Whats everyones opinion on gumwall tires? Who makes the best? Are they reliable? Looking to change the my road bike tires out soon and was wanting to try something new out.
Whats everyones opinion on gumwall tires? Who makes the best? Are they reliable? Looking to change the my road bike tires out soon and was wanting to try something new out.
i had pretty good luck with specialized cotton turbo. just make sure that you have the clearance, esp for the 26mm. they seemed to me to run pretty big, but maybe it was my imagination.
Whats everyones opinion on gumwall tires? Who makes the best? Are they reliable? Looking to change the my road bike tires out soon and was wanting to try something new out.
i had pretty good luck with specialized cotton turbo. just make sure that you have the clearance, esp for the 26mm. they seemed to me to run pretty big, but maybe it was my imagination.
Agree, these are great. Yeah the 24 is like a 25 and the 26 is like a 28.
They are very low crr and I’ve never had a flat on them.
Edit to add that I only used them as a race tire, not a training tire. This is because their tread is relatively thin, so life is shorter than on some other good tires and they are expensive.
Are they reliable?
Rubber naturally tends to be white.
The reason that tread rubber is usually black is that some chemical additives (notably carbon black) that are great for making well-behaved long-wearing tread rubbers happen to be black. If you add a bunch of carbon black into white rubber, it inevitably becomes black rubber.
Most tread rubbers that are not black are making some kind of compromise for the sake of aesthetics; hence all-beige tires can sometimes be found on beach cruisers, but are rare on high-performance racing bikes.
Sidewall rubber isn’t under the same constraints. Sidewalls are not a wear surface, and on high-performance road tires, the primary role of sidewall rubber is just to protect the casing from the elements. So you can take a really basic rubber that starts out white, and dye it whatever color you want, and it can do the job just fine.
Technically speaking, tan-colored sidewalls tend to be more prone to degradation from stuff like sunlight than black-colored sidewalls, but this doesn’t tend to be a real issue unless you’re storing your bike outside and barely ever riding it.
So, yes… tires with tan sidewalls are perfectly capable of being reliable.
Who makes the best?
A lot of people I ride with love Vittoria Corsa G+. Turbo Cottons also seem to be popular. If this is an ancient bicycle that’s still using 630BSD wheels, I’d go with Paselas.
Whats everyones opinion on gumwall tires? Who makes the best? Are they reliable? Looking to change the my road bike tires out soon and was wanting to try something new out.
i had pretty good luck with specialized cotton turbo. just make sure that you have the clearance, esp for the 26mm. they seemed to me to run pretty big, but maybe it was my imagination.
It depends on the internal width of the particular rim. When I tested the 24C Turbo Cotton on an old Mavic Open Pro rim (17mm internal width) they measured out to be 24.25mm actual width. Putting that same tire on a Hed Jet+ (21mm internal width), it plumps out to 26.4mm, which pretty much follows the rough rule of thumb that tires widen by ~1mm for every 2mm of internal width growth…and is true for basically any tire.
Both of those measurements are on my Crr spreadsheet. The 26C is on there as well, and as mounted on the Jet+ it came out at 28.7mm, so I’d expect on a 17mm internal width rim it would measure just slightly over 26mm…or pretty “true to size”. So, I guess I’m trying to say that they don’t necessarily “run pretty big”.
That said, I’ve had VERY good luck with the Turbo Cottons as well. I’ve ridden them in BWR and L’Eroica without issue. My new favorite of the TCs for all around riding (including “light gravel” use) is the 28mm version. The tread mold is a bit wider than the one used on the 24 and 26 models (plus they added a slight center texture), and it wraps around the sidewall a bit more for some extra protection. I put a pair of the 28s on my Stinner back in April prior to my 3-day, mixed surface, New Cuyama - Carizzo Plain - L’Eroica CA weekend…and have since put ~2000 miles on them of mixed surface use. The rear is about ready to be replaced from wear, but I’ve not had a single flat in all that time, which is wild considering the places I’ve ridden them. The front is barely worn. I can still see the center texture. If they’ll fit in whatever bike you have, I highly recommend the 28s for all-around(plus) use.
For racing purposes, the 24 and 26 are a bit more appropriate, but I’d probably stick with the 24s for that use. I’m using Vittoria Corsa Speeds for my racing at this time though.
Whats everyones opinion on gumwall tires? Who makes the best? Are they reliable? Looking to change the my road bike tires out soon and was wanting to try something new out.
i had pretty good luck with specialized cotton turbo. just make sure that you have the clearance, esp for the 26mm. they seemed to me to run pretty big, but maybe it was my imagination.
Agree, these are great. Yeah the 24 is like a 25 and the 26 is like a 28.
They are very low crr and I’ve never had a flat on them.
Edit to add that I only used them as a race tire, not a training tire. This is because their tread is relatively thin, so life is shorter than on some other good tires and they are expensive.
That actually hasn’t been my own experience…see my post above. I’ve previously gotten >3K miles on some of the 24C rear tires. I wouldn’t call that exactly “short”…
Nice! I never really put them to the endurance test. Just assumed life would be shorter.
Nice! I never really put them to the endurance test. Just assumed life would be shorter.
Yeah, they’re surprisingly “robust”…and as far as the expense goes, periodically Specialized runs a “buy one, get another 1/2 off” tire sale, which drops the per tire cost down into the $60 range. Just a tip 
Do they make a clincher version of the 28mm TC? I seem to only find the “Hell of the North” tubular.
Do they make a clincher version of the 28mm TC? I seem to only find the “Hell of the North” tubular.
Yes. It’s one of the options under the Turbo Cotton size selections. It too says “Hell of the North” on the label 