$20 vs $80 Tires... What's the Actual Difference?
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Thanks performancebike.com for providing tires for this test.
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I used to run full wire bead Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires for their insane puncture resistance out in the desert but they are one of the slowest tires made and I always had my LBS mount them... The first time I rode on Continental GPs it felt like I had switched to an e-bike! 😂 Without sounding like a GCN puppet, it really is impressive how far bicycle tire technology has come in the last two decades and the difference tire choice makes!
Used to ride Marathons as I done Audaxers. Never realised the insane shoulder pain was the tyres and not the tiredness until I moved over to racing
im running marathon plus on my commuter. disc brake rims make it possible to mount them without tire levers. they run puncture free for like 10k kms tho tbf.
@@EstelonAgarwaen but they are zero craic to ride
@@marcfarrelly5944 when its just about getting to work on a 15 minute ride, that doesnt matter really. at least to me.
lighter and more suple tires (than marathons) have existed for ... decades ? Soo yeah.
I run Marathon Racer foldables on my city bike, half the weight and more comfortable than regular marathons, about 1 puncture every 2 years, so not bad.
I'd never consider regular marathons if you're even somewhat into speedy ride.
Not even gonna mention the dead feel the heavy marathons offer .. bleah.
Sure, heavy marathons ARE tanks, just not for me.
This had the opposite effect on me. Now I'm more keen to save money as $20 tire seems to perform really good for its value!
I don't race, instead go for long rides. I'll be happy to spend 15 more minutes on a 6 hour ride.
there are some good budget tires but let me tell you if you hit the rain with that 20$ tire you will regret it. It has terrible wet-weather grip.
@@dexterx55 valid argument. There are tires that are great at wet grip while being terrible at RR. In BRR website there’s plenty tested.
bruh these slim ahh tires dont secure u in almost any type of weather. A mtb tire will grip anyrhing lol@@dexterx55
I ride about 50 Km a day, every day, come sun shine, monsoon downpours or extreme heat and use Continental Urban Pro. Slightly more than $20 (~$25 in Thailand) but they have excellent puncture resistance which is essential when riding solo on long routes often hours form home. The grip in the wet is also very good, they last at least 8000 km and are cmfortable.
I have crashed on those $20 tires in the wet. Horrible grip the moment it rains. Good luck.
I’m always all about middle of the road components when it comes to not buying the higher tier groupset, or the highest tier frame. However tires are one place I always look to get the best that I can, the cost difference is minimal in the grand scheme of the entire bike but the differences are huge. Even if someone can’t feel or doesn’t care about the single digit watt savings in RR, there is a lot to be said about higher end tire’s ride quality, cornering confidence they inspire, and generally easier mounting across various wheels.
For me, it was puncture resistance. Cheap tires just flat a lot.
Same. Best tires, stainless cables. That's what matters
Thank you for taking the time to do this comparison. I don't have a huge budget, and I don't race, but tires are the one place where I feel much better spending the money to get a quality product.
don't cheap out on tires, trust me! it's one of the best performance per dollar spends you can make
For normal usage the two most important things are puncture resistance and longevity.
What is with the Grip?
$60 is the difference
Damn I thought it’s 69
I thought it's 69.69
It is actually -60$
you don't say
Legendary
The fact that neither of you brought tire levers, or a bead seating tool is hilarious to me for some reason. Good tests!
we brought tire levers, not even sure what a bead seating tool is, just use the tire levers for the win.
I use my bare hands 😂
I was getting 5-15% increases in times with no change in effort or aero position from switching from cheap pirelli tires that came with my bike using butiles tubes to pirelli pzeros with thermoplastic tubes.
The variation in benefit was tied to the speed of the segment. Increase in ride quality on most surfaces as well.
Yea man.. I've been waiting for your videos for about everyday.. Good job for uploading this one.. Keep it up & stay safe always..
My personal sweet spot is the Vittoria’s Rubino pro. Somewhat about 40$ and you got something very good.
