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review

Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp 700x23c tyre

8
£40.00

VERDICT:

8
10
Very good all weather sportive tyre that's fast rolling and sure footed
Weight: 
227g
Contact: 
www.saddleback.co.uk

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The Fortezza Tricomp is one of Vredestein's biggest-selling tyres, and for good reason: it's a really good all-rounder that has an excellent ride feel and seems to shrug off punctures pretty well too.

I fitted these tyres ahead of the Fred Whitton challenge and they replaced a hardy-but-stiff Kenda C2C tyre at the front and a wider Continental GP at the rear. Rolling out from the start and over a cattle grid I was immediately impressed by the muted thrum from the wheels as they rolled over the bars: there's plenty of give in the 120TPI casing and the feel on the road is excellent.

It's not the greatest idea to change your tyres for something new and untried before a big ride, especially when the conditions could best be described as challenging, but the Tricomps soon put me at ease. They're fast rolling and the level of grip in the corners is excellent, there were no hairy moments on the first outing. Slogging up lakeland passes there was plenty of bite from the rear tyre, and coming down the other side the Tricomps were impeccably behaved too.

Since that first outing I've put a few big rides into the tyres, and each time I've been impressed with their performance. No punctures yet, either, whether that's the luck of the draw or the Sportex protection layer doing its business, it's difficult to say. If there's a downside it's that at 227g they're not the lightest you can buy, but they're a good choice for long miles in all weathers. Vredestein bill these as an all weather competition tyres - we'd say they might be a bit heavy for full on racing, but certainly they cut the mustard when it comes to sportive riding, and let's face many of those are not blessed with the best weather.

If you're some kind of fancy-dan bike tart they're available in eight colours, from stealthy black to, erm, full orange. I didn't test the black ones against the black/white set I was using, but the white rubber certainly didn't seem to want for grip and black will only be the same or better.

Verdict

Very good sportive and training tyre that's fast rolling and sure footed

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp 700x23c tyre

Size tested: White 23mm

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Vredesteing describe the Fortezza Tricomp as having the following qualiities

# Competition tyre for all weather conditions.

#Very low rolling resistance.

# Maximum grip in corners.

# Outstanding ride quality on wet roads.

# Curve Control System.

# Sportex Protection Layer.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Very well

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Grip, comfort

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Not much, really. Not the lightest but hardly scale-busters either

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 38  Height: 190cm  Weight: 98kg

I usually ride: whatever I'm testing...  My best bike is: Genesis Equilibrium with SRAM Apex

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

 

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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