Continental Ultra Gatorskin Bicycle Tire (700x25, Folding, Black)

Best damn tire on the market, imho. 2200 miles so far on my current set, with plenty to go. Excellent high-speed cornering grip. Excellent resistance to debris. Great price.

Been using these in urban bike commuting for 5 some years now. Back then they were 37.50 per tire, now they are more. You don't see these on many hipster bikes because of the price, but these people trying to patch tubes to save money. Hundred dollars on two bike tires might seem steep for a ride that you gonna ulock to a pole downtown, but just trust me, this worth it even if you on a grunge budget and low on beer. Minneapolis hasn't been able to puncture these. Nothing the crackhead can deposit in the street can do it. Not even when I was riding around in 2020 destruction fest. Truly riot proof. the 25's seem pretty wide for a 25, I like them. They wear down on top in a nice flat even strip. I think they actually grip better with a lot of wear. Not that bad in snow and ice, like you can do a plowed trail in these and have it only be a bit sketchy. A must buy.

For the past 10+ years I've ridden nothing but Gatorskins. These are hard shell tires that are extremely impervious to puncture flats. In the 10+ years I've ridden an average of over 2,000 miles a year, and have had exactly one flat tire due to a puncture. I would not use anything else.

BOOM!! Sssssss.... I looked around me to see if anyone else had heard the noise, and that's when I saw another college student shaking his head at me, sadly. He said, "Dude, that's the worst." I looked down and saw that my old, swollen and lopsided bike tire had finally given up the ghost on my way home from school that chilly morning. I then had the privilege of walking the remaining mile and half in my clips, pushing my bike alongside me. I swore I would not stop researching until I found and purchased a tire that would never explode on me and leave me stranded.Much researching later, I found these bad boys, ordered them, and installed them in my living room. When I first had them on, I kind of intentionally rode through construction zones over dirt, pebbles, gravel, etc. for several weeks in a row. Guess what? They're still as good as new, and no explosions or leaks or holes. Looks like they're doing their job! When I first got them, back in the Fall of 2016, there was a little "spine" of very thin rubber in the center of