Nice! I used to have those roadsport 35mm on my gravel bike and they did feel particularly slow
I run on Continental Gp5000s on my race wheels on races and special public events for performance and you know look good factors. However, I switch them out to cheap CST CITO tires from China (makers of Cheng Shin tire tubes) which costs USD13 each despite being rated as a race tire. They are great for training and all-day riding with a slight rolling resistance penalty. So far they hold up well with puncture resistance and decent road feel .
Spent 6 days in the Pyrenees on Corsa Next 28mm TLR and they were faultless, incredible down the Hautacam in torrential rain and then confidence inspiring descending many other mountains in the dry.
One area they are letting me down is that they are a bit inconsistent in their sealing. I’m sometimes tempted to switch to the standard version with a latex tube but I love the ride feel of tubeless.
Latex is the way to go if you’re traveling far away from home
Riding on the 30 mm N'EXT. Easy to put on, great grip and my rear lasted 8k km till a stay dog caused me to lock up, and take a chunk off the tread. The front is still going great at 12k+, I'm 60 kg using 65 psi. The cheaper Zaffiros OTOH are a pain to mount.
At 3:35 where u showed the savings. I get that the better tires shaved seconds off, but how is it average speed is faster for the supposedly slower tire ?
what thing that is hard to test over a short time period, but super important for training tires, and that is puncture resistance.
When people say training tires, they mean heavier and more puncture protection right? So for everyone out there that do not compare and compete, does slow tires actually not slow because there is no race to ride in?
69 year old 200 lbs Ben riding 6K/yr since 2008. Bought an Emonda SL 7 in June came on tubed only tires. Running 80psi rode it 35 miles first day no problem. Second day crossing town hit one of our’road irregularities’ and pinch flatted front and rear simultaneously. Unfamiliar bike might have felt wonky don’t know because after the next left turn I woke up with a broken helmet and an EMT asking me what day it was. Ambulance ride, missed day, fitted Conti GP 4 seasons I keep in stock. 3.5k on those with no more than normal goathead intrusions. Now on GP 5K ASTR at 70 psi tubeless. You can keep your $20 tires.
you can reverse calculate the time saving to watt saving, and by my calculation the difference is 13 Watts. Am i correct? But yeah GP5000 is the benchmark nowadays
*MEASURED Tire Width- on the Silca Calculator. Digital calipers are $7.99 on Amazon... small investment for tire testing. You'll be surprised how much difference there is in width from wheel to wheel (and PSI recommended). Example: I've run GP5000S TR 28mm on my Hyper D67s and they measure 29.2mm... 1mm is a 5psi difference on the calculator
*and at 7:10 you show the wrong wheel diameter on the calculator screen shot (650B instead of 700C.... also a 5 psi difference)
just the screenshot was wrong, the actual test had it right, woops! also i have a digital caliper, we used it in the next test, stay tuned!
I just switched to Conti 5k’s from Vittoria Corsa cottons as they flattened all the time on rides. I did run a NEXT version for a short time with a 5k up front and it did much better than the cotton cased Corsa’s but we’re cutting a little more than the 5k so now just running the 5k’s. All clinchers c TPC orange tubes 25C.
The difference would be even bigger with faster rolling tyres, Corsa Next are not the best for that, but maybe they are good for comfort and confidence. it depends on the rider and their preference
There is only a 3W difference between the corsa next and gp5000.
@@wesleyvandeurzen71993w per tire = 6w total which is not insignificant. 6w could be a season worth of training for someone
@@wesleyvandeurzen7199 yes it's minimal, but in the test they would be at least 1 second faster (estimated calculation). Quite a difference at race speeds, even though none of us normal cyclist race !!
