I have been a fan of Continental tires for many years. And to be fair, I have used others, and several expensive Italian brands, and also Schwalbe tires/tubes.
Continental GP 5000 tires are what I consider the best of the best - lightweight, resistant to punctures and flats, well built, and fast rolling, esp. in my preferred 25 mm size (on my Pinarello FP7 road bike) and 30 mm size (on my Cervelo Aspero gravel bike). Mated with Continental Race tubes, I shaved a full 1/2 lbs. (227 gms) switching from 32 mm Continental Gatorskins to Continental 30 mm GP 5000 on my Cervello. And wow! Talk about an far easier solution to saving wheel/tire weight and gaining speed and climbing ability - instead of going to expensive carbon wheels (hey, I might do that next, seeing what a reduction in weight does...).
I can really feel the reduction in rotational mass, with a gain in ave. speed of 1-2 mph all else considered, and more importantly, a VERY noticeable gain in more easily riding up steep grades - which we have plenty of here in Austin, TX. Easily 5 stars!
Replaced my old tires in October with $130 with i of conti. It's March now, and after 6 flats the 7th destroyed my front tire and the rear tire picked up the 7th (2nd in one week!) on my way home from work. Maybe these are good on like a track or something but Philadelphia streets just mashed then up. Staying away from continental from now on.
Okay, I admit it, I am old school. I still ride a road bike with rim brakes and shod with standard clinchers (butyl tubes). I ride many thousands of miles every year and deal with a lot of pretty rough pavement. I have tried all the usual suspects from Michelin, Vittoria, Schwalbe, Vredestein, Veloflex, etc. All good tires, but I always go back to Conti GPs for a combination of feel, long tread life, puncture protection, and ease of installation. I have a collection of bikes, so I stock up on tires (and tubes) whenever BTD has online specials.
I average about 3,500mi yearly on Indiana roads with these tires before replacing them. Some lighter riders have gotten over 5,000mi. The 700x28mm give a cushioned ride at 75psi and grip the road well even in wet weather. I've only had one pinch flat crossing some railroad tracks to fast, the 4 years I've been using these.
I have been riding on these Continental GP5000s (25mm) since October 9th, 2022. I have enjoyed every mile, and have felt completely safe when bombing hills and trying to stay close to the fastest guys in our group (or not get dropped). These tires have been dependable and problem free. After 1,625 miles over 3 months, my tires were finally tested by Mother Nature when a Goat's Head (those pesky enemies of the MTB crowd) pierced the area where the sidewall meets the tread. It wasn't all the glass and debris of Pacific Coast Highway that I am amazed I was able to navigate without so much as the smallest problem - it was a Goat's Head on a paved road. I am still amazed by these tires and they will continue to be my "go to" tire until something better comes along.
I have ridden these as well as many other road tires. These are unequivocally the best. I use the 25 c size and have found they are are durable and give a solid ride. The wear indicators I also appreciate.
A little challenging to mount as the tire diameter is really snug, so get out your tire levers and some muscle, but they will go on. First things noted, the rolling resistance is really excellent. When properly inflated they will coast for along time and even on moderately poor pavement have very low rolling resistance. Also, cornering grip, even on somewhat sandy corners is better than expected. Haven't had them long enough to comment on wear but so far, so good
I bought a pair of GP5000s 25mm to run on HED Ardennes Pro rims and they were impossible to mount, I gave up and mounted them on Mavic Open Pro rims with no problems. Although they're labeled as 25mm they measured 23mm when mounted. The Mavic rims are narrower than the HED rims and that seems to be the reason I found them impossible to mount. I've been running Michelin 25 and 28s on the HED rims and have not had any mounting problems. The Michelins are also wider than the marked width, approximately 27mm and 30mm. I'm not sure if if I will try upsizing to 28mm Contis for the HED rims or just keep running Michelin since I know that I won't have problems mounting them.
I have been using Continental Grand Prix tires for several decades. Each generation from 1000 to 5000 seems to mark an improvement in performance and wear. I use them on my singles and on my tandem too. Tandems are tough on tire mileage, but these last many more miles than anything else I have tried. I'm sure that there are other tires out there that may be as good, but I haven't been able to try everything available. But as long as I have found a winner, I am not going to be looking for one to replace these. Very few flats, good wet or dry traction, comfortable ride. I can't ask for more. One last thing that I noticed - the tire "height" from the rim to the tread is slightly lower profile compared to the GP 4000 mounted on the same rims. Not sure why but I can't detect a difference in performance. However it will affect the rollout calibration on a bike computer.
