Alternative To Cyclocross Tires

Apparently Gatorskins are the most popular road bike tyre in the country. But then Britain's most popular TV programme is Call the Midwife.

The speed change is amazing, you'll spend the next week feeling like Mark Cavendish - enjoy it!

Just about to take delivery of some Continental GP 4 Seasons. My existing tyres are the cheap Conti Ultra Sports that came with the bike; 1800 miles and 1 puncture. Might just run them on a bit as 'lucky tyres'!

I swapped my cross tyres for a pair of 28mm Gatorskins last year and like 808finch@m noticed a huge difference on the road in terms of speed. They cope OK on sustrans path on my commute in dry(ish) weather too unless its muddy and then I lose the front wheel all the time. (I usually use a hybrid in the winter). Done 1,100 miles on these and no punctures so far (typing that probably means I'll get two on ride home tonight).

I hated Skatorskins. Dreadful. Nil grip on the wet. Noticeably more grip from the Vittoria Pave CG I replaced them with. 4 Seasons are also meant to have good wet grip.

I've settled on Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 28-622 after several years of trying to address the same question. 310g each. Very robust, great cornering in dry, above average in wet, but still quite fast. Costly up front, but the rubber doesn't harden with age and ultimately lose traction as my previous half dozen sets of Gatorskins did.

Currently at 8000 km over 12 months commuting in wet and dry, lots of broken glass & gravel, two punctures - a 3" roofing nail and 1" plaster nail - nothing else got through.

With unlimited budget I'd run excellent Vittoria Open Pave CG for comfort, speed and grip especially in the wet but they lack in puncture resistance & lasted only 1500 km in my (3 pairs) experience.

Continue Grand Prix 4 seasons may be a nice compromise, faster than Marathon Supremes & Gatorskins but no match for Open Pave CG, solid but not exceptional puncture resistance. Best of luck.

Once they wore out, I replaced my cyclocross tyres with 32mm Continental Gatorskins. If it's anything like it was for me, you'll find the increase in speed hilarious. I had noticeably less grip in the wet, but I got used to it pretty quickly and I've completely adapted now.

I've not had any punctures on them in a few months, but until they got really worn down I hadn't had any on the cross tyres either.

You'll almost certainly be able to fit any road tyre.

I've just fitted some Vittoria Open Pave CGIII, 27mm and they roll really well on the road and hold their own off road too, not cheap though.

I used Continental Cyclocross Speeds all last summer for both hardpack and tarmac. At 60-65psi they're fast and comfortable and in the folding version nice and light too.

If you want something skinny I've used both 25mm Gatorskins and 28mm Grand Prix 4 Season. Gatorskins are fast and have good puncture resistance but the 4 Seasons have excellent grip in both the dry and wet.

I have been using Specalized Infinity Armadillo 32mm for the last year. About 5000 miles traveled and no punctures wouldn't know if they are light heavy or what but they don't puncture.
I'm riding a Specialised Tricross Sport (2011) That should have cyclocross tyres.