@@wesleyvandeurzen7199 In this video different tire width and rims was tested by PT, i jumped the last part where he used a different tire., ittoria corsa nxt. The original was the gp5000, the difference is quite huge, close to 10% at 35km of ALL resistances! Corsa next isnt a fast tire.
ruclips.net/video/1_e5tlM5Gi8/видео.html
I had some Corsa Next - I will not buy them again. I really didn't like how they felt. It's completely subjective, but I much prefer the road feel of GP 5000s and P-zeros. I even prefer the stock Mavic High Roads that came on my current bike. This is purely anecdotal; something about them just didn't work for me.
Hey Jeff, could you do this with the Continental GP5000? Curious about how those compare! Love this test!
love my GP5k! I race and train on them. anecdotally they are fast and more durable than most other high performance race tires
@@NorCalCyclinglove my GP5ks, I can lean into the like I am riding a motorbike race and a few crits while tailgunning it's been the difference between getting dropped and hanging in there. No other tyre (admittedly never tried the Vittoria's) has held me to the road like they do. I say this as someone who has patches all over both sides from pushing tyres to their limit and just past their limit.
I'd like to see comparison with ReneHerse Chinook Pass 28 tires in extra light sidewall.
I have been riding a few different brands, and most recently GP5000. The GP5000s have a nice ride quality, combining comfort, speed and grip. The other tires I have tried are Michelin Pro 4, Vitoria Rubino. The Pro 4s have excellent life and overall value. A good all around tire. The GP5000s have a glide quality that just feels faster than these others, noticeable performance. Vitoria Rubino seems to ware too quickly, although more grippy than Pro 4s. The Corsa's may be be a better tire than Runino but I have doubts about Vitoria's durability. For road tires, it way come down to budget and intended use. Performance versed trainer. If you see the GP5000s on sale or just want try them out, definitely give them a go.
Great test. Can you do a similar test with tubeless/inner tubes too?
The screenshots of the SIlca calculator show 650b wheels. No idea if that affects anything but I noticed it.
Compare them to the continental ultra sport 3. 30 bucks a tire and they are awesome.
I’ve run the older version for some years and they perform very well, lots of grip
Nice one! This sport is so expensive it's nice to know where the $'s are well spent. Where is a poor place to spend $'s? Carbon rails, carbon stems, and high end pedals are significantly more expensive, but are they worth it? I love the #'s difference(time or weight but also how they feel/fun factor is important too!
Tires and wheels seems to be wheres each dollar pay big
You should do mid range tire
I wanna see more of this Jeff
Seems like a reasonable performance increase for not too much money. Ill plan that into my next set of tires as well as looking at tpu tubes if i can.
Great content, I have returned tires that are hard to mount. If I need a tire lever for them I won't use.
Went from stock bontrager selects, straight to GP5k's. I did multiple time trial runs before and on the stock bontragers I did 5 miles in sub 15 minutes. Two months later on contis and I shedded a good two minutes off. Sub 12 minutes for 5 miles. (I'm in Tennessee so I was a constant up down up down, but I did it at night and wind is usually none to 3 mph at night) I also managed to break 50mph with the contis
if you would compare inner tubes as well the difference would be even bigger. I went from standard tires and standard butyl inners to top end tires and latex inners. it immediately added +1/+1,5 Kph to my average speed, i was really amazed how big the difference was.
I love all these comparisson videos. Always super thorough and exactly the information I'm looking for 👏👏👏👏
The vittorias are 45 in europe... what the hell are these US prices
As canadian, I purchase my Vittorias online from a italian reseller. North american’s prices are a scam.
Speed aside, the feel of good tyres in the ride alone is enough to justify the expense. Supple, fast, grippy tyres feel AMAZING! There is so much glide when rolling through and the confidence they provide on steep technical descents cannot be understated
Absolutely! If the point of cycling is to go fast and have a good time then better tires check all the boxes
Do a comparison of tubed n tubeless
i hope to see you race on the Cheap Tires in Alviso, want to see if you can win the race. 😊
Love this sort of thing - keep it coming!
