Those are some ugly skins
Well, it ain't pretty.
I called up my pals at the LBS and asked what they had in durable tires. This is what they served up. They say light, durable, cheap...pick two. These tires hopefully are no exception.
Check that link BTW, Mark and Pam built a new website...looks nice (looks like some of my gear made it to their site this time too...I may never be famous, but my wheels are!).
I could have opted for some less intense tires (color wise), but I am hoping these will serve as bright spots on dreary days of riding in the late winter. I just need to get through a few more weeks of riding on roads scattered with cinders (aka shards of furnace slag that shred racing tires).
I wonder if they will hold up as well as the Continental Gatorskins I have been rolling for the last 5-6 winters? I will keep you posted.
I have the gatorskins. why
I have the gatorskins. why not continue w/ them? I have found they can go anywhere, though i prefer to keep them on the road.
Are the tires in the pic Tufo cross tires? I use those for racing, but I don't think those are the most durable. i have some ritchey excavadors that are like iron, go everywhere.
Gators are great
But they were not available immediately and these were.
My criteria for these tires was a little more rigorous than I previously let on. Part of it involved a desire for high rolling resistance. Sounds funny may be, but I have some good reasons for this (stay tuned).
These are Michelin Speediums, they were less money than the gators would have been and so far so good.
If you were asking why I retired the old Gators...well this is one of the reasons...
Speediums
Had a set of Speediums in red. Gave them to a buddy, so I don't know the overall durability or a sense of how long they'll last. They gave me approximately 1000 flat-free miles. From the cheap and durable category I also grab the Serfas Seca FPS tires. Damn near indestructable. I actually raced them at Froze Toes and Tilles last year, as well as in a couple of the early season Tuesday Night Worlds.
Follow up report on Speedium Tires by Michelin
So far I really like these tires for training purposes. They have a thick tread that really seems to offer a bit of cushion to the ride.
If you are into colored tires these have a lot of color. What is really interesting is they seem to be self cleaning. Many colored tires I have used in the past seem to get dirty and dull looking. These by contrast get gray when I ride the trainer or rollers, but they seem to get bright yellow again as soon as I take them out on pavement.
I have no idea where the name Speedium came from...perhaps "ium" is a suffix similar to "less". The cushion in ride from the thicker tread almost certainly results in a higher rolling resistance as compared to a racing tire with a slick surface made with a thinner bit of rubber. To me this is a plus as I have little intention of going as fast as possible this time of year and added resistance should make me stronger.
I hope to collect some data in the not-to-distant future to quantify wattage vs. speed on rollers. This in turn will give relative differences in rolling resistance of this tire vs. the ProRace3 and the Continental Gatorskin+K.