Hutchinson Sector 28s sketchy in the wet?

@Tony Bang:  I ended up binning my Sector 28's.  Simply too risky in the wet, I had one spill and a number of (very) close calls on them and the required extra caution ended up disproportionally affecting my confidence, speed and above all, enjoyment.   When the leaves started falling and covering the cycling paths that I take on my commute, making them ultra slippery, I decided it was time to throw the towel.  I think the Sectors are designed to be ultra-durable with a very stiff compound.  The tradeoff seems to be low grip in the wet.  Can't give you a solid recommendation for a winter alternative though, am currently riding René Herse Barlow Pass extralights.  They're a 38 mm tyre that I run tubeless at 2.3-2.4 bar.  Good grip in the wet as long as you stick to tarmac (I also ride gravel) and a very fast tyre but they come with other tradeoffs. 

I ran a pair of Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season TLR in 28mm last winter. It's a lovely tyre, easy to fit, gave me no hassle, rolls nicely, no lack of grip, not that expensive. Not sure I've had a single noticeable puncture with them. Downside for you, not available in 32mm. That's a shame as I think a 32mm version of those would be a very good tyre.

Another tyre I have loved is the Schwalbe G-One Speed. Among other sizes it's available in 30mm. For a gravel-inclined tyre it's remarkably quick. Good grip, works well on mixed surfaces, but does show wear quite quickly.

9 months ago, last winter I went tubeless (after a bad run of punctures) - my bike shop selected Hutchinson Sector 32s, which they fitted for me.  2 months later I was riding at speed in a small group downhill - it was a cold day, road surface wet - the guy immediately in front of me suddenly braked - I braked too to avoid hitting him - lost the backend of the bike - fractured my collar bone (needed surgery to bring the bone ends together!).

Back on the bike 3 months ago but riding a bit more cautiously when wet!  I am taking my bike away somewhere warmer for 4 weeks in the winter.  I planned to buy a spare tyre to take away with me when I came across this thread - there are other similar wet weather concerns on Sectors on individual tyre reviews (Wiggle etc).  After reading some of the comments in this thread I have reduced my pressures from 60 to 30. On the lower pressures, there seems to be no loss of speed & the ride is better.

My dilemma is do I stay with these tyres at lower pressures or do I find a new brand to minimise risk of another tumble!?  If I were to bin these what would I pick for a 32 tubeless - Continental GP 5000 or Goodyear Eagle All Season or maybe something else?  Advice would be welcomed.

I've found out the hard way that Sector 28's offer next to no grip in the wet when new.  They require about 80-100 miles for the smooth surface coating/upper layer to wear off.   Be extremly cautious when riding in wet weather during that period. 

After that they're fine, very grippy in the dry, no worse than others I've tried (Conti, Schwalbe) in the wet.  They're also VERY hard-wearing, which is a consideration when commuting and doing lots of miles/year.  I take them off and switch to 40 mil tyres run at low pressure once temperatures start to hit freezing (November-end of March) because -at least subjectively- I feel the low temparatures make the compound too hard and affect grip.

Hutchinson's pressure guides are a mess, the website says one thing, the sidewalls on my set say to inflate to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 7 bars (which is way too high for my weight).  I usually ride them at about 5 bar.

I did a little bit of wheel swapping to test today (not as wet as I wanted but useful anyway). Still, there were opportunities to hammer the brakes hard on wet sections under trees etc.

Bontrager R3 Hard Case Lites 32mm @ 60psi (tubes)

Hutchinson Sector 32mm @50psi (tubeless)

I have to say the Sectors felt much better behaved @50psi than they did at 60-70psi, and surprisingly comfy and fast. I tried dropping it to 40psi whilst on the way back but tbh this made them feel worse. So I think 50psi feels about right for me (70kg)

Either way the R3's were providing better grip on the wet sections, even @60psi.

I've sent Hutchinson a question asking for guidance on pressure for the Sectors but no response yet.

I've got 28mm hutchinson sectors on my bike at the moment and I've found their wet weather grip to be good. I'm running then at around 70psi (I'm just over 80 kilos). Recently did Land's End to John O'Groats on them and they were great. They do take a good bit of wearing in when brand new, but that's generally my experience for all road tubeless tyres. 

The hutchinson fusion 5 11storm tyres are faster and grippier than the sectors (and the pro ones), but more lightweight / not as resilient. 

Tubeless can take low pressures easily. As I have found on a few occasions when I've discovered there has been an air leak and pressure is much lower than I thought.

Fwiw, on my road bike with 25mm IRC tubeless I'm running about 70psi, and the bike with the G-One Speeds which are nominally 30mm, 50 - 60 psi. 

Good tip about the Spesh Roubaix 2bliss (wtf? :lol:), hadn't noticed those are available as an option. But point also taken about pressure. I'm doing a Kent ride on Saturday so will try dropping the rear 10psi and see if that makes a difference.

Just to show how confusing it is - as well as the very low pressures recommended on the packaging, the actual sidewall of the tyre says:

Min 58psi

Rec 70psi

Max 87psi

Make your mind up Hutchinson...

Ran Sector 28s for two years. Most people run tubeless at too high pressure and you get poor grip.

Also, they're slippery until used for a few hours, but at appropriate pressure grip is decent even in shit conditions.

