 4000 and not the “S” and from what Continental has said, yes…there is a difference (more silicone). That being said, what would be the next best tire, the standard GP4000, a Michelin Pro 4 or even a Pro 3 or some other brand?
Bontrager R-series. Not sure if they make the R4 in 650 but I know for sure they make the R3 in 650.
I like the victoria open corsa evo cx. It’s got good rolling resistance, and decent aero dynamics if your running it on a one of the old narrow races wheels.
No complaints on the Pro3’s- you can find them cheap, mine seem to have worn very well, and I’ve only flatted once over the past 1.5 years on them. As far as rolling resistance goes, I don’t have the data, but they feel fast enough. Aero-wise, I think they’re just 23mm’s, so if you want a narrower tire look elsewhere.
I recently got a 20mm Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX for my front Hed3; supposedly it is a much more aerodynamic tire/wheel pairing. Again, no solid data, but it looks great and runs fine so far.
I’m interested to see whether anyone has any recent, reliable data on 650 wheels.
Bumping to see if anyone has data.
I’ve run both Conti GP400s 23mm and Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX 20mm on my old H3’s.
I’d just run conti’s if I knew they were about as fast despite the wide tire/narrow rim effect.
Bontrager RLX Aero TT is the best I’ve used if you can find some.
Bontrager R3 appears to me to be the same tire (they don’t make the R4 in a 650), I have mounted it but not raced on it yet.
Vittoria Corsa CX but they are only in a 21mm tire and ride harsh as far as I’m concerned
Michelin Pro Race is the best balance of speed and durability. That is the tire I put on my GF’s bike
Conti Supersonic
The Schwalbe Ultremo ZX looks good but I haven’t tried them out yet. I heard they have good reviews
Building up a 650c bike for the wife. Would love to use GP4000’s tires but they only come in a 4000 and not the “S” and from what Continental has said, yes…there is a difference (more silicone). That being said, what would be the next best tire, the standard GP4000, a Michelin Pro 4 or even a Pro 3 or some other brand?
My wife runs Zipp 303’s (clinchers) with Conti GP SuperSonics for races, and older SuperSonics her heavy training wheelset too. She’s had good luck with them. Don’t have any “data” for you, but in our observations the speed to wear ratio for Continental is outstanding. For that reason, all of our bikes (too many to count) wear Conti’s.
I’ve only run my Conti SS in a park with clean roads, I’ve been happy with them so far. I rated them lower than my others only because of my limited experience with them.
Another tire of note is the Conti Grand Prix Triathlon. I don’t have a pair but they appear to be the same as the 4000 with no tread. When I felt them at the bike store they felt thin and flexible, not as thin as the SS or the Bonty RLX but more like the Pro Race 3.
The reason I rate the Pro Race 3 high is mainly because of how the bead mates with the rim. It’s smoother than most wheels and it’s a fairly large 23 which gives a cushy ride. I’ve been riding them on my training wheels since March. I have not ridden the PR4 yet only because I have been getting a good deal on the PR3’s from worldclasscycles.com. They have a good variety of fast 650 tires.
jaretj
I’ve only run my Conti SS in a park with clean roads, I’ve been happy with them so far. I rated them lower than my others only because of my limited experience with them.
Another tire of note is the Conti Grand Prix Triathlon. I don’t have a pair but they appear to be the same as the 4000 with no tread. When I felt them at the bike store they felt thin and flexible, not as thin as the SS or the Bonty RLX but more like the Pro Race 3.
The reason I rate the Pro Race 3 high is mainly because of how the bead mates with the rim. It’s smoother than most wheels and it’s a fairly large 23 which gives a cushy ride. I’ve been riding them on my training wheels since March. I have not ridden the PR4 yet only because I have been getting a good deal on the PR3’s from worldclasscycles.com. They have a good variety of fast 650 tires.
jaretj
Thanks for the heads up on the website. What I find interesting is I don’t seem to find too many that are recommending the regular Grand Prix 4000 (non “S”).
Thanks for the heads up on the website. What I find interesting is I don’t seem to find too many that are recommending the regular Grand Prix 4000 (non “S”).
I’m monitoring this thread and I’m surprised at this, too. I have them on a set of Zipp Firecrest 404 650c wheels. I’ve not found the arrangement to be as good as when I was running Bonty Aerowing TT 650x23 on my Hed Jet 6s (non-C2). Too many variables in play there, I know.
Thanks for the heads up on the website. What I find interesting is I don’t seem to find too many that are recommending the regular Grand Prix 4000 (non “S”).
I’m monitoring this thread and I’m surprised at this, too. I have them on a set of Zipp Firecrest 404 650c wheels. I’ve not found the arrangement to be as good as when I was running Bonty Aerowing TT 650x23 on my Hed Jet 6s (non-C2). Too many variables in play there, I know.
I haven’t purchased any GP 4000’s in a while for three reasons.
One is that there is confusion on the “S” portion of the tire and I’m not willing to shell out $100 to find out the truth.
Two is that I have a bad taste for that tire and that is totally personal.
Three is that I have so many other good choices that I really don’t have to try that tire.
jaretj
Another tire of note is the Conti Grand Prix Triathlon. I don’t have a pair but they appear to be the same as the 4000 with no tread. When I felt them at the bike store they felt thin and flexible, not as thin as the SS or the Bonty RLX but more like the Pro Race 3.
I would not go with the Grand Prix Triathlon for two reasons. The first is that the Tri is an old tire that is discontinued and Conti seems to be constantly rolling in product improvements. The rule with Conti tires now appears to be buy the newest stock you can find, because they have made some improvements that are were not announced, so a discontinued tire is probably not a good bet. The second is that the tread pattern on the 4000 may be responsible for the aerodynamic advantage of the tire seen in testing, so the smooth tread on the tri may result in worse performance.
Since there is no available data on 650c tires, all that we can do man up, get a set or rollers, and do the testing ourselves, I mean go by the 700c data available. In that case the Vittoria Evo Corsa CX (or what ever the highest end vittoria tire is) or the GP4000 are probably the go to tires, with the Vittoria maybe better for narrow rims since it is available in a narrower size than the GP4000. Conti has basically confirmed that the Black 4000 is the same tire as the 4000s, but does that apply to the 650c size?
For what is worth, I use the GP4000 on my 650c wheels and have no complaints.