Gator skins

Colash

How do ye boys find these ? I just put a set of continental gator skins on my road and they are a very very HARD ride ! Big psi to get up .120 is the recommendation I think ?

Zyzz

You sacrifice ride comfort for puncture protection..Ive always ridden with them and only had 1 or 2 incidents. Solid tyre all around

Darkglasses

The tyre pressure depends on your weight. If you're light enough, go with 100 psi instead. I currently have them on my commuter, but in truth I won't get them again. I never get punctures with normal tyres anyway, it's not worth sacrificing ride comfort and wet grip.

petethedrummer

120psi is the max recommended pressure. As Darkglasses says, take them down to 90-100psi.

AstraMonti

For me they are the worst tyre I have ever ridden. Not only because I got the most punctures when I had them on, but because they are horrible to ride. It's like riding on pvc tubes, zero feedback from the road and they are so hard and annoying. It's surprising how good a tyre continental can produce (gp4000s) and how bad gatormuppets are.

Colash

Well I will be taking both tyres back tomorrow anyways as I just inspected them an found two or three nice little slits in them . Only can be seen when pumped up . Raging .

Roger Hassenforder

Very poor grip in them in the wet, wouldnt get them again

topcat291169

I also put a pair of them on my bike last week and found them to be a few slow tyre.

Did anyone else find this problem?

route66

I think they are great

detones

There's been a couple of threads on theses tires. Very mixed options. I have them. Find they roll well and have been fairly bombproof. Cycled over glass a few times and no issues. Have no faith in them in the wet when cornering hard but then again I'm on a road bike and don't expect much grip on any tires!!

Surveyor11

After getting sick of weekly punctures on my commute, I put these on the commuter. I changed from Panaracers which are pretty hard as well, but I don't mind the ride - rolling resistance I find pretty good, not too sluggish. Have to say they are bomb proof so far, wouldn't trust them cornering in the wet, then again any tyre is going to give you a bit of gip on a wet road.....

denbatt

Didn't like em. Had a couple of punctures the last one being a side wall blow out! Had to bin em after that. The side wall is pretty light compared to the rest of the tire.

Wishbone Ash

I didn't find them particularly hard and their puncture resistance is very good but I got rid of them because I had no confidence on them in the wet.

Welshkev

Best 'addition' to my bike ever. They may be slower, but certianly not slower than having to change a puncture at the side of the road

Seaneh

I rode them for several months and didn't have a single puncture but I found the ride extremely harsh and I had absolutely no trust in them if the roads were in any way wet, the scared the **** out of me in the winter to be honest.

cdaly_

Well happy with them wet or dry...

kenmc

wouldn't commute on anything else. been riding them for at least 6 years. Typically only have to take them off the wheel to replace them at end of life.

Popoutman

I've had zero issues with mine, which were on the commuter bike which I got secondhand. Once I went through the tread to take any embedded glass out and superglue those cuts shut, I had no problems with it. It's my commuter bike so I don't notice any ride issues or rolling resistance problems. I haven't noticed any grip issues either, wet or dry.

To those that have had punctures or blowouts, just imagine what your days would have been like had you had ordinary tyres..

harringtonp

They're only slow compared to top end tyres, you wouldn't call them slow compared to your average bicycle shop tyre.

Great in winter when you're not looking for top end (every little advantage) but where repairing a puncture in freezing rain is a real pain in the ass.

petethedrummer

Continental Marmites.

Spins

Riding gatorskins 6 years. Wouldn't swap em.

route66

Online catalog has this writeup on Gatorskins: link and some words here about the technology: link