I picked up a great deal on an '08 P2C last October, and love the bike, raced it once in 08 and it was great. Now that I’m moving in to the '09 season, can anyone offer any feedback on the stock tires - Vittoria Diamante Pro Lights? I’m guessing mine have a few months worth of test rides on them since I bought the bike off a dealers showroom floor in Oct. 08. I know lot’s of folks start replacing certain stock components as soon as they get a new bike, I like to limit that to stuff that just won’t cut it. They do seem to wear quickly, but maybe that’s an illusion because they have no tread.
So does anyone have any comments experience with these tires? I’ve raced on Bontrager Race lites and Race in the past with no flatting issues. I was thinking of buying some Michelins or Contis to race on, but if everyone thinks these Vittorias are stand up tires and I don’t run into issues with them personally I may keep them around. Just don’t won’t to be wrestling with changing frequent race flats on a rear tire with a wheel cover. Thanks for any input!
Those should be decent race tires, but wouldn’t train on them since they’ll wear out too quickly. Do you have separate wheels for training/racing, or one do-everything set?
I have separate wheels and tires for training. I’m really only talking about the rear tire. My front wheel/tire combo, used only for racing, is a HED 3 with a 19mm Bontrager Aero TT. The rear one where I use a wheel cover is my real concern at the moment. I have an old vector pro rear with a trainer worthy tire that I train on.
Those tires are pretty thin and will wear out quickly. They’re more of a race tire than a training tire. Customers who use them tend to get flats faster than other tires.
Fortunately Cervelo changed the tire spec for 2009.
X2 what Darrell said. I was getting flats on every other ride with the Vittorias (although, don’t think mine were Lights). Part of it was bad rim tape and the rest was thin tires.
Changed to Michelin Pro3Race for races and Krylion Carbon for training.
I’ve been fortunate w/ mine (I guess, based on these comments). I used them for everything but racing last year & still using them on my trainer. Doing some quick math I probably logged 50-60 trainer hours + 1000-ish miles w/ out a flat.
I bought new Vittorias for racing since I had such good luck w/ the stock tires.
…and yes, I realize that I will now get at least two flats this weekend…
My Vittoria Diamante Pro lights lasted 2250Km (around 1300 miles) before giving up the ghost. I wore it right to the threads. While that was a pretty short lifespan, I must admit that I never had a single flat and those tires “felt” pretty fast (that’s pretty un-scientific of me). Overall, I was pretty happy with them.