criterium tires

at_racing_2000 said:

I race my first criterium in two weeks, and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on which tires would help in cornering the best.

I don't intend this to be UN-helpful. I just find it interesting.

I've been heading out on weekends more to catch a Cat 2 buddy doing TT's and crits around here. It's SoCal, so there are always heaps of bikes to look at.

The one thing that really stuck out to me was the INconsistency between bikes and bits, and how few of these people were riding the really "high-end" frames.

In other words: there was lots of DA and a fair amount of Record, but plenty of Ultegra and Chorus, too.

Here's where your question comes in....

On these hyper-fast Pro 1, Pro 2 crits that I've been watching, there seemed to be no consistency to what rubber they're riding. Plenty of Michelin, but plenty of Vred, Hutchinson, Conti . . .

The only conclusion I could draw was that this group doesn't have a clear preference for one tire over another, yet they stay beautifully together, as a 29mph pack for 50 minutes on tight, off-camber turns.

I'm guessing that things like flat-resistance, tread life, and wet-weather grip are far bigger variables.

If it were me, I'd watch for one of those smokin' sales on Michelin Pro Races and [censored] up a few . . . YMMV.

at_racing_2000 said:

I've been riding about eight years now, but been very busy with collegiate athletics. I'm in grad school now and actually have time to advance my cycling hobby to the next level. I race my first criterium in two weeks, and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on which tires would help in cornering the best.

thanks
a

Any top level tire will be roughly the same as far as cornering ability. My preference is always to find the top-end tire that is on sale for whatever reason. Find something with a really supple casing that you like and you will be fine... now if you care about puncture resistance, wet weather charachteristics, etc. that is another can of worms, but just for corning ability IMO all high-end tires are about the same.