I have the continental gatorskin tires on my wheels currently to help prevent flats and was wondering…for those of you that use the same set of wheels for training and racing, do you race and train on the same tire or do you have use different tires for raceday?
Before I had race wheels and therefore only 1 set of wheels I would switch from training to racing tires:
going from Conti GP 4000 with butyl tubes to Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX with Latex tubes.
then I got race wheels. problem solved! 
Now that sold my race wheels. I would probably not bother and go with only 1 setup Conti GP4000 + butyl…
Fred.
You will find very scant support on ST for racing on Gatorskins…
I train on Pro Race 3s w/ butyl tubes. Will probably use latex tubes w/ same tires come race day.
I do not know answer for race: there are many good tires.
But for training its Michelin Krylion carbon.
Different continental was used also, they are good, but I think Krylion is better.
Replace tires and tubes for race day. I train on gatorskin hardshells with butyl tubes and race on vittoria open corsair evolution cx with latex tubes. Its, at most, a 30 minute job to change them (I talc my latex tubes and check thoroughly for any exposed tube). To me it seems like a no brainer to change them.
in the same vein, I train and race on Maxxis Re-Fuse tires. I run them on HED Jet9s and have wondered if there is a justifiable amout of resistance that can be avoided by switching to “race tires.” I had Rubino Pro Slicks on originally but picked up a nasty slice/flat before a race so I switched to the Maxxis and have avoided any flats since. Is it worth the risk of a thinner tire for any speed benefit?
a set of race tires that are only used for races
compared to a set of gatorskins that you use all time
which one has more risk of a flat? depends how many miles and cuts you have on the training tires =)
the fast tires, when relatively new, are relatively robust.
in the same vein, I train and race on Maxxis Re-Fuse tires. I run them on HED Jet9s and have wondered if there is a justifiable amout of resistance that can be avoided by switching to “race tires.” I had Rubino Pro Slicks on originally but picked up a nasty slice/flat before a race so I switched to the Maxxis and have avoided any flats since. Is it worth the risk of a thinner tire for any speed benefit?
thanks, but I am wondering more about the risk/benefit analysis of racing tires v training tires in a race situation. Is there a noticeable difference in speed in say a 40km race if all other conditions but tires are same?
thanks, but I am wondering more about the risk/benefit analysis of racing tires v training tires in a race situation. Is there a noticeable difference in speed in say a 40km race if all other conditions but tires are same?
I don’t know if most people would notice but yeah a gatorskin could make you ~ 1 minute slower over 40k compared to a fast tire.
in an ironman you could use fast tires, change a flat, and still come out ahead of running gatorskins.
good tires can be of more benefit than good wheels. and they only cost $50 =)
On the upwards of maybe 20 watts for the Gatorskin/Butyl versus race setup… I dunno - you tell me if a free 20 watts matters to you or not?
I won a NRC stage race on Gatorskin Tub’ies…not a cirt tire, but great for road racing/training on bad roads.
http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/rolres.html
Nice little link