Slip sliding.

[fossyant]

What's the difference on gatorskins v 4 season.
Are the 4 seasons softer rubber? So less hard wearing?
I'm currently running 25 width gatorskin hardshells. No punctures bit a bit slippy in the winter!

Grippier rubber. Gators tend to be a bit twitchy in the wet (or so I am told) but I've never heard a bad review of 4 seasons. They are a performance tyre at just 220g for the 23c, but they are grippy and wear rates is good - I get twice the distance out of these than I did with Michelin Lithion2's. The down side is they are expensive, but worth it. Not had any 'visits' since fitting last spring.

 

[bonker]

Ha, should have read this earlier. I thought it was down to some Schwalbe Blizzards (23C) I've had lying around and decided to put on the fixed. They were fine in the dry but recently became slippy and then I had a pinch flat near Epsom so bought some Marathon Pluses (25C) yesterday. Had the same Marathon Ps on the fixed for four years with just one flat before Blizzards.

 

[donnydave]

I would agree the gatorskins do wear well - I had the same pair of gatorskin 25c on for over a year and religiously each weekend I would pick stones and glass out and then about a month ago both tyres had punctures within 3 days of each other. On closer inspection they had just gone below the wear marks after approx 6000 miles.

 

[hennbell]

I don't know whether to be in awe of you or just think of you as a complete nutter.

If you ask my wife it would be the later.

But it is really not as bad as it sounds. I dress in layers, have really good gloves, and winter specific cycling boots.
The only exposed part of my body is the little opening in my balaclava, and I sometimes use ski goggles rather than cycling glasses.

 

[uclown2002]

Here in Canada I am just on the outskirts of a winter storm. We did not get the 2 feet of snow that other people had to deal with, just 4 cm of very dry snow. I am running continental top contact winter II tyres, the grip is excellent very much better than the studded commuters I was previously using. So much lighter and quieter, and now I can actually use my front brakes. (It is currently -21 C , -31 with the wind and I am still getting excellent grip)

I am running a Scott commuter bike with internal gears and a gates carbon drive, quiet and no issues so far.

Glad to hear about the Top Contacts also as I've just ordered some for my CAADX; hope the guards give enough clearance though!

 

[mangid]

I would agree the gatorskins do wear well - I had the same pair of gatorskin 25c on for over a year and religiously each weekend I would pick stones and glass out and then about a month ago both tyres had punctures within 3 days of each other. On closer inspection they had just gone below the wear marks after approx 6000 miles.

There's wear marks ? What do they look like ?

I always change at the point I start getting puncture, and the tyre appears noticeable flat in profile, which is about 4.5K for the rear for me.

 

[donnydave]

There's several oval (ish) holes just off the centreline. I assumed they were wear depth thingies but I may be wrong, might just be some leftover of manufacturing. When I binned my last set of tyres they were almost square in profile

 

[Smurfy]

A few corners I need to be extra careful on, apart from that it's pretty much normal conditions where I ride.

 

[HLaB]

I haven't found the roads bad the last few days here but took the traffic free route this morning rather than risk it on a potentially greasy Rivergate Gyratory this morning but the roads dried up to be ice and grippy tonight :-)

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I'll repeat what I said on the other forum, I'm having no problems in Coventry. I'm still chucking the fixed into the left hander into St Giles Rd at about 20 mph no problems. My fixed ride over to the Lickey Hills Sunday was unevntfull apart from the to be expected at this time of year leaf mulch on some of the very small not much used lanes.

 

[BlackPanther]

Conti 4 Seasons - that's what you need.

......and 2 wheels up front helps I did dig out the mountain bike last year for the deep snow though as the trikes rear just span, and span, and span.