Cycle Sports UK, ever used them? (cheapish Ultremo Rs)

lukester

They have Ultremo R tyres at the best price I can find, but I've never tried them and the Google reports no mentions on this forum.

blorg

Joe Daly's was selling Ultremo Rs for €29 a while back which is a bit cheaper- not sure if they still have them, I think they may have pulled them around the time of the issues and the half-recall.

lukester

blorg wrote: »

Joe Daly's was selling Ultremo Rs for €29 a while back which is a bit cheaper- not sure if they still have them, I think they may have pulled them around the time of the issues and the half-recall.

That recall is making me nervous, I presumed all suppliers would have the new stock by now, and I don't want the hassle of returning tyres. I may go for GP4000s instead.

Nietzschean

CSS might still have the ultremo's (non-R) 2 for 50...

lukester

Nietzschean wrote: »

CSS might still have the ultremo's (non-R) 2 for 50...

I considered that, but really wanted the Rs. Will do some more research but the Contis lead the running for now.

blorg

I'd consider the old Ultremos, I think it is just a couple of grams weight off the Rs and supposedly 10% lower rolling resistance, an area where there isn't a lot of difference between race tyres on anyway. To be honest I have had more than a few issues with GP4000s, bead decided to pop off the rim as I was cycling along the other day and "bang." Now the tyre may have been slightly overinflated, like 120 PSI rather than the 110 I normally have it at, but still, shouldn't do that. Probably just bad luck, but the old Ultremo is at least as good as the GP4000 IMHO.

lukester

blorg wrote: »

I'd consider the old Ultremos, I think it is just a couple of grams weight off the Rs and supposedly 10% lower rolling resistance, an area where there isn't a lot of difference between race tyres on anyway. To be honest I have had more than a few issues with GP4000s, bead decided to pop off the rim as I was cycling along the other day and "bang." Now the tyre may have been slightly overinflated, like 120 PSI rather than the 110 I normally have it at, but still, shouldn't do that. Probably just bad luck, but the old Ultremo is at least as good as the GP4000 IMHO.

Interesting. I'm reading mixed reports on the GP4000s. Lots of people love them, a significant minority have had issues.

I know the Ultremos are only 10% more rolling resistance, but given that I'll be riding them for at least the next 6 months, that's enough for me to stump up an extra 10-15 euro

Don't suppose you know if the Ultremo Rs that had problems were the coloured ones, as opposed to the plain black?

Nietzschean

More of a general question than anything specific to lukester...
How much does rolling resistance matter below the threshold of your average road tyre? and at what speed does it become inconsequential vs air resistance?

DirkVoodoo

What issues have people had with the GP4000s?

I recently bought a set and they were really awful for the first 50 or so km, felt very slippy and removed a lot of road sensation, like cycling on ice. Once they "bedded in" and flattened off a bit, they were much better.

Húrin

I tried Ultremos that I bought at the start of July and I didn't like them. Used them on the Malin to Mizen trip and got five punctures in six days. I eventually bought different tyres in Roscommon.

I'm willing to sell my pair of Ultremos for €30. They have done only 740km and show no signs of damage.

Quigs Snr

Lukester, I would take note of other peoples experiences, but for me you won't get a better tyre than the Continential GP4000S, no problems with them for either winter riding or racing so far. Haven't done mega mileage on them, maybe 2000km on one set and perhaps 6000km on my other wheels. Currently on Totalcycling.com for 26 euro each (£5 delivery, but even at that exceptional value).

Like Dirk I reckon they do take a little while to bed in though and I think that the standard GP4000 seems a little bit more hardwearing (recently put a set with 8000km !! (I can't believe that number either) on them onto my brothers bike and they are still in great nick).

lukester

@Dirk

Just general stuff from a random Google on them, having said that you'll find similar on any tyre if you look hard enough.

@Quigs

Hmm, that's good to hear. I may go for them after all, although Vittoria Open Corsas are sounding good too, perhaps a bit less durable.