Conti was my only bike tire for the last 25 years. WAS. The 5000 GP x 28mm sidewall is too stiff and makes the ride brutal. Inflation was 85/90 and the ride is stiff and unforgiving. 100k rides are a chore with them. The 5000 GP's are not training tires, unless you are training your spinal column for ruptures. They seem to wear a bit faster than the 4000's. Been riding Specialized S-Works Turbo Pro with zero problems. I have almost 9,000 miles on them and no flats. They corner pretty good too although I don't do corners at 30+ mph as in the past. Good on sand, gravel, and water.
Like other reviews, I have been extremely disappointed in the quality of the GP 5000. In the past 3 months, I have experienced 4 side wall blowouts. One tire was only a week old! The Conti used to be the ONLY tire I would ride, now I will be looking for a new tire to purchase.
The Continental GP5000 tires have excellent grip and wear incredibly well. Have done numerous successful RAGBRAI'S with these tires and no issues what so ever. The best price I've found for these great tires is right here at Bike Tires Direct!!!
For some time I had been using Specialized Armadillos because they're thick & tough. BUT been using grand prix for a couple of seasons, and they are lasting just as long and are MUCH lighter. This was a screamin' deal too! Yay. Grip is stable on descents (major mountain riding)
Over the pandemic, I had to switch back to Conti's due to lack of availability of my usual Michelins. While I stopped using Conti's after the GP2k's since they were rather harsh in comparison to the Michelin pros 2's a the time, these GP5k's are a revelation!
I've been impressed by the GP5k's smoothness, gripiness, and overall rideability. Rolling resistance seems to be better than the the Michelin Power endurance tires that I briefly tried (and then switched back to GP5k's).
I got about 3k miles on my first set of GP5k's and am now on my second set. I've been using these tires on my commute bike (20-40 miles daily) as well as for training (though I don't race much any more). For those that thought Conti's gave a harsh ride, I'd recommend trying the GP5k's and seeing for yourself how much more rideable these tires are over older gen Conti's.
I am a Conti fan, having settled in on the Grand Prix 4 Season tire as my go for many years, after trying several different brands. I got a new road bike a year ago, and thought I wold give the 5000's a try when the OEM tires gave way. Those were Specialized Turbo Pro's, and based on my previous experience with Specs, I thought they would be shot after 500 miles. In fact, I got 3150 out of the rear, and 4000 on the front!
Once I was fully on the 5000's I noticed 2 things right away - they are indeed smooth, fast, and grippy, but the sizing is a little questionable. I moved from being a 700x23 @120psi diehard, to 25's, and with the new bike, 28's running 75 psi F, 85 psi R. (I am 6'2", 180 lbs). If you're an old diehard skinny tire rider, do yourself a favor and try something different - easily just as fast, and waaaay more comfortable. When I mounted the 5000's it was immediately clear that although labelled 28's they were no bigger than 25's. So if you're looking for bigger tires, I would suggest going all the way to 32's - that's what I plan to do if these last long enough to be worth repeating.
The rear tire has 900+ miles on it now, and is showing considerable wear. Lots of cuts and nicks, with one fairly small cut having nicked a cord of the casing. By contrast, the Spec's had many more and deeper cuts, without a single injury to the casing. In fact on removal I saw that the sidewall had been cut along the radial line about 1" all the way to the casing, yet the tire performed flawlessly!
A word about rubber- these 5000's new out of box had noticeably less rubber on the wear surface than my 4000 mile worn Spec did!
If I can get 2000 miles flat free, I will consider another pair. The Specs went their entire life flat free, which is amazing. Plus they were a dream to ride.
Some reviewers commented on sidewall weakness. So far, no problems. Also, others say tires difficult to mount, but mine went on pretty easily, FYI. Lastly, I believe these are an improvement over the 4000's, as my experience with those was that they flatted like crazy.
Like any release of new technology in a trusted product, you have to give good things time to let the kinks get worked out. And this tire was well worth the wait. In all honesty, getting these on a rim yourself is like an exercise in masochism. You�ll wonder what you did for karma to punish you like this.
That being said, it�s also well worth the pain because this tire gives you such a sense of relief. It is so good. Furable, reliable and a lot tougher than previous GP tires. I got a medium-sized gash in my rear tire a few weeks ago and didn�t even know until I got home 30 miles/2 hours later. I don�t like that it happened but at least I know these tires worth the price.
Reliable tires with a great feel on the road. These are a great value, especially if you can find them on sale, which they often can be stocked up on towards the end of the season. These measure closer to their actual size than the 4k which ran a little big. These roll well, get good grip, and *knock on wood* have not resulted in any flats.
