Continental Gatorskin Reifen

Absolutely unbeatable product especially for serious road commuters. No flats since I started using these a year ago almost.

I purchased this to replace a tire that was 5 years old! The previous Gatorskin lasted that long, with over 2000 miles on it. The only reason I had to replace it was because I swerved to avoid a minivan who's driver was texting and wound up going through an area of broken glass! The front tire was unharmed, but the rear had a large cut. The tire held up for the 20-mile ride home, where a normal tire would have been flat! Great tire, good rolling resistance and no road noise. A little hard to install, but wee-worth it! Outstanding durability!

This is a early review on this Gatorskin foldable 700x25mm. This is my first Conti brand tire. here is my story! Got a new bike in my collection, and the Mavic Yksion Comp comes with the bike is so flimsy I am sure it won't have a chance to survivor on NYC roads. And that is the reason I run tubeless on my other bikes include 2 road and 2 MTB. However, on this new bike I desire to run regular tires because I like the wheel set that comes with the bike and I don't wants to spend extra thousands to get a new set of tubeless wheels. So I did many research about puncture proof tires. I finally pull a trigger on this setup, Gartorskin on the rear and the Grand prix 4 season on the front. My goal is have less to no flat, beside I don't do racing so I am ok with bit more weight. For sure the Gartorskin is heavier than most race or touring tire. I don't plan to racing so, I am ok with a bit more weight, but it actuary not that bad. The foldable 700x25mm on the scale is 250g which 10g more listed on conti website. These tire are directional, the making is camouflage on the sidewall. need to pay attention on it. All tire information like psi, size etc... also camouflage on the sidewall, very hard to read! Mounting them on the wheel is not that difficult as tubeless tire (nightmare) but slightly harder than Grand prix 4 season as well as other lighter weight tires. Don't use lever to mount or dismount tires. Many time the lever will damage the bead without knowing it also may have big chance to pinch the tube. So don't complain the bead fail, please try not to plier the tire onto the wheel. The size is true 25mm. I also option to use Vittoria Latex tube, Conti don't recommend to use them. However I may plan to inject Orange sealant into it. which latex tube seal more better than butyl. So thats it for now, I will update after 500 miles on them :-) after 500 miles, both gatorskin and allseason are still look like new. Great tires

I'm not super skilled cyclist by any means. My Garmin auto-pauses when I'm on hills, because I'm going so slow, the computer thinks I'm not even on the bike! But still I love the bike, and I wish I could do more but there's always these internal battles that have nothing to do with cycling. But back to these Gator tires, they are excellent. I've only had them for about one month. ***However, my brother*** did the Trans Am bike race across America, 3 or 4 years ago. You can look it up on Wikipedia. It's an annual bike race in June (canceled 2020 due to covid). But there's no awards or prize money, it's an unsupported race, so each cyclist is on their own. It starts in Oregon and ends in Virginia: 4200 miles. There's a documentary about it on Netflix. But it's clear across the country, 4200 miles and my brother averaged I think it was between 160 and 170 miles a day!!! He was in his 50s, he was a madman, a beast and he did it!! I think he finished in 22 days or 23 days. Just an amazing accomplishment! ***But getting back to the review of these Continental Gatorskin tires*** My brother said from the time he started the race in Oregon, until he got to Wyoming, he had 4 flat tires. He stopped at a bike store in Wyoming and replaced his tires with these Gatorskins. From Wyoming, all the way to the end of the race in Virginia, he NEVER had another flat tire!!! And who knows how much longer afterwards it was before he had another flat tire!? That says it all. But for me, who averages 12 mph on a good day...amateur.... I still wanted tires that I didn't have to worry about. The tires I had previously had a bunch of little cuts on them over the years. Every time I practiced changing a tire I never could get the last 2 or 3 inches of the tire on the wheel rim and always had to have my husband do it. So every bike ride, especially longer ones, I dreaded getting a flat tire and getting stuck somewhere and having to call someone to help. I wanted tires I didn't have to worry about. So, so far so good, NO COMPLAINTS at all! Should've done it years ago. Customer for life!

I cycle 10,000 miles a year and I don't like fixing flats, especially if I'm near the end of a 200 mile ride. I have been riding Armadillo tires a lot recently but the Specialized web site started giving me grief so I thought I'd try these Gatorskins which have a similar flat-proof reputation. I have several hundred miles on them now and I've had no flats yet. They went on easily (thumbs only) but I have no idea how hard they are to remove because they haven't flatted yet. They're fairly slick but I've had no issues with grip even in the rain. I think I'm going to like these. Update: It's nearly the end of April and I've ridden 2000 miles on them - no flats so far! 3000 miles and my first flat but it was a roofing nail which would have flatted my truck tire so it doesn't count. Keep rolling! Final Update: 4500 miles - one flat from a roofing nail - starting to wear out on the rear wheel. I'd say I got my money's worth! Time to buy another one. Final Final Update: I hadn't planned on adding any more to this review but something happened last week that I want to tell you about. We were driving home along the I70 in Colorado when the Thule mount holding $12,000 worth of bicycles failed and my wife's $2,000 carbon bike got towed down the freeway at 80mph. The bike sustained considerable damage but the interesting thing is that the Gatorskin tires took a lot of the damage. Even though they were badly scraped and frayed, they still held air. If the pedals and rear derailleur hadn't been destroyed she could have ridden the bike. I think that's pretty amazing. And yes, I did replace them anyway :-)

If there's a better tire out there for balancing ride quality, puncture resistance and durability, I don't know what it would be. As soon as you put these babies on, particularly when replacing cheapo stock tires most bikes are sold with, you feel a difference that just makes you say "Damn!" like you've morphed into Samuel L. Jackson. Counting all the bikes I've used Gatorskins on, I've tallied miles in the thousands with them. My one and only flat involved a 2' screw that I'm pretty sure would have put the kibosh on any tire -- so no love of my 'skins were lost over that. 12/23/15 UPDATE: Got taken out by a staple. I've been reading and viewing vids on Schwalbe Marathons -- I'm betting it would have easily survived the staple. This being my FOURTH flat on a 'skin, I'm bumping them down from five to four stars.

These tires are faster and give me more sure and responsive handling than the original Kenda brand tires that came with my bike. My bike is now more peppy, nimble, and fun. And the ride is more comfortable, with less road shock and vibration. I tried them out at 100 psi, which was the maximum pressure I found comfortable with the previous tires, but because the Gatorskins were so comfortable, I increased the pressure to 110 psi, then later to 120 psi, and they are still comfortable. I weigh 74 kg / 163 lb., use 25mm width tires, and ride in the city. So far I've ridden them only a few weeks, not long enough to report on how well they wear and resist puncture. I haven't ridden them on wet pavement. The Gatorskins with Kevlar beads are somewhat shapeless, so before mounting them on my rims I had to use my hands to form them into the shape of a tire. Nevertheless they were easy to mount, and when I started filling the tires the sidewall height came out even all around. I had difficulty finding the very slightly raised directional arrow on one sidewall that indicates which way the tread pattern should point. I gather it doesn't really matter which way the tread pattern goes, as the tread pattern is there merely to allay consumer trepidation about what are essentially bald tires. But I wanted to mount them the "right way" anyway. I've noticed that at 120 psi the rear Gatorskin tends to skid when I "panic" brake. I can manage to stay upright during a skid, so that's not a safety concern for me. I worry more about the skidding prematurely wearing out the tire tread.

Excellent tire worth the cost.