Tyres for winter? Gatorskins? Marathons?

I prefer Conti GP 4 seasons over Marathons. In my experience they seem to have much better wet weather grip, better puncture resistance and roll faster.

I use Michelin Endurance Pro 4s.

Tough & glued to the road but with good rolling resistance.

Rode 1000s of KM last winter both on shitty urban roads and shitty country lanes and suffered 1 puncture and that was from our friendly hawthorn hedge trimmers in the early Autumn.

Recommended by a friend, I use Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather 25mm on my best/summer bike. I've only done 600km, but love them. They roll and grip just great and the colour options add a bling appeal.

Having got on so well with these, I ordered the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme in 28mm for the wet/winter bike this evening.

http://road.cc/content/review/126182-vredestein-fortezza-senso-xtreme-tyres

Gatorskins are EVIL in the wet. These ^ are really very very good winter tyres but oddly take a while to wear in. Grip is excellent in all conditions, as is puncture protection. And they can be had for a bargain price (check Ribble)

Conti 4 Seasons for me, commuting every day in central london not a single conventional puncture for two years solid. However the sacrifice is the side walls are not the toughest but the flexibility and weight benefit from this and that is the trade off that must be made. So despite a sidewall tear last year required a tyre replacement i couldnt go back to heavier, styrdier sidewall tyre.

have used gatorskins for the past two winter seasons and had one puncture total,i am doing three rides a week aprox. 50/60 miles per ride, all on new forest roads with a lot of grit and flooding

hi, i`ve had durano plus on my winter wheels for 2 years now, zero punctures, roll well and grippy. only downside is the ride is not as good as my summer tyres but that`s to be expected.

Two punctures on the last ride with Gatorskins (one standard, one hardshell).
One tiny 3mm flint and one thorn.

That was on a heavy tandem though!

Gatorskins for me were just far, far too sketchy. Found some forums called them Skatorskins. Puncture resilience excellent, grip terrible. I'd look at anything else. I use Vittoria Pave which are very comfortable, and have supreme grip. But I have punctured on them, and they don't last over about 2k miles.

Good grip and long lasting wear are not compatible in my opinion.

I think continental grand Prix 4 season are grippier than gatorskin as they have the black chilli compound, although they are a little less bomb proof. I have the 4 season and they are great, but not cheap. I have recently had fitted bontrager H2 which is a heavier commuter tyre. Another cyclist says he had a pair that lasted 20000 miles and he loved them.

Going back to the original post, which often gets forgotten in threads like these.

You say you favour speed over punture protection.

In my mind that would be Raceguards. Other way round it would be the Plus versions.

if you go for armadillos, get the wire beaded variety and avoid the folding version. The folding version is even harder to install and feels incredibly slow for some reason.

marathon plus 25 mm, three years on the winter trainer on the road and used on the turbo too...no punctures and I haven't experienced any sketchiness in greasy conditions, they handle well and grip well in nearly all conditions, roll pretty fast too. but tyres are like underwear...one size does not suit all, so you should (and i'm sure you will ) make up your own mind!

I like duranos. Very rare that I get a puncture even riding over the glass which seems to be a permanent fixture outside a pub I ride past twice a day. Also good grip in the rain, never feel them losing traction unlike the Mavic Axioms that came with my Canyon which are great in the dry but absolutely lethal in the rain - I had the 10 inch long bruise on my thigh to prove it last year. Tbh I am more bothered about grip in the wet than punctures, one is an inconvenience, one could lead to serious injury.

I really like Schwalbe Maraton Supremes. They definitely roll better than Marathon Pluses and seem to be holding up fine on my commuter after two years in all weathers.

I've always been happy with Conti GP 4 Seasons

Four seasons 700x28. Grippy in the rain, roll fast, light weight. Easy to get off and on if you do get a flat (extremely rare)

I use 28mm Continental GP 4 Seasons. Tough enough for commuting through some glassy bits of Glasgow, light gravel riding and a lot of miles, without the slippery road scariness that my old Gatorskins had.

Have you seen the latest tubeless model range from schwalbe?

Schwalbe Durano S. 12 months commuting on mixed surfaces and no punctures so far, plus a lot nicer ride than the Marathons I had previously (and a huge weight saving!). Good grip on anything short of mud too.

No punctures for me on gaterskins.

Specialized Armadillos. Wee bit heavy but absolutely bomb proof, I managed to get over 3000 puncture free miles on one pair. In fact I only replaced them coz the tread had worn all the way down to the casing.

I've got 25 mm Gatorskins on my racer and had the unfortunate experience racing in 40F rainy weather a couple times. Even when water was running over the roadway I didn't feel a loss of traction. And no punctures so far.

Marathon Plus. If there was a nuclear war, they'd survive. Little bit 'slippy' in that deep winter greasy road period.

You can't go wrong with Gatorskins.