Continental GP4000 - sluggish?

[merlin321]

Hi,
recently fitted a pair of 650-26c Continental GP4000`s to my SCR2.
I wondered if anybody had any experience of these tyres and how they feel.
I`ve been running them at 110psi but wherever I`ve ridden they seem to feel really sluggish. It feels like riding through treacle sometimes.
Don`t know if the rolling resistance has a question mark against it, although I did quite a bit of research before buying them and nothing stood out.
They have done 200miles in a couple of weeks of commuting, mostly dry roads and the occasional "sweaty" surface.
I keep finding that I`m in 1 or 2 gears lighter that I was on the previous tyres at the same point on my commute to get to the same speed.
I did just over 2500 miles on the original Kenda Kontenders and was really pleased with them.
Grateful for any advice or experience.
Cheers.

 

[RedBike]

Hi,
recently fitted a pair of 650-26c Continental GP4000`s to my SCR2.
I wondered if anybody had any experience of these tyres and how they feel.
I`ve been running them at 110psi but wherever I`ve ridden they seem to feel really sluggish. It feels like riding through treacle sometimes.
Don`t know if the rolling resistance has a question mark against it, although I did quite a bit of research before buying them and nothing stood out.
They have done 200miles in a couple of weeks of commuting, mostly dry roads and the occasional "sweaty" surface.
I keep finding that I`m in 1 or 2 gears lighter that I was on the previous tyres at the same point on my commute to get to the same speed.
I did just over 2500 miles on the original Kenda Kontenders and was really pleased with them.
Grateful for any advice or experience.
Cheers.

Continental GP4000 - sluggish?
No way. They're very quick rolling.

They should be a marked improvement on the Kenda Kontenders that came with the SCR, which I thought were just rubbish,

I'm intrested in the 650-26c though. Are you sure this is the size?

 

[merlin321]

RedBike,
sorry did not pay attention. Tyre size is 700-25c.
I new one of the dimensions was smaller that the original 700-26c.

 

[Will1985]

Not sluggish at all in my experience. Much better than an UltraSkin for rolling resistance, and only marginally slower than the GP4000S.

 

[Tharg2007]

Have you got them facing the right direction, they are meant to roll one way so if you have them facing backwards then the difference in rolling resistance to normal tires will be applied against your forward force!!!

 

[merlin321]

Tharg,
yup both front and rear rotating according to the direction arrows.

 

[gratts]

Ruh-oh!
Do all tires have arrows showing which way they should be turning? :?:
Maybe I'll just go have a look..

 

[bonj2]

try michelin pro race 3s

absolutely brilliant tyres, as are prorace 2s
very fast rolling and i havent' had a puncture for literally about a year, and i do 3 figures of miles a week normally
best of both worlds.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Did the change of tyre coincide with the cold snap? Could the problem be related to wheel bearing grease, jockey wheel grease or the chain lube being thicker than usual?

 

[Tynan]

fat arse 25 is the problem

they're rated tyres for being quick though

 

[Tharg2007]

yea, wot he sed
Get some 23's

 

[merlin321]

I nearly S**t myself when I first started going out on the 25`s, never mind 23`s. Bike felt really skittish for the first 100 miles or so.
I started out going around sharp corners sat up like an old woman. It didn`t help that I had an off in December and broke three bones in my hand.

As far as coinciding with the cold weather snap goes, could be a possibility. Bike is due for its free six month service at the end of January so hopefully I can get everything checked and sorted then.
Cheers.