Tire comparisons

I used to ride Vittoria and Dugast sew-ups, Vitt and Veloflex clinchers for road, and Geax for MTB almost exclusively. After having tried many (not all) other major brands/models, (Conti, Gommitalia, Hutchinson, Michelin, Panaracer, etc.) I settled on those as the best for my applications. I still think the Dugast's were/are one of the the top tubular's ever made, but they're very hard to find anymore. (And I have never had the chance to try Vredestein's fairly recent sew-up, but I'm getting ahead of myself...)

Anyway, then I got a pair of Vredestein Slizer & Grinder MTB tires just for the heck of it, and I loved 'em. They were the equal to or better than the Geax', even the casings were as well-thought-out as Geax was. So, I put a pair of Vredestein S-Lick's on my MTB for road riding until I could buy a new road bike. They were much better than any of the other MTB semi-slicks or touring/commuter tires I had used to that point.

After I stopped using sew-ups entirely, I decided to try Vredestein clinchers for road and CX. And wow! were they great. The Fortezza Road, Tri-Comp, and Campo (cyclocross) have excellent ride "feel" and handling characteristics, excellent traction, and very low pinch flat or puncture flat occurance.

As far as wear characteristics, well, long tire wear is not one of my priorities, though I do expect at least reasonable life from any tire. The Vred's are about average I'd say in the wear department. There are other's that will last longer, and other's that will wear out quicker.

But there is always some kind of trade-off when it comes to tires: for one thing, you can't have very long wear and expect to have the greatest grip at the same time, because the current rubber compounds can only compensate so much for both things at the same time. I'd rather have to replace a tire a bit sooner and have very confident traction/handling, than to have a sketchy grip with long wear. What good is saving some money on tire replacement if you have to change the way you ride or are losing grip and crashing? I know, I've had the experience and it ain't much fun!

So for all of the reasons above, I recommend where possible to every cyclist I know - roadie, CX'er, commuter, etc. - to try the Vred's, (except with MTB'ers because AFAIK Vred has gotten out of that end of the market). I haven't yet had one person come back and say they were not happy with the results.

YMMV!

one of the famous framebuilders was quoted as saying:

light, strong, cheap. pick only 2.

im sure a similar arguement can be constructed for tires.

Thanks for the reply Wurm. I'll give the Vred Tri-Comps a try next time I buy tires. I notice that they'll hold 145psi max. At what pressure do you run yours? I'm 6'2" and 195lbs. Should I inflate them to the higher end of the scale to prevent pinch flats?

Mel

"light, strong, cheap. pick only 2" Yeah, I've heard that before too, and for the most part it's true.

mel, I go between 197-203 lbs. without equipment, and 6'0", so we're in the same weight range. I don't run them too hard, usually not over the lower-120 psi range and a few psi less for the front. I honestly can't tell an improvement at higher psi than that, but YMMV.

With the Vred's, some people may find a lower resistance benefit to the higher pressures, but I can't say the higher psi's help much for that because they're already very good at rolling resistance at more reasonable pressures, and you still keep the better grip. The Vred's can handle the 140 range and still get good traction, but it's a trade off.

Some people say that there's no improvement to rolling resistance over 95 psi, and anything above that is overkill and just degrades traction. I disagree with that figure, but it isn't much higher that I've found diminishing returns. Optimum psi is very dependent on the tire casing in use and its width, combined with the total load on the tire.

With the Tri-Comp or Fortezza Road in 23c, I've found approx. 123R/117F to be the max I ever run them, and 6-7 psi less doesn't hurt if I'm on rough roads. Then there's no pinchers and traction/rolling resistance is balanced out.

melvyng said:

I rode on Continental GPs and Ultras for about 14 years then this year decided to try Michelin Pro-Race tires on my road bike. The Michelins wear like iron, they just last forever but don't seem to be as sticky as the Contis, which I especially notice on fast sweeping descents. Anybody out there have similar experiences.

Mel

Just the opposite here. I've had much better luck with the GP 3000s. Got 2750 miles on the rear of my last one, with no punctures or cuts at all.
Had the Michelin Pro Race just before, but the rear got a fatal cut after about 200 miles....I've never had much service from Mich slicks.

Pressure affects roadholding a lot on any tires. Note Pro Race sidewall says 87-116 psi. I run 95-100 fr/100-105 rear.