Gatorskin tubular rolling resistance

Triathlon Forum
1

Are the tubular gator skins as bad as the clinchers in terms of rolling resistance ? All data I could find is for clinchers

Thanks

2

I am sure they are pretty bad, but the reason you never want a Conti tubular is because they come with butyl tubes. Only the pro racers have access to the latex versions.

That represents a huge Crr disadvantage right off the bat. No way you can make up that loss in today’s competitive tire market.

Many of the other brands are probably all made in the same factory in Thailand. Vittoria, Specialized, Michelan (if they make tubulars), Zipp,… This means most probably share the same casing but get different rubber compounds and puncture belts. Schwabe had a really good tubular, but then they quietly switched to a butyl tube and they sucked. They also weren’t offering any returns on the crappy tires.

3

I would think worst because of hysteresis loss due to the glue. At least on the clincher version you can improve rolling resistance by using latex tubes. Can’t do that with the tubular version.

4

Are the tubular gator skins as bad as the clinchers in terms of rolling resistance ? All data I could find is for clinchers

Thanks

Worse, for both the butyl tube and glue reasons. Just add 3-4W per tire to the power to rotate a pair at 40kph for the clinchers for a good estimate.

5

My friend had some deflated on a rim, they felt about as stiff (and looked like) braided garden hose … lol

WD :slight_smile:

6

My friend had some deflated on a rim, they felt about as stiff (and looked like) braided garden hose … lol

WD :slight_smile:

Well…that IS basically what they are :wink:

7

Are the tubular gator skins as bad as the clinchers in terms of rolling resistance ? All data I could find is for clinchers

Thanks

Worse, for both the butyl tube and glue reasons. Just add 3-4W per tire to the power to rotate a pair at 40kph for the clinchers for a good estimate.

thanks

So if you had to do 1800km of racing in a week what would you pick as a good balance of rolling resistance and puncture resistance leaning heavily towards rolling resistance.

Must be tubular.

Vittoria Corsa Speed ?

8

Are the tubular gator skins as bad as the clinchers in terms of rolling resistance ? All data I could find is for clinchers

Thanks

Worse, for both the butyl tube and glue reasons. Just add 3-4W per tire to the power to rotate a pair at 40kph for the clinchers for a good estimate.

thanks

So if you had to do 1800km of racing in a week what would you pick as a good balance of rolling resistance and puncture resistance leaning heavily towards rolling resistance.

Must be tubular.

Vittoria Corsa Speed ?

Naah…if you’re concerned about puncture resistance enough to consider Gatorskins, then the Corsa Speed is probably a bit too much on the “light” side for that.

I’d probably take a hard look at these: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/equipment/components/sworks-turbo-allround-2-tubular/133553

Should be similar/same casing as Turbo Cottons and same tread compound.

9

Vittoria Corsa G+
.

10

The Specialized cotton is an amazingly durable and flat resistant tire considering that it was the lowest Crr tires a couple years ago. I ran it as a rear tire on my TT bike. I don’t know much about the Vittiria tubulars, but the tan walled G+ does not roll as well as the TLR.

It isn’t a great tire in terms of aero, but you are running tubulars so I don’t know how that translates. You may look for Crr eating on the Zipp and run that as a front

11

Thanks guys (mike(s), Tom…)

I was with an athlete yesterday that is doing a 10xIM. I noticed the Gatorskins.

Of course the alarm bells went off but wasn’t sure if Gatorskin tubular was as bad as clincher.

So let’s see, how much time lost on 10x180km…hmmmm…

12

Vittoria Corsa G+

i agree.

Or the Tangente SpeedSL

13

I’ve run the tubular Gatorskins before and I can tell you they are slow - maybe not as slow as their clincher counterpart, but slow nonetheless. I am currently running Continental Competition tubulars on my race wheels and like them much more than the Gatorskins - they feel similar to my GP4000s II clinchers with butyl tubes. The Competition tubulars are nice, they have decent puncture protection, ride well and won’t go flat overnight in transition, but you do sacrifice some rolling resistance to the butyl tube. I’m contemplating switching to the Vittoria Corsa G+ next season, but haven’t decided if I want to mess with a pump in transition in the dark of the morning…

14

If the Continental Competition had a latex tube it would be as fast maybe faster then the Vittoria Corsa G+. An option is to buy some latex tubes and send them to tirealert.com and have him install the tubes, it costs $25 includes new base tape and shipping. Had him fix some, does great work.

15

I am sure they are pretty bad, but the reason you never want a Conti tubular is because they come with butyl tubes. Only the pro racers have access to the latex versions.

That represents a huge Crr disadvantage right off the bat. No way you can make up that loss in today’s competitive tire market.

Many of the other brands are probably all made in the same factory in Thailand. Vittoria, Specialized, Michelan (if they make tubulars), Zipp,… This means most probably share the same casing but get different rubber compounds and puncture belts. Schwabe had a really good tubular, but then they quietly switched to a butyl tube and they sucked. They also weren’t offering any returns on the crappy tires.

And conti tubs are hard to mount and often not ‘round’. Get the Vittoria corsa G+ (non speed version) and add in some sealent, you are good to go.