ContinentalGatorskin Wire Bead Bicycle Tire - Clincher, Black, PolyX Breaker, 26", 27", 650 or 700 Sizes

I've been waiting to buy these for about a year now. Justifying the 80$ purchase is what took me so long to make the leap. But I had bought a less expensive set of Hutchinson tires that had gotten good reviews from some of the bike magazines i read. And with that purchase I had my first flat in over a year. I was running Specialized black belted tires that came with my Allez before that. They happen to cost 55$ a tire. Which is why I wanted a cheaper option. I ride 5000+ miles a year. That's over a 100m a week and i'm frequently very far from help. After having the flat the 80$ price for the Gators was easily justifiable. For the piece of mind alone is why i gave these five stars. After this purchase I happened to watch a video comparing rolling resistance with this and several other Continental tires. Where this tire offers superior puncture performance(Gator Hardshell tires are the hardest), it's harder shell makes it a slower tire. 1 to 2 mph for me was lost. But again being far from home and not having to worry about a flat as much just makes me feel better about ridding far and is what earned these the 5 star from me. And the loss gives me an excuse to get stronger. However per the video mentioned earlier in my review I will be switching to Continental Grad Prix tires after these wear out. They offer similar puncture protection, but are a faster tire.I bought the wire bead for the fact that they have a more robust side wall because of the wire. Because of this I had a real hard time getting these on. I work on ALLOT of bikes and this tire ranks as the hardest install of the bunch so be ready for a fight if you get the wire. I also bought new 60mm Continental tubes to go with these. I lined up the Continental logo with the valve stem. So in the case of a puncture it'll be easy to locate the location in the tire. I also had an issue with shipping. One of the wires was bent when I got the tire. But I was able to get it right again by hand and mounted.I saw some other reviewers talking about holes in there tires. Sure enough mine have them too. I took a picture of them but they are a bit hard to see. Anyway after some research I discovered that these are wear indicators. When you can no longer see the holes the tires are done. Nice feature. All in all i'm happy I made the jump to this tire. Even with the small speed loss I would use these again.I ride in the desert (Las Vegas). So I can't attest to how these grip in the rain. But they seem to grip fine for my climate. As with any new tire I recommend taking corners easy until you understand the limits of the tire. I have just about 600m on these and i'm happy to report no flats as of yet. But if you ride in urban areas this or the harder Gator Hardshell tires are for you.Took various pictures hope they and the review help the decision.

If difficulty in mounting this tire on a rim is any indication of its toughness, then this tire is the toughest tire in the world. Period. I purchased a set of these tires after I had 4 flat tires in a two week period. I race triathlons in Utah, and two of these flat tires were during an Olympic distance race, which completely ruined my race. So I did a bunch of research on flat-resistant tires, and Continental Gatorskins were in the top 3 choices of most cyclists. Specialized Armadillo's seemed to be rated a bit higher than the Gatorskins, but you can only buy Specialized products from dealers.When I mounted these tires for the first time, I actually broke a tire lever, and required another person to help get the last little bit of tire over the lip of the rim. It was not fun. So when I found out that I punctured the inner tube with the tire lever, I was very pissed-off that I needed to unmount the tire and do it all over again. Here is a life saving tip on these tires: watch the Youtube video on "How to change a Marathon tire". This guy changes a tire similar to a Gatorskin, without tire levers. I used his technique on changing the Gatorskin tire again (I also used some soapy water from time to time) and I was able to change the tire again without any tire levers at all. I was very surprised, and I also did not puncture the inner tube. Just a suggestion.The tires themselves have held up very well over the last month. I have put several hundred miles on them, as well as a triathlon race, and so far no flats. They grip comparable to any other performance tire, and they actually don't weigh too much more than the light high-performance tires. I use these tires in conjunction with Rhinodillo tire liners (see my other review of this product), so hopefully the inner tubes will simply wear out before I encounter another flat tire.I highly recommed these tires based off of the month or so that I have been using them. Continental is a very reputable brand, and the Gatorskin tire has overall gotten positive marks from cyclists on many different forums. Just make sure you take my advice on mounting them. Stay safe on the road.