Jeff, if you do a blind test not knowing which tires you have then I think you can eliminate the psychological factor you mention at 6:34
i've thought about blind tests but hard to safely execute. I'm up for suggestions!
@@NorCalCyclingjust a thought. stoppage power should be correlated with grippiness? No blind test needed. Just do a hard stop and see which one drags less. Side question : in Silca calculator did you account for real width of tires once pumped. not just 28mm. Makes a huge difference. And you used 650b rim vs 700c?!
I run Corsas- and keep my eyes on Nashbar and Performance for deals. $55 today. Rubinos are a good compromise, and have a bit more durability
Vittoria Corsa NEXT sucks in terms of rolling resistance but they're pretty light. Try the Corsa Pro vs the cheap tires you will see the bigger difference. or something like the GP5000s that is more affordable
Another great video. I’d really like to see you do Alviso on the Winspace.
coming!
Stiffer sidewalls on cheaper tires means you should run considerably less pressure for similar road feel. Whether that would increase speed depends very much on the compound. No way the tire pressure calculator can account for this. One reason why the GP5000 and GP400- scores well on rolling resistance tests is stiffer sidewalls biasing the results on rollers. Need to run quite a bit lower for similar rides.
why assume the calculator won't account for this? I was under the impression that's exactly what the calculator accounts for.
@@NorCalCycling Turns out the calculator I looked at doesn't have this adjustment. There are a couple on the silca website. Glad they added in this feature. Not sure how I landed on the older one.
I can't imagine going back to something like Gatorskins. Even on my commuter with 10 speed Tiagra, I'm running 32mm GP5000 AS-TR tires set up tubeless. Overkill? Maybe. Am I happy with it? Oh, yes.
Could you check if your time difference is matching the test bench power difference? You probably need a small power model for that. Usually we talk about few watts so it could match
If I may ask a stupid question. Wouldn’t a tire with higher rolling resistance also have better grip? Are those factors synonymous?
mt palomar descent test???? thats dope
nvm ca 9
Interesting. Could the rr improvement have diminishing returns?
Need to do this double blind!
it's true, and i need to figure out a way to safely run a true blind study. i'm open for suggestions.
@@NorCalCycling Rollers might do the trick, you can literally hide tyres from the rider and do consistent power
How can you take rollers as a meaningful measurement of rolling resistance though? Pretty much the furthest thing from rough and sometimes bumpy asphalt. Making assumptions like this is what led to people riding on 120 psi on the roads because it was faster on the track @@АнтонАлексеенко_044
Using your climbing data I came up with a Crr difference of 0.0012 just guessing your all-up mass at 90 kg. And actually a difference of 0.0012 isn't as bad as I would have expected. But this is likely in the range of 30% higher rolling resistance for the cheaper tire. At say 20 MPH (~9 m/s), that is about 10 W difference. Which is significant to me.
While I don't race, I enjoy going as fast as I can. So, I'm more than happy to spend some extra money on the best tires I can get. Though I run GP 5000 STR tubeless tires. I wear out about 3 per year (1 front, 2 rear). Money well spent as far as I'm concerned.
Always love your testing videos
Nice review! My question is are you guys using same wheelset? Coz that could change the outcome if one is diffent from the other test
Yes we are
When I go downhill and the tire is the limiting factor I'm already suffering cardiac arrest.
Well, at 5:40 you stated that you took the chain off the bike so you could not pedal it. Weel at the bottom of the hill is seems you were pedaling up the hill just fine? Junk!
Jeff let us no which rubber do you guys use?
Ignoring super cheap knock-offs, lower-tier tires from major brands usually have better puncture resistance and last longer. High-end tires are too lightweighted and get cut a lot. In the last 5 group rides my veloflex got 3 flats on Los Angeles roads. In contrast I got less than 3 flats during a year running cheaper tires. Unless you want to win every single local group ride, simply keep one set of wheels/tires for racing/KOMs, and one set for daily riding.
Would it not be a fairer playing g field if you were to ride without knowing which tyre you were on.