@Hurin
Cheers, but those tyres sound like they have a hoodoo on them.

blorg

Note I don't think the GP4000 are a bad tyre at all, they are probably among the best all right. I have had a few issues but this is over several thousand km and I don't expect any tyre to be issue-free. A small sidewall gash on one of them that is starting to bulge a little and have had a few punctures, including the one from the bead popping out I mentioned. They were looking like the sidewall was coming apart but I've done at least another 1,000 since I noticed that without problem so it is probably just cosmetic.

Note I put the GP4000s back on my Mavic rims after I had the same bead seat problem with an old Ultremo I had transferred! I would take either the GP4000 or the Ultremo.

Both coloured and non-coloured Ultremo Rs had the problem.

@Hú;rin- what pressure did you have the tyres at? Did you reinflate fully after each puncture? I don't think there is anything between the GP4000 and the Ultremo in terms of puncture resistance, they are both very good for racing tyres.

Tour magazine have a good roundup here from 2007, Conti GP4000S won with Schwalbe Ultremos and Michelin Pro2Grip runners up. The Ultremo got the nod for best ride quality; both were the same in terms of puncture resistance (both failed to puncture when subjected to five iterations of Tour's test.) I think basically the Ultremo was the first weight-weenie (sub 200g) clincher that is actually hard-wearing and puncture resistant but the GP4000S is so close on weight it hardly makes much difference. I don't think I notice a difference in ride quality.

lukester

@blorg Cheers for that, I was partly going for the Ultremos due to good experience with Schwalbes in the past, but sounds like the Contis are just as good.

I really like the look of the Vittoria Open Evo CXs, if I had a spare set of good wheels I'd use them. I think I know what my next purchases will be.

@Quigs Thanks for that link, very good price on the GP4000s, order just placed.

ROK ON

Just to let you know Lukester, that my new Ultremo's split on the front tyre. Sort of like the split that Tiny had. Now, this could have been a road cut, just like any other. However it is deep and the tyre did not puncture.

Only 130km done on them. A clean lateral split about 5mm wide, and went completely to the tube (but thankfully didnt puncture).

Have replaced them with the Conti GP4000s.

I have to check the tyre for a bulge, but I will probably send back photo to company.

TinyExplosions

I had 2 Ultremo's go, but brought another set the week before the Marmotte from Joe Daly, and they're grand so far (granted, only 80k or so on them)

blorg

Note the issues TinyExplosions and ROK_ON (correct me if I'm wrong) describe are a known problem with the new Ultremo R due to a manufacturing defect in some batches- it does not affect the original Ultremo.

http://www.schwalbetires.com/ultremo_warning_home

It would put me off buying the new tyre for a while all right, until I was sure it was fixed, their management of the problem was very bad. I would not be concerned about the original Ultremo.

lukester

blorg wrote: »

...their management of the problem was very bad.

Agree. I emailed Cycle Sports, and they weren't sure if their batch were unaffected. Schwalbe should have gone out of their way to reassure buyers and get new stock out asap.

Wiggle report that they are out of stock until late August, which may imply that will be the defect-free batch.

blorg

lukester wrote: »

Wiggle report that they are out of stock until late August, which may imply that will be the defect-free batch.

Wiggle stopped selling them as soon as they were informed of the problem AFAIK... they weren't too happy with Schwalbe about it.

lukester

blorg wrote: »

Tour magazine have a good roundup here from 2007, Conti GP4000S won with Schwalbe Ultremos and Michelin Pro2Grip runners up. The Ultremo got the nod for best ride quality; both were the same in terms of puncture resistance (both failed to puncture when subjected to five iterations of Tour's test.) I think basically the Ultremo was the first weight-weenie (sub 200g) clincher that is actually hard-wearing and puncture resistant but the GP4000S is so close on weight it hardly makes much difference. I don't think I notice a difference in ride quality.

Very good review there, only just got around to reading it (albeit an odd German scoring mechanism, lower scores are better. Das ist nicht logisch).