Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport Tubeless tyre

The Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport Tubeless Complete has been developed primarily for racing and all-out efforts on the road. Available in all black or with tan sidewalls, in 28 and 25mm widths, the Supersports are light, roll along very well, and the grip is good in both the dry and wet, but the wonky painting* of the black stripe on the tan wall versions isn't very pleasing when they're spinning.

The Supersports have a claimed weight of 280g, shaving off about 20g from the non-Supersport tubeless Eagle F1s that I tested last year. The Supersports weighed 285g each on the road.cc Scales of Truth, which brings them in line with other manufacturers' top tubeless offerings designed for racing. If you aren't interested in running them tubeless, Goodyear also makes these in a tubed version which is lighter still at 205g thanks to not needing the additional air retention properties.

Not many tubeless tyres designed with racing in mind are available in a 28mm width, but by offering these in 25 and 28mm widths Goodyear is embracing the current 'wider is faster' trend.

> How to choose the best width road tyres for your riding

For a racing tyre, the Supersports don't feel too fragile. The Vittoria Corsa Speed TLR tyres, for example, feel like they have thinner tread, and are a few grams lighter in a comparable size. I haven't experienced any punctures during the last month or so of testing, covering about 1,000km, but as always there is an element of luck involved with this.

I've had the tyres fitted to both a set of Roval CL 50s (21mm internal width) and DT Swiss C1850 (22mm internal) rims, set up tubeless in both cases.

Fitting the tyres wasn't particularly troublesome in either case, and certainly easier than my experiences with the Continental GP5000 TL. Inflating the tyres did require a little washing up liquid around the bead and something heftier than a regular track pump, but wasn't as enraging as some tubeless setups can be.

Out on the road and the Supersports perform very well. They feel fast, as you'd expect from a tyre designed for racing, and they also grip very well both in the dry and wet, with the Dynamic:GSR compound continuing to impress me just as it did on the standard Eagle F1 tyres.

The 28mm width really helps to reduce road buzz, making these a great choice for events like my local TT10, where the road surface resembles a rumble strip more than tarmac.

In many ways the Supersports ride and feel very similar to the GP5000 TL (3x60TPI), most likely thanks to the 120 TPI thread count, which also puts the tyres in a similar category to Schwalbe's Pro One Tubeless (127TPI). They're markedly supple.

The main negative of the Supersports is the black stripe around the centre of the tread. I'd like to point out that this is purely aesthetic and of course won't be an issue on the non-tan versions. This doesn't appear to be an isolated issue, either, with the black stripe not being 'painted' straight on both this set of Supersports and on a new set of tan wall Eagle F1s I was also sent.

You can see this in the pictures, and while spinning makes your wheel look horrendously buckled. During testing I had a plethora of people asking what was wrong with my tyres/wheels, each time having to explain that it was in fact absolutely fine. I would certainly expect better if I was shelling out £54 a tyre, even if it doesn't affect function.

At that price they're actually not bad value when compared with other top-end tubeless tyres. The GP5000 TLs I've mentioned, often regarded as a benchmark, cost £69.95 apiece, although they will likely last slightly longer thanks to thicker rubber at the expense of a little weight. The Vittoria Corsa Speed and Cadex Race tubeless offer similar speed and durability but are both around £15 more than the Goodyears.

Overall, the Supersports perform really well on both wet and dry roads and have ample puncture protection and durability considering their racing intentions. The rolling resistance feels right up there with the best, although some tyres such as the Corsa Speed do feel a little more supple. A competitive weight and price almost seal the deal, but the wonky black stripes, for me at least, are off-putting, though of course it isn't a problem on the all-black version.

Verdict

Decent value race-orientated tyre with good grip and speed, shame about the wonky stripe...

* After this review was published, Goodyear contacted us to say that the 'wonky stripe' issue has been fixed on all future iterations of the tyres affected. 

Goodyear's marketing manager told road.cc: 

"We picked this issue up after we had complaints from distributors and have since replaced the affected Eagle F1, Eagle F1 Supersport, Eagle Sport and Connector tan-wall tyres with updated straight versions. 

"We have achieved a straight line between sidewall and tread cap by adjusting the curing process and modifying the extrusion die used for our tread cap. Additionally we have now included a visual inspection as part of the QC process specifically watching out for this issue. 

"Any consumer who does receive a tyre can like this can get in contact with us via our social channels and we will organise a replacement to be sent out to them."