Riding with the knowledge of wjat you are riding on will most certainly impact your thought process.
Terry
Well the performance tests are objective but I totally agree the feeling part is subjective and I wish I could do a blind test just don’t know how to safely do it
Think it’s definitely a mental thing, you’re taking more risk with better tyre hence better time. Negotiable difference.👍
right i agree and say in the video that has a big part of it. but it's still a performance gain. This is why i urge people to have a race day wheel setup, for that placebo boost.
I Pay corsa next clincher 35 euro, and tlr 45 euro, not that expensive. It is also intresting for the difference between the soloist and the winspace
A blind test on the descent would be cool!
💀💀 lol in all seriousness i'd love to do a blind test, but haven't figure out how. i'm open for suggestions.
@@NorCalCyclingEasy, just put a blindfold on! 😂
my current tires are vittoria p zero velo 28mm. they cost me 25€. theyre great.
Damn I miss riding Hwy 9! 🤙
what you guys think about tubeless for road?
yes, do it. Don't be like me and hold off, jump in it's worth it.
Its the feel and the longevity of that feel that makes a tire worth? it if you watch these comparison videos and they say a 20 rubber is as good as an 80 they have not ridden enough to know the difference this is not meant in a attitude of force but mearly an observation
Cheap tires are slow, got it.
Whats the difference between an $80 corsa NEXT tire vs tires ridden by world tour teams?
No brake test?
Conti, Gatorskin, 28, Hardshell, S. D. Cali Mexico City, PERIOD.
It's not all about time savings, really gains comes from much better grip, stability, comfort, prediction, etc.... In all conditions.
Aero bars for vs non-aero bars of the same width
The most basic principle for any test is to do it blind to eliminate bias and placebo effects. The performance difference may not be big as you made it to be.
The first part is an unbiased performance test. Looking for ways to safely do a true blind test for the second test I’m open to suggestions
I can't honestly say I know the difference in feel, I've just always gone with the best tires I can get for the reasons stated. If I crash on a corner, I'd rather it be my fault than cheap equipment. I loved Continental until their latest tubeless/hookless tires which just can't run high enough pressures for my weight unless I'm rocking 30mm. Specialized RapidAir's are my favorites despite not having the life span of GP's.
you might be surprised, check out the video we did on pressures
The climbing test numbers are within the margin of error for back-to-back runs by the same person. To really test speed, you would have to put ten riders on the exact same bike/wheel/tire combo, and let them freewheel downhill together. Test 2 is a good simulation. 9 seconds are hard to deny under any circumstances. I always buy Vittorias.
Wait did you set the psi optimizer to a 650b wheel? Was this on purpose bc you run 650bs?
just the screenshot was wrong, the actual test had it right, woops!
The happy medium is 50-60$ tires. Gp 5000s are often discounted to 45-50$
we have $3 (₹200) tire in India. made for Indian roads , it has poor rolling on any roads. try ralson road bike tyre.
If you don’t race and not after time saving, your priority for tire choice should be grip, reliability and the feel, because the difference is crashing or getting away. There are still cheap tires out there with good grip. Just slower.
Just try a better budget tire like the CHAOYANG H-496 Cobra PRO
Are you still running tubed or tubeless nowadays?
tubeless!!!
Nxt review continental as tr
how can someone have better avg speed and yet be a second slower? I suppose we need to factor in how good you guys corner or something.
Great video
Highway 9! My old stompin' grounds.
Corsa NEXT tires aren't really fast rolling tires
I agree its well spent for racing but for training I focus more on durability than speed.
I tried a lot of tires and I will never ride cheap tires again. The lack of comfort, grip an rolling resistance and in some cases puncture resistance are a no go for me. My choice is the Vitoria Corsa and I got a pair of it for 80 Dollars. The most comfy tires I`ve ever ridden are the Specialized Turbo Cotton but unfortunately they don`t have so gut puncture resistance. My personal resume is: Safe the money everywhere, but not on tires (it is the same with cars and motorbikes)
Corsa next tires cost a lot less than 80 dollars per tire, I've seen them cost as little as 35 dollars each online.
