I have tried SO many different tires over the years and keep coming back to Gatorskins because they last. So much longer than other tires and they are very flat resistant. If you are a weight weenie they probably aren�t for you because they are a little bit heavier but if if you like to mount�em and forget �em, these are awesome!
Can't say enough good things about the Continental Gatorskin and the customer service at BikeTiresDirect! In regards to the product very durable and very fast tire. I ride about 60 miles per week on smooth and coarse aggregate pavement on a Trek fitness bike. I also encounter some potholes so I wanted a fast, durable tire and this tire fits the bill, very pleased! In regards to the customer service at BikeTiresDirect; outstanding! The day after I had purchased the tires online they went "on sale" and I was given a credit to the sale price, no questions asked. This was my first purchase from this vendor and it certainly won't be my last! "Kudos" to BikeTiresDirect!!
Great deal with a BTD sale price. I ride all over Michigan on these including on light gravel and find them well balanced. I have not ridden them in any rain in the first 200 miles so can't comment on their performance in that situation.
The black look is very appealing to my eye. So far I am observing very little wear. The tires I received have almost no runout installed on 20 mm internal width rims. Weight and quality are as expected.
After riding Gatorskins on my road bike exclusively for the past seven years, I have had three sidewall blowouts so far this year. The last, which was yesterday, after only 280 miles of use. In each example, I could not find a specific cause. Up until yesterday, I had loved these tires. So I�ll be switching to another brand because I�m tired of being stranded miles from home.
I've used Gatorskins for several years. Since our city (Portland, OR) no longer seems to care to maintain its bikepaths and bikelanes, I need a tougher tire than the Rubino Pros I used to rely on. Only drawback with Gatorskins was that when they were brand new, they often didn't seat in the rims at first, causing unexpected blowouts a few minutes after inflation. Sometimes it took several attempts to get them to seat properly. These new black edition tires -- for whatever reason -- did not have that problem. I've installed several, all perfectly on the first go. They are hard to mount/dismount, especially when new and/or cold, so unless you have hands of Hercules, pack a couple tire levers in your repair kit.
If you're a road bike rider used to lightweight all-season or racing tires, these will have a numb road feel initially. But the added protection will give you peace of mind in the fall-winter-early spring commutes or training rides, and without adding excessive weight or rolling resistance. Traction on wet pavement is excellent and puncture resistance is impressive if not bulletproof. These tires cost more, but they're worth the extra cost if you do a lot of riding and need a tough, reliable tire that performs extremely well in all conditions.
Hi - been riding on the Continental Gatorskin Black tires for the last three months after a piece of metal destroyed my 6-month old Vittoria Rubino Pro back tire. I liked the Vittoria, but felt they didn't "roll" as well as other brands that I've used.
The Continental Gatorskin Black's are amazing. There seems to be less resistance than the Vittoria, I like the tread, and the traction is very good, since I've been using these tires in the cold mixed with snow rain soaked Pacific Northwest. Like all of the other "million" reviews, buy with confidence. And like always, Bike Tire Direct is my go to vendor...
Thought these tires would be heavy and stiff but haven't found that to be the case. I love them. The ride is more supple than I thought and I find them comfortable to ride on...so much so that I think I'll be using them year round. So far no flats and I've gone through some really bad road debris. Fingers crossed that I don't get a flat because the one thing I don't like about them is that they are extremely difficult to get on and off the rim.
I do a lot of shopping around for everything I buy and these were rated the best tires for my fixed gear application. I found the best price at bike tires direct online. The black edition gatorskins look great on my bike thanks to them not having yellow lettering that I was absolutely not going to allow on my red and chrome bike. The tires are still going strong and would recommend them to anyone looking for a lighter weight ultra durable tire.
Mostly a road bike rider averaging 135 miles per week on the typical trash and glass strewn roads in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. My previous tire of choice was the Continental GP5000. If I lived outside of a big city I likely would have stayed with that tire. While the GP5000 had a slightly smoother ride and may have even been slightly faster (emphasis on slightly), I eventually became tired of getting flats. I would estimate that I easily get 60 to 70% fewer flats on the Gatorskins than on the GP5000. The evidence is anecdotal, but that's all got. I went with the black edition strictly based on appearance.
I got these for their resistance to blowouts. I read many reviews that rated them highly for that. I live and ride in Florida, so "cold" weather use is the low 40s. Thus far I've put 1,375 miles on these tires. The rear one is just showing signs of wear, but it looks only about 1/3 worn. So my estimate right now is 3,500-4,000 miles. Not bad.
These ride well and corner well in wet conditions. I've had no indication of slippage at all when the roads are wet. I do ride on some roads that have been sealed, and I've previously slid out on other tires when they were wet. These hold tight.
I've run over road glass, not on purpose, but the recycling truck near me dumps little piles of glass here and there and I've hit a few. The tires show no signs of being cut or punctured. Previous tires would have been flat on me.
I have had 2 Gatorskin road tires (25 x 700) get sidewall punctures recently. The primary tread has great wear resistance but wow are the sidewalls weak. They need to wrap the primary tread material around the tire a bit (1/4"- 3/8"?). Folks I ride with have had similar issues
I have been using Gatorskin tires for several years now because they seem to hold up well against punctures, tears and flats. I don't particularly care for the Gold and Brown accents on the regular models. The black edition is the best of both worlds for me. The tire I prefer in the color I prefer.
I'm the type of rider that is very used to GP5000 (mounted on my campys wto 45)and after reading reviews about gatorskins tires I decided to click the button, this tires are tough!, I chose this tires for my winter/rough roads to prevent flats and they haven't disappointed me , I mounted them on a spare wheel set (bontrager aeolus 35)which was not difficult, they rolls good , they are not as fast as GP5000 but the intention is prevent flats and keep me training on winter.
I just installed a new set of Gatorskins today.
The set that wore out was the Gatorskin Black Edition. That was my first time using the Black Edition.
I got 7,784 miles out of the old set. This is significantly higher than the 6,500 to 6,900 miles that I get out of the standard Gatorskins.
