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 mostly ride on a flat paved trail that has some boardwalk sections, and not to mention some real gators. So the ride is not as smooth as riding on the road, nor is it a fast-paced course. I had the bike shop install the tires to save me that frustration of installing them myself, and then went for a ride. I was very pleased with the smoothness of the ride. I could feel it. These are some great tires and worth the price.
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.
When I initially mounted the Black Edition Gators on some DT SWISS R460 rims, it was a little tough and required pretty good torque on my levers. After about a month of riding on them, I noticed the directional arrow on the side of the tire was wrong. So here was a good opportunity to correct it and see if the tires had stretched out a bit. Too my surprise, they had definitely loosened up. Now they are not only very easy to get off the rim with my wimpy levers, but I can get them back on with bare hands ! ( Just start putting the 2nd bead of the tire on the rim at 180' opposite of the valve stem and finish at the valve stem).
I have them on my rain bike and they handle very well on Portland's leaf-slop streets.
Used to buy the Conti 4000's which were really suitable for the paved trails I ride. But, I could count on a few flats EVERY month. Florida sand thorns. Switched to the Gatorskins and no more flats! Been through about 5 pairs of these and they really wear well. I do rotate them to get most miles. Very happy.
I've run original gatorskins for years as I do a combination of 40m commutes and long weekend rides. Biggest complaint with originals was sidewalls unraveling before tread wore out. Black edition seems to address that issue, at least has no visible mesh on sidewalls like original.
Beyond that, with about 1K miles, wear is great and ride is about the same (overall good). Seems the tread is less sticky, but just my visual impression - no issues with loss of traction.
When I first got into riding a number of months ago, my friend forwarded me the BikeTiresDirect email regarding this offer. Although my current tires were perfectly fine, I decided the deal was too good to pass up. This week I had a blow out in my rear tire and subsequently changed out to my new Gatorskins previously purchased. I am glad I did. Great price back then and they were easy to install. First ride is today. I am looking forward to it.
I do a lot of solo riding long distance, and the most debilitating thing about any ride is a mechanical or a puncture. The Gatorskin Blacks are trusted and tested to deliver me to the end goal every time. I've been riding about 1600k a month lately, so I do keep an eye on the road mileage. When the front tire gets a flat, that's when I know it's time to change them out before I do another century. I buy them in advance, so I always have a back up pair or two on hand. Note: Yes - they are heavier than racing tires, but the time I lose in climbing speed, I make up for, by not having to stop for a puncture. So if you change terrain over the course of one ride: glass, gravel, poor road quality, sand, pine needles, city garbage, etc... and you hate to change out a flat (ladies?) This tire is for you. The regular yellow sidewall Gators are also as durable, but the blacks are prettier. ;)
These are my go to winter tires for riding in Colorado. The local county here puts gravelsand down over the winters that will shred most other tires. But the Gatorskins stand up and I can normally get 2 winters out of a set, or about 2,500 miles. This year I've kept them on for the summer and have been taking them on gravel roads and dirt, without any puncture issues. I hope they keep making the black limited edition because they look so much better than the standard gator skins. I'm also 6'4 and 195 lbs so I'm on the heavier end of things.
The tires mounted without issue, I did a bare-handed install. So far so good, I've only put a few hundred miles on these tires in both wet and dry conditions. The tires ride smooth and seem to have good traction, while not picking up road debris. I'm very satisfied with them and I would recommend them
Great puncture resistance. A quite light tire though really. Only weighed slightly more than the Continental 5000 tires I purchased. I will keep buying these, especially with the excellent sale prices that bike tires direct offers occasionally.
Both my wife and I have these tires on our road bikes - both of which are Trek cycles. Years ago (maybe ten) we started using Gatorskin tires after multiple flats using another brand of tire - which clearly was not as puncture resistant as the Gatorskins. They usually last use a couple years - I ride about 1,500 miles a year and my wife rides about 1,800 miles a year.
I ride an average of 500 miles/month. The tires don't even seem to wear. Never had a flat yet. Since riding with these I have not purchased any other road tires. I have several bikes and use various sizes of 700c and all are excellent. I prefer the folding tires
I've been using Gatorskins for years because they are durable and smooth rolling. The Black Edition rides just like the originals. Hopefully,these will continue the Gator reputation for durability. The only difference so far is the lack of a brown waffling pattern on the sidewalls. Don't miss that one bit. Reduced sale price made these a really good value.
I had Gatorskins as my last tire and got 6000 plus miles I replaced the rear with one of these and it was so tight to get over the rim I went through 5 inner tubes over the last 3 weeks. My son had to pick me up 3 times. Something is wrong with the sizing on these.
I had Gatorskins as my last tire and got 6000 plus miles I replaced the rear with one of these and it was so tight to get over the rim I went through 5 inner tubes over the last 3 weeks. My son had to pick me up 3 times. Something is wrong with the sizing on these.
