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GP5000 32mm Quick review
Construction:
Standard tubed tire feels like all the other conti road tires I’ve had. No surprises
Tubeless feels a lot different. Thicker rubber especially noticeable on sidewalls. Does not feel so floppy and thin in the hand. (means extra weight and maybe less supple ride). It is 60 tpi, not 110 tpi of the standard tire – so the cords are thicker (and presumably tougher). In theory this makes for a tougher tire. Between the thicker bead and thicker sidewall and oddly slippery feeling – it feels more like a car tire to me, oddly.
Mounting:
The standard tires were a very tight fit, but snapped onto my tubeless rims and fit fine.
The Tubeless tire was a nightmare. I’ve been mounting tires for ~45 years, but never gave up on mounting a tire. I thought Schwalbe was hard to mount, but these are much harder. Two things make it difficult:
Possibly because I’m using “hookless” rims, my rim bed it tighter. In comparison, my Schwalbe’s were hard, but not impossible. My Maxis tires were fairly easy. Any “tubed” tire is tight enough to use “tubless” but still go on by hand (rather like my Maxis ramblers)
This high pressure capable design is overkill for a tire destined for gravel. The tire is rated for over 100psi, but I’m not going to use it over 60psi.
Continental’s Sizing on 22mm ID rims
(sometimes I wonder why they bother labeling their tires, they don’t seem to put much effort into it, lol)
Road riding:
I’m surprised at their speed. Really surprised. They are nice solo riding, but amazing in a pace line. With a paceline reducing a lot of the aero drag, rolling friction plays a significant part.
One thing I didn’t realize until I road these is that they only have 8.3 watts of resistance at 18mph. That is about 23 watts for the pair at 25mph paceline.
Compared to the Conti 4seasons I had been using have 50 watts resistance. The difference was more noticeable than I had thought. The biggest metric change was that my heart rate had lowered by about 5bpm. That is crazy. It felt like I was riding on ball bearings (or more accurately, riding on my rollers and just spinning along).
These seemed like “cheater” tires. 32mm and tubeless makes this some of the most efficient tires ever made. I felt like I had a dirty little secret. Even looking around me at the other riders on GP5000s, I had my little secret. All these road race bikes were one 23mm tires. Those have to be ~100 PSI to get the same rolling resistance as I was at 70psi. With as rough as our roads are – I was just able to glide over this rough asphalt much more effectively than the same tire at 23mm (not to mention that these rough roads have been giving the 23mm tires a lot of flats this year).
For off road – we’ll see. It’s a 3 ply tire, but the diagrams show 2 ply sidewalls, plus a breaker ply under the tread. The tubed tire at 110TPI looks to have almost a see through sidewalls – in that I can see the chords on the inside and on the outside of the tire. The tubed tires are 60TPI – and have an airtight sidewall. Thicker cords and more rubber. Should make it more scuff resistant. Time will tell…
JBarney wrote:Are you guys running sealant? I do in my MTB and Gravel/CX bike but it seems like not all run it in their road tires. I've been holding out on my stock tires but ready to give the GP5000 @28 a try.
Thanks
JBarney wrote:Are you guys running sealant?
Thanks for the good feedback.
They really are a game changer for me – a higher volume tubeless tire with performance of high level road race tire. They are perfect for light gravel, the hardpack we have here in summer/fall, and outside a velodrome or clean swept crit course – there isnt’ anyting faster.
On a mixed surface ride, I’m optimized for road and our summer gravel on a single tire.
Naturally, I’ll always need a bigger tire for more gravelly rides and for rougher conditions.
chas wrote:
But, the TL version is much much harder to get on a rim than the tubed version. My tubed ones went on very tight, but it was doable. The TL was not. I'm thinking that because my rims are hook less that they are slightly over sized. They would probably go on easier on my DTSwiss rims, but I'm not gonna risk it.
chas wrote:My take on the hooked bead rim - is that is a requirement to get to their recommended pressure ratings (which are a bit high, IMHO). I'm fine staying 60 or below.
Your are right though - any rim with even a slightly oversized diameter will cause problems*. The specific requirements for the rim bed of a hookless tire may not help either. That tire has very tight tolerances and no stretch. Its a good thing with the right application.
Anyway - conti says they are about ~6months away from having an approved ETRO standard that will work with these tires. Then maybe it will be easier to purchase the right wheel/tire combo.
*(I have some old school beaded road rims this would never go on. I can't even get my Schwalbe's on some of those, and the conti's are even tighter than the Schwalbes).