Frequent long distance recreational riding and everyday city utility use.
Group recreation riding at moderate to fast speeds. General city riding on mostly paved surfaces, hard-pack and occasional gravel.
These tires are great. You will compromise performance and aggressiveness with this tire but the ride quality is much better.
This is my third set of Continental Gatorskin tires. I use them on my training bike (as my carbon bike has tubeless tires) and they're very durable but not terribly heavy and roll nicely. I ride with a lot of confidence that I won't get a flat with every piece of glass or other debris on the road. I've only gotten one flat tire over the years which was a freak occurrence - ran over one of those thin wires that comes off of bus or other large vehicle tires.
Used for daily training rides.
Needed some tires that could within the occasional blackberry bush thorn, road debrief, or even glass when riding rough bike lanes in rural King County. Other tires got punctured and I lost time changing out tires heaving into work. These are holding up fine after several months of commuting!
I have been riding these tires for 5 years and average between 8K and 14K miles a year. I can count the number of flats I've had on the Gatorskins on one hand. I do pay attention not to ride over visible dangers but still the flat performance has been phenomenal. The ride is not bad at all. I'm not a weight wennie and I do not race but ride country roads with plenty of chip seal and occasional gravel. I'm usually out 3 - 5 hrs ride which gets me far from home and a quick rescue so I need reliability more than race performance. I usually get 3K miles out of the rear before swapping out to a new tire. On the front I get 5 -7 K miles easy. Over the long haul the initial investment pays off.
I used to get flats constantly on my MTB and tried numerous solutions, slime, armor tape etc. I switched to a road bike and save snake bites I've never had a puncture with these. I'll buy these again.
After purchasing the Continental Gatorskin 700c Road Tires 25/28 recently , I have about three hundred miles on them. They roll smoothly and running them at 88 of pressure they absorb road vibs quite well. Descending a mountain pass of six miles from Lake Tahoe, the Garmin recorded a top speed of 53.8 mph and I felt secure rolling through the high speed turns. I shall continue to monitor their performance and hope to get many miles in return.
I raced mountain bikes until age 55 with state championships and one national downhill title in 1994 and I still log over 4000 miles a year on my bicycles.
I am on my second set of gator skin 28's. I did 5500 mi on the first set. and I now have 4800 on the second . Showing a little wear on back. But I think I will get 6000 mi out of them. 110 lbs of air and they roll nice. I ride mostly flat straight roads and bike paths here in Florida, so tired wear mostly in the center.
I bought these because that was what the guy who built my bike put on the bike back in 2008. After 6 years they finally wore out. Now, after 1 year, they are cracking. I am so disappointed. For the money I paid I sure did not get the results I wanted.
Using the 28 on my training bike. Fits and I run it at 75 psi. Really smooth ride for those 50 plus mile days.
Continental's Gatorskins offer a great value, fast, nice ride and bulletproof!!!
What more do you want?
Have been able to get around 1000 miles on the rear tires, and twice that on the front. Have yet to get a flat on these tires
I assembled my first road bike a few years back with a cannondale frame, SRAM red crank and ultegra gruppo. I put gator skins on a lightweight Token wheelset.
The conti's are amazing. Phenomenal durability - they've sustained considerable abuse on the gravel and thorn littered back roads of California's central coast.
I've worn them to the point that the belting is exposed - time to replace. Oh by the way, they've lasted two seasons and I've never had a single flat.
Good dry road traction on smooth Tarmac. Ride is a bit firm. The gator skin dos not have a soft tread. Not the best for wet weather traction, the combination of a smooth tread crown and hard tread means they operate best on dry pavement.
Tires are on my Trek 5.9
These are not indestructible. A piece of glass the size of a candy corn embedded itself straight through the center of the tire, puncturing the tube. I also have numerous small cuts all over the tire, but I haven't found a tire that won't get these kinds of cuts either. I'm still searching for a more puncture resistant tire.
I ride most of my miles in an urban environment where road debris is a constant problem. These tires are highly puncture resistant. On the last set I had zero flat tires in over 3000 miles. They ride a little harder that some tires, but minimizing flat tires, for me, is well worth it.
I always buy the fold-able type because they are easier to install if you do have a problem on the road. The last set I installed were noticeably harder to install. They must have changed the bead somehow, because it was more difficult to get them on the rims than the previous pair I installed. Otherwise, that's my only gripe.
Stick to the ground, even when it's wet. No flats on the morning commute yet.
This is about the same review I gave the Hardshells, its hard to tell the difference between them, but I think I get just a little more wear from the Hardshells. That said I'll pick which ever tire is on sale. The only thing that will defeat these are embedded debris that you might miss on an inspection before a ride, and radial tire wire can be a big problem, but nothing will keep you from flatting if you pick that up. Side walls can get a bit rough looking, but I've never see that cause a problem, I've had a couple of side punctures but have gotten home by an emergency plastic inside patch. Both flats were cause by a sharp rock slamming into the side of the tire. Expect between 3-5k miles out of these tires, wet conditions are not handled very well and these tires do not corner the best, but your training not racing on these, your training buddies will start copying you after they been riding a while with you...
Ride these tires, or the 4 season, almost always. I prefer the 4 season, but it only comes no larger than 28, and the 28 is about 26. these 32s measure about 29 on an open pro rim. Overall a good tire, and they last me a long time, 2000 mi
