ContinentalGatorskin Black Edition 700c Road Tire(Return to Product Page)

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.

Durable and reliable. Have used Continental tires for many years. My biggest issue is the threads that start to develop as the tire wears. If I'm not paying attention the threads can get wound around the cassette.

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.

Gatorskins are the way, 28mm on my 2002 steel road bike. 3600 hundred miles year round on my previous pair with only about five flats. These tires deflect everything thrown at them, glass, and more glass in the bike lanes, minor gravel, wet streets, and then more glass, and road debris. This recent pair is my fifth set.

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 and my riding friends have used Gatorskins for many years. When I saw the black version was cheaper, I compared the price and that fact that it was just the same as the regular Gatorskin but cheaper, I ordered a set. I have not been disappointed.

Perfect for a street fixed gear!

Excellent tires for desert southwest riding. Reasonable price when on sale

The Continental Gatorskins are a good durable tire for the money. I usually get about 6k miles out of them with very few flats.

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.

The Gold Standard in fast rolling puncture resistant training tires. Yes, they are a little heavier than GP 5000's but flat protection is second to none. I live in Wisconsin and try to ride year-round if possible- usually 5-6 thousand miles/year. Often have years with NO flats thanks to Gatorskins!!

Ride in Hawaii over littered roads, either up or downhill with plenty glass, tire wire, pig guts and the occasional discarded virus mask. Mounting them (32s) on Swiss 470ds was nearly impossible (old man in 70s) but so far (400miles) no problem. They do, however, seem taller than wider so I've taken to riding them at lowest pressure. I more concerned with comfort than speed. Hope I never have to find out if, as one reviewer stated, they loosen up with time. As usual, great deal from BTD, and black is beautiful

This is my second set of Gatorskins. My first set lasted 10 years and I ride a lot. I have been a Bike Tires Direct customer for over 10 years. Always returned to BTD as they have great pricing, quick delivery and NO issues. I did recently run into a defective item and reached out to BTD. This (In my opinion) is where the rubber meets the road. Their Customer Service was OUTSTANDING!!!. They immediately responded and promptly sent a replacement. I will note that that the defective item was NOT the fault of BTD and could have happened with any company/product. The manner in which BTD handled this tells you that it puts its customers first. BTD is a pleasure to work with and I will continue to buy from them.

I am a retired 77 year old 'club rider". I ride with the group 25 - 50 miles, 3 days a week. This is over various terrain. I use the Gatorskin Black on the rear of my bike. I have not had a flat in about a year now.

I'm a frequent buyer of your products. I've had a hard time locating it on other websites but yours did have it and at a reasonable price compared to others.

Arrived timely for my Summer riding.

Gatorskins provide excellent protection against a large percentage of flat-causing debris on the road. No tire is perfect, but these really offer everything you could hope for. They may be slightly heavier than optimum, but really aren't that many grams heavier than GP4000s, which are a terrible tire, wear-wise.

I usually get about 2500-2800 mi on rear Gatorskin, and over 6000mi on front tire.

I'm 180# and majority of roads I ride are pretty smooth pavement.

I made the switch to Gatorskins after my first puncture with the tires that came with my TREK Domane. I have never had one issue or puncture with them over thousands of miles of riding. I don't race, I'm a self challenge riders who typically does 2 50 mile rides and 1 70 mile rider per week. I live in Chile and some of the roads I'm o are major-league chip seal with lots of stuff embedded in them and don't get me started on what is on the roadside. All this to say, I LOVE Gatorskins and BTD always has great deals.

-Longevity A+

-Durability A+

The only thing that I don't like about them, is after a little while strings of material from the tire start floating away from the tire. It concerned me at first until I read that Conti's do this. I snip them and keep going. It's just an annoying thing.

I had purchased the Continental Gatorskin "Black Edition" 700c x 25 tires when they were offered for a sale price from Biketiresdirect. I figured at that price, buy them now for the future. I recently had a chance to sell my older Trek 2300 road bike (that I haven't been riding) to a friend, and I decided to mount the Black Edition tires on the Trek before I sold it for him. It really helped make the bike in like new condition! He was very pleased to see these quality tires on the bike.

Gator Skins have been my go to tires for a number of years now. These black version of the tires are not only cheaper than the gold label version but I was also able to get the bigger size for my e-bike. Just like the version I have used on my regular carbon fiber road bike, I expect to get many miles on these tires without flats.