Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ Isotech Foldable Tubeless Ready

Vittoria's Corsa Speed G+ Tubeless tyre is a great choice for summer and race use. The casing and tread are much softer than tubeless tyres that I've used in the past, giving these a much better feeling on the road.

• Pros: Fast and supple tyre, great dry weather grip
• Cons: Quite expensive, but not the worst

Tyres can completely change the ride quality of a bike, influencing the way that you can ride in different conditions. These Vittorias – the fastest tyre tested by bicyclerollingresistance.com – offer easy tubeless setup and a much superior ride compared with some tubeless rubber I've tested.

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The tyres are made in a very similar fashion to Vittoria's excellent regular Corsa G+ clinchers. That means you get the same 320tpi (threads per inch) corespun cotton casing and graphene compound. The tread pattern is the same as the clinchers and the bead area has been reinforced slightly. The big difference is found in the casing's covering. The grey coating is applied to both sides of the casing and feels very similar to the Aquasure I use to waterproof cyclo-cross tubulars.

This results in a casing that isn't porous yet remains very supple. That suppleness has two main benefits: tyre shape and comfort. I've had a few tubeless tyres that have been made so rigid they don't work well on wider rims. The profile here is brilliant and they sat very well on the Prime BlackEdition wheels that I was also testing.

Comfort is another big bonus of a more supple tyre; riding a tyre like this feels so much better than a cheaper stiff tyre.

Weight is also very good for a tubeless tyre. At 471g for the pair (235.5g each), they're actually 20g lighter per tyre than the clincher Corsa G+. Yes, you have a little trade-off with rim tape, valve and sealant weight, but that's still impressive.

So they're light and supple... the compromise should come at puncture protection or durability. Well, the sealant takes care of punctures, of which I had none. Durability, though, is a little worse than the standard Corsas; I'd suggest you save these for the good roads of summer.

Seating the tyres was pretty easy with a standard pump. I tried these on the Prime wheels with Stan's sealant and on a pair of Mavic Ksyriums with inner tubes. I'd seen people complaining that these are tight to fit but I've had no issues with either wheelset. Usually, this is a bit of a tense moment and I've had tyres blow clean off the rim before. These took quite a lot of pressure to get seated, but just over 80psi saw the final bit of bead seat itself with a good pop. A quick spin of the wheels was all that was needed to stop a small hiss and to check alignment.

One area Vittoria could improve is the sizes available: 23mm and 25mm options are great, but there's no 28mm. If Vittoria does release a 28mm version I'd be very interested to see if it's faster than the 25mm.

With their price of £64.99, these are tyres you'll probably want to save for your fastest days and racing. The grip in the corners is very good as long as the surface is dry. Should rain fall, you'll need to drop the pressure quite a bit. I dropped to 65psi front, 70psi rear but I don't feel that this made the ride much slower, and I'd be lowering psi even with a Continental GP4000S II.

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That brings us on to the competition. If the rolling stats are to believed, these are a class above the rest for pure speed. For racing, I'd recommend these over pretty much every other tubeless tyre. Yes, they're a little delicate, but you get a really nice ride feel, great grip (in the dry) and the fastest ride. And though they're not cheap, you can still spend more on tubeless tyres: the Zipp Tangente Speed RT28s are £86 each and quite a bit heavier.

So, if you're after the fastest tyres around, these are it (allegedly). They're also supple and light – just be prepared to look after them and pay for the privilege. Now, if Vittoria could just make them with a tan wall...

Verdict

Fabulously fast and supple, though their delicate nature and price probably limits them to racing and fast rides