The nice thing about $20 tires is that you can always have fresh rubber on your bike. New tires are always better than old tires.
Tire pressure is a big part of the equation. Good tires are the one place not to be cheap.
Comparisons should have cheap, mid, high options
this video was already pretty heavy with testing, but maybe for the next one 🤙
Understood about adding another tire being a significant amount of more work for you. Us viewers want it all. I think the midrange is usually the sweet spot and most attainable by the normal viewer.
@@LTBlightthebeam Corsa N.EXT (the one they used in the video) is actually a mid range tyre according to Vittoria. It was never ment to replace older Corsa, but uses nylon instead of cotton in regular Corsa.
Corsa Pro is the top tier and regular Corsa (previous gen) is also faster than N.EXT. Corsa Speed is the fastest one in the lineup with Corsa N.EXT being the slowest one between all corsas
Maybe test tires from the same brand, to see a difference.
120 dollars is only a “no brainer” to those who can afford the best. I’d prefer to drive a Porsche.. it’s a no brainer. So, in summary, the $80 tire performs marginally better than the $20 tire. It also has a better “feel” and affords better cornering and that elusive “placebo effect” that comes from knowing that you bought the best / most expensive product. Like you said: “It’s real!” Marginal gains for substantial expense. [although admittedly, expensive tires are faster than your carbon fiber bottle cages and saddle rails..]
But Corsa Next are very slow tires! Comparison should have been against gp5k. Peak torque tested corsa next 19 watts slower than gp5k.
Next time test tires without knowing which one you are riding 😉
lol why you use bars, when you don't start them at 0? The bars size is meant to be proportional to your value, so now it looks Will did cut circa 1/3th of his time when descending, while it's only 4.8% when you do the numbers. First rule of visualizing data: Always start bar charts at 0!
Seems like it should have been a blind test. Knowing what tire you were on skews the results.
Try wet braking performance
"Puncture resistance " is not worth considering, ANY tyre will be ripped to shreds within a year around where I live. Id rather ride something that feels and runs great than a hard slippery brick.
These comparisons all seem to be geared toward racing, but what about training for those not racing anytime soon? Most of us wouldn't want to ride the $20 tires during any crit, but it would be helpful to know if it's worth the extra $60 a tire for training, especially if there's a significant difference in puncture resistance and longevity.
After this test, I was riding back to the house on the $20 tires and almost crashed on a wet spot, not even pushing it and the tires slipped. Would recommend somewhere between for Training, if you're riding in wet conditions with any turns. These would be fine in only dry and very flat training conditions
It took me some time too to understand that this YT channel solely focuses on bunch racing, mostly crit racing, so for many people it's obvious that they will talk from a racing perspective. Luckily there are plenty of cycling youtube channels that lean heavily towards leisure riding.
@@williamrhardin Good to know! I only ride Gatorskins for training and then GP5000s for racing. Gatorskins are well worth the price since they can last about 1-2 seasons in any condition, while GP5000s are an overall great tire as long as you take care of them.
I refer you to my comment above. Been riding /racing longer than these two have been alive - paying my own way.
As soon as I was less poor and could afford okay tires, I found that the puncture resistance is worth the better tires.
But now I'm fine with $100 tires as long as I get enough thousands of miles.
This is perfect if you are a racer, everything counts and your data is rock solid.
Personally I’d rather save money and am 100% willing to sacrifice a few seconds for durability.
I feel opposite & I'm not a racer (any longer) - for me the quality of the ride is most important and why I run the Vittoria tires - they have so much of a better road comfort level
ride quality will feel a little different, but if that's not important to you, and you're not racing or cornering or in a hurry, than other options like the roadsport are just fine.
There’s still a $20 tire?!?