Been running Sector 28s a while now. 70kg and about 60psi.

Never had an issue and better in every way the 4season tyres i had previously that said 28mm but were more like 26mm. Maybe the contis are made by VW.

Another option - Specialized Roubaix tubeless in 28mm or 32mm casing.

OK thanks Legion, that's a bit annoying as I was hoping they might be an unsung golden bullet option...

I wish Contintental would step up to the mark with tubeless - I find the 4 Seasons decent enough and would definitely take a tubeless set in 28 if they existed!

I'm a fan of the original Schwalbe One (non Pro). It was a heavier tyre but it rolled well and was robust. Nowadays I have Pro One 25 on the back of my TT bike, as it is fast, but I'm not convinced it's an everyday tyre.

My this year's favourite is Schwalbe G-One Speed (previously S-One) in 30mm. On a 26mm rim it inflates out to only 29mm. I've found it very fast and quite robust, I've done some mixed terrain rides on it successfully. It shows wear quickly and it's not invulnerable but it's only stopped me at the roadside once when I clattered into a pothole and put a cut in the sidewall. Then again, it was easy to swap in a tube to get home as the bead is not horrifically tight.

Tubeless Schwalbe Pro Ones here. 25mm on summer and 28mm on winter spec bike, good grip in all weather. 73kg's running 28mm at 70/75psi.  (Front/Rear)

I think the Pro One compound might be different to the One ? Either way, they are expensive tryes and are very soft and cut up easily. I have no problems with punctures (tubeless sorts all that out) but they do wear out pretty quick. 

This is a timely thread - I have only just got round to trying road tubeless, with a Sector 28 for the back wheel only (tubed Conti 4 Seasons remaining on the front).

Got it seated and set-up no problem on Saturday, went out once on Sunday morning and once this morning, both wet / damp days. The Sector is atrocious - tubeless aspect couldn't be better and no complaints there, but it has no grip. On Sunday, nearly dropped it turning right from one road to another and then again turning right round a roundabout; this morning, massive wheelspin trying to pull across a main road, tons of wheel spin going up a moderate hill and a couple of massive skids under braking as well. I'm only glad I had the grip for steering and braking up front, and that I didn't have the Sector on both wheels!

Very disappointing stuff, not many tubeless 28mm tyres around that I can see. I'm looking at getting a pair of WTB Exposure 30s as a replacement for front and back already, have very little confidence in the Sector!

Haven't got any experience of these tyres but I always think there's a theme to threads re skittish tyres in the wet; high puncture resistance. Maybe it's just one of those things that 'comes with the territory'.

Stratman, I've had the same experience.

My Hunt wheels (from previous bike) came shod with Pro Ones (tubeless), amazingly fast tyres with no particular problems in the wet that I noticed but terrible durability. Puncture after puncture that wouldn't seal. I tolerated this a few times and then binned them (because they were unusable with so much damage anyway) to replace with some Sector 32's (again running tubeless).

The sectors have seemed really good right up until early this week when they got their first taste of damp/greasy roads. Horrible sensations, I could just feel them sliding and moving about...and I rode motorbikes for 20 years straight so I'm happy with all sorts of bad behaviour (KTM anyone?)

I've taken those Hunt wheels straight off and put back the original wheels shod with Bontrager R3 hard case lites (tubed). So far they seem better but its dried up a fair bit so time will tell. On my gravelly bike the G-one allrounds (35mm) were completely bombproof in the wet, couldnt even tell. Pity they don't really fit my domane or I'd consider using them.

I'd like a good 32mm tubeless option for the wet...

Used to ride on Contis, switched to Hutchinson Sector 28s for my commute and longer rides, running them tubeless. Great tires, have not had a real flat since I put them on - occasionally noticed that there was a bit of white fluid when I got home, pumped the tyre back up and was ready for the next day. On bigger gaps I put a patch on the inside once at home.

Friend of mine still runs Contis, whenevery we go out for a longer ride I can pretty much guarantee that he will flat at least once...

I am running the Sectors with 60-80psi. Grip is better then I had on the Contis previously (which were 23s on ca. 100psi). Both have issues in the rain. Given that my commute is on busy roads, I tend to reduce speed in the rain (or in other impaired driving conditions) anyway.

I had some trouble on Sector 32s recently on a rainy trip to the Lake District. Slipped once going uphill when I got out of the saddle so I did the rest of the climbs seated. Slipped a couple of times going downhill very slowly and ended up walking one steep section after losing my nerve. I was riding next to someone with GP4000s 28s and they had no issues, so I can say they are almost certainly grippier in the wet than Sectors. I'm 82kg and ride 50-60psi. My friend's GP4000s were around 85psi I believe for a similar weight rider.

Very happy with them otherwise

Haven't tried the Sectors, but I had a very similar issue with Schwalbe Ones in the wet (reducing the tyre pressure below 70psi helped a bit).

I ended up getting some IRC Formula Pros from Cycleclinic (https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/products/2017-irc-formula-pro-fusion-x-guar...) which were very confidence inspiring and seemed to be hard wearing as well.

I've since started using Maxxis Padrones (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/maxxis-padrone-tubeless-ready-folding-tyre/) which feel a lot more supple than the IRCs and haven't given me any trouble with lack of grip in the wet.