Continental

I have been asking every Contintental rep for the past 5 years about a RaceKing in 2.4. While this doesn't carry the RaceKing name, it most definitely is exactly that. I have been using the Trail/Grip combination and it's everything I had hoped it would be. The handling is predictable like the RaceKing and carries with it a suppleness that other tires from the likes of Specialized and Maxxis don't have. I ride in the harsh Las Vegas desert and have yet to have an issue with these. I will be putting the Race/Rapid on my race wheels as soon as its' available.

I've used most of the other major brands of tubeless bike tires (Pirelli, Vittoria, Schwalbe, Maxxis, Michelin) and the Continental GP 5000 S TR tires are far and away my favorites. They are an excellent combination of durability/long life, good rolling resistance and amazing ride quality. Also, they are sized so that the mount easily on every type of wheel that I own ... something that can be a real challenge with other tire/wheel combinations in my experience.

This is my third review for the same set of black 32mm wide Conti 5000 S TR tires mounted on Zipp Firecrest 303 hookless (disk brake) wheels (25mm inner diameter). My first and second reviews at BTD were at about 1500 and 4400 miles use. I weigh 185 lbs. After several months use, I upped the tire pressures a few pounds when switching from Zipp's tire pressure calculator to Silca's TP calculator. I went from 50/52 psi F/R to 54/58 psi F/R. I replaced my rear tire at 7500 plus miles because the wear dots were beginning to disappear and the tire was aging. I am still running the original front tire which has 8600 plus miles on it. Its wear dots are still easily visible, but the tire does look aged. I am reasonably confident that I can run it to 10,000 miles, but I have replacements in my inventory that beckon to be mounted. I have not had a puncture on either tire or the new rear one, which now has 1100 miles on it. I do love the ride and handling of these tires over the 28mm GP 5000 clinchers (80/85 psi) mounted on alloy rims they replaced.

I have trained on these for years. Used them For the bulk of my training when I raced national Masters level competition. I have tried other tires for four season southwest US training. I still don't think there's a better tire. They're probably other equals I am not aware of.

. They lack a little bit of the subtleness that some tires have. But, that is a trade-off for life of tread, and puncture resistance on various forms of tarmac.