I have a new Stinger 9 rear wheel and 2 tubular tires to choose from:
-22mm Continental Competition
or
-23mm Vittoria Corsa Evo CX
Which would be the best choice?
Any opinion or input will be greatly appreciated.
I will be racing the Magic Mountain Man on October 10th in Santa Clarita, CA.
I’d go with the Vittoria CX 23. It will roll much better than the Conti. The CX 23’s I recently tested measured ~ 22.5 mm in width. The Conti Competion that I also very recently tested (I’m assuming it was a 22) actually measured slightly wider at 23.0 mm. The widths of both are very close so I’m guessing that the drag would be very similar but no data.
I use a Vittoria Corsa Evo CX 700x21 on my Stinger 9s. I would actually consider the 700x23s to be too wide even though the new Stingers have wider rims. I’ve always used the 700x21s (on Zipps) for crits and road races and loved their cornering. I would think you could turn on a dime with 700x23s. Either way, I’d go with the Vittorias.
I am currently running the new Conti Comp 4000’s on a Stinger 60 front/90 rear combo. The ride quality is very good in my judgement and the tires fit very well on the rims. It is also a very fast set up, fast enough that I had the fastest overall amateur bike split at Malibu Olympic this past Saturday. Not bad considering I am a year short of 50. According to Al’s charts though, the Vittoria would be a faster set up but I beleive that the Conti Comp he tested was not the new 4000S? Another tire that looks good to me is the Bontrager Race X Pro and it also tested better then both the Conti and Vittoria according to Al.
I read on the forum that the tire used on the Stinger 9 wheel for the impressive wind tunnel results was a Vittoria Corsa Evo CX Tubular in a 700x21. So a pretty thin tire. I assume a CX II would give similar results.
Nice job in Malibu at your “advanced age” !! (
The Conti Comp that I recently tested (thread on BTR - it’s not in the list yet) was a sightly used tire that I received from a Team BMC rider. I’d assume it has the black chili rubber compound ?? Surprizingly it had very little residual glue on the base tape as received. I did use the 3/2 Mastik One process. I have been working out and was able to remove the tire in ~ 10 minutes (:-). Actually used a screwdriver to get under the tire and then roll it off my Aluminum test rim - I’d be afraid to do this on a CF wheel. Thick glue on the base tape this time - I’m still scraping it off. The Crr was ~ 0.00330. The Comps seemed very well made and I’d guess are relatively durable. Judging from the pressure decay rate I’d conclude that they do have a butyl tube.
I also understand that the Stinger 9 with C2 rim on the HED site was with a CX 21 tubular tire. The Bonty RXL Pro is about the same width as the 21 (~ 21.5 mm IIRC). There is not that much difference in width between the CX 23 and the 21. Actually not sure if the OP has the C2 or standard Stinger Rim ?? There are arguably faster tires available than the 2 options - aero performance of tire on wheel is always hard to estimate.
Faster as in a different width CX 21 or faster in another brand tire? I recently purchased a Stinger 9 and planned on using a 21 CX II on it.
I put a Bonty RXL Pro tubular on my Stinger 9 front with C2 rim. The Bonty has a slightly better Crr than the CX 21 and the width is the same. Hard to tell on the aero dynamics but I’d assume that the drag would be very similar for both tires ?? Of course Tom would convincingly agrue that putting a wide C2 rim on the front is a fundamentally bad idea because the cross sectional area is larger. ( At low yaw angles this would make a lot of sense. For typical yaw angles of ~ 7 degrees (based on the Zipp article recently linked) the deeper section rims have an advantage per the HED charts. One reason I went with the C2 is to be able to use a hopefully more durable tire on the front after flatting a Crono in Louisville '08.