I've certainly never met anybody that stupid.
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Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Thank you. I have edited the post to provide the correct link:
Compare/continental-ultra-sport-ii-2015-vs-michelin-dynamic-sport-2015-vs-michelin-pro-4-service-course-2014
DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
Last year I bought a Verenti Technique Sora equipped bike for winter use, it came with 28mm Ultra Sport 2's, on the first ride the rear tyre split across the width of the tyre, after a bit of complaining to Wiggle they agreed to replace them at cost, when the replacements came, I noticed that the tyres supplied with the bike looked like cheap copies, compared to the new ones which came boxed up, the rubber looked cheaper & soft, the Continental Ultra Sport logos looked like an imitation (just in silver ink, Continental not printed in orange) and the tread moulding on them looked rough, again like a bad copy, the replacements have, so far been good, despite being obviously not as good as the Grand Prix 4000S 2's on my best bike, having used the bike a lot, both at home & in France, it makes me wonder if Continental have them made to two different standards, for aftersales and also for supply with new bikes, made down to a price.
Milzy
Guru
I had them stock with a bike. Did about 500 miles no issues then changed to Michelin.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Are races won by puncturing?
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Only the higher levels of one-day and stage races, surely? A cat 4 standing by the roadside holding a wheel aloft may be there a rather long time and TCR participants aren't allowed backup.If you puncture in a race then you have back up, the extra grip, lower rolling resistance and flexibility of the tyre are the trade off you pay for less protection.
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
difference between average and good race tyres can be 1 minute over a race, let alone M+, even if you dont puncture your liable not to be in the mix unless of course your super fit to start with .
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
False dilemma: there are tyres between Marathon + and Ultra Shoot II.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
What exactly is the point you're trying to make @mjr ? What tyres would you recommend for racing which took account of your aversion to puncture risk yet offered the rider the "extra grip, lower rolling resistance and flexibility" which will make the difference between winning and not. What adjective other than 'racing' would you like Continental to use to describe their UltraSport tyres (please be polite). Given their apparent fragility, clearly not 'touring' or 'training'.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
The point I'm making is it depends on the racing so calling something a racing tyre doesn't necessarily mean @User's "wet fag paper" and I don't think @Rooster1's mistake was so obvious.
What aversion to puncture risk? I've various flexible less-protected tyres on various bikes in the shed (incuding some 80s/90s classics, but given I don't race at the moment (despite having a salbutamol inhaler), I'm probably not the best to ask. Even so, which tyre to recommend for racing would depend on the race, or do you think that the pros use the same tyres for Strade Bianche as the cobbled classics as the grand tour flat sprint stages? And that they're using the same as the endurance racers? And then you have CX and MTB and all the other disciplines - calling a bike part "racing" today is probably pretty close to meaningless!
Fragile would seem appropriate but that's hard to sell, so maybe flexible is a better euphemism. However, note that https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tyres/race-tyres/ultra-sport2 puts it under the race tyre section, but with a heading of "Trusty training companion", the little bar diagram says it's suitable for "tour", while the "tyres with similar performance" box contains Gatorskins and Hardshells. Does anyone think it's honest marketing to call it a trusty training and touring tyre similar to the gators and hardshells?
