Foul weather tires (aka 80% of my races last season were wet)

[Truebeliever]

Hey there,
I build up what I thought would be some awesome cx tubular wheels this season only to never mount tires on them for one reason or another.

It seemed this past year, all the Crits I raced were wet to some degree. I'm looking for suggestions/opinions on a tubular tire with wet weather traction.

I've been tempted to go with a 24c conti sprinter, but I just don't have a ton of time on them to justify if this would be wise.

Thoughts?

[WFSTEKL]

conti competition 25

have fun

[Too Tall]

Can't argue with that. Conti Competitions are tough as nails and a 25 will race like a bad bad boy for crits. That said you can't get a better road race tubular than Veloflex. FWIIW I've put those Conti's on a coaching clients wheels that have been there for two seasons of crit/road and they look too good to chuck.

[zachateseverything]

For wet grip you want to maximize your surface area (higher volume tires at lower pressure) and run some kind of a silica tread compound. Using silica vs carbon black as a tread filler is one way to break the trade-off between rolling resistance and wet grip. The easiest way to figure out what you have is to ride them on some metal rollers and go touch a door knob. Carbon black conducts electricity, silica does not. If you get zapped when you touch a metal object, you're on a silica tread.

The Conti in a 25 hits both numbers pretty well.

[boots2000]

Don't race crits in the rain unless you have to.
Lots of bad mojo.

[pdxmech13]

Vitoria Paves are my all time winter tyre here in PNW.
I just wish they would go back to a tan sidewall.

[Raphalex]

I've enjoyed the Conti GP4 Season but the Vittoria Open Pavé is sublime in the wet. Their Rubino Pro Tech is also quite good if you're on a budget.

[Paul]

Veloflex Arenberg 25mm

[SteveP]

not sprinters.
poor in wet.

[Chance Legstrong]

For just wet occasions or a pit wheelset Michelin open tubulars pro grips are awesome in the rain.

Tubulars
Velo-Flex are amazing.
Specialized "team issue" will serve you very we'll for wet/dry. Look for a new Roubaix edition soon.
Conti competitions are good in the rain, I just don't like how they race in the dry.

[boydcycling]

Conti Sprinters used to be an awesome rain tire, back when they had a diamond tread pattern and before the Black Chilli compound. They have been focused on lowering rolling resistance and a lot of times when you do that you also lower the grip, especially in wet conditions. I did a couple crits this year on Conti Sprinters and it was scary.

Vittorias are extremely scary in wet. I slid out going 5 mph in a parking lot before a crit in the rain one time. I immediately switched wheels.

I used to use a Tufo Hi composite Carbon until rolling resistance tests came out and it was the worst tire ever for rolling resistance. They also only had that version in a 22mm. However, I did notice that using those tires in the rain I had great grip. I saw Tufo at Eurobike this year and they had a 25mm version of the HICC tire, and I have seen it available in a few places. If you are looking for a specific rainy condition tire with good grip, the HICC in a 25mm (run at 85-90PSI) may be a great option. Just saw that it is a 375gram tire though . . .ouch.

The reason why the Tufos are bad in terms of rolling resistance is they don't have any inner tube, it's just the casing the holds the air in, which makes for a tire that doesn't conform as well.

[WFSTEKL]

Vitoria Paves are my all time winter tyre here in PNW.
I just wish they would go back to a tan sidewall.

The tan sidewalls were called All Weathers and are the precursor to the Paves.

[WFSTEKL]

These were sharp tires.

[WFSTEKL]

There was also the Special Pave. Also cool.

[Eddie]

These were sharp tires.

Are those the All Weathers? I still have a set of those, but they're dry rotted to hell. IIRC the center compound would get super soft and squirmy when it got really hot out.

[WFSTEKL]

Are those the All Weathers? I still have a set of those, but they're dry rotted to hell. IIRC the center compound would get super soft and squirmy when it got really hot out.

The ones in the top pic are All Weathers. They must be 20 years old so no surprise that they are rubbish now.

[teleguy57]

There was also the Special Pave. Also cool.

Bought some NOS a year back. One wouldn't hold air; the other lasted about 600 mi on the rear. Casing was fine but the black compound disintegrated with the first 200 miles. Green compound wore ok.

I sure did like the look with the tan sidewalls, though....

[sk_tle]

veloflex are awesome. I read that schwalbe tires are usually great in the wet. Why not trying The One ?

in 25mm of course.

[WFSTEKL]

The mention in this thread of All Weathers et al has rekindled my healthy nostalgia for 80's and 90's era cycling machines. We happily trained, raced, suffered and toured the world on those machines and never complained. They looked damn good too. How could they not with pipes like Columbus and Reynolds swaddled in the blues of Gitane, silvers of La Vie Claire and reds of Del Tongo etc. It didn't hurt that they also were not cluttered with batteries and wires and big honking STI/Ergos, just simple down tube levers that you would occasionally stab to coax the derailleur to move to another cog. The austere Vittoria CX/CG tires completed the aesthetic as they hummed along the pavement. I will pre-empt Pooch when he writes back and says, try riding one of those machines now and see what you think. I know, I know, but we were blissfully ignorant about how much they sucked, but they certainly didn't then, did they? I love today's machines, don't fret, but I don't love how much they cost. $10,000 to $20,000 for a Pro machine, really? I also don't like the way they assault my sense of aesthetics. I adore the color black, but I embrace it only when I go to a Ministry concert. Black plastic, black tires, black electronics does not make a happy bicycle.

[WFSTEKL]

Wouldn't death be less insulting if we rode out our days on one of these?

PS, Veloflex tubs won't hold you back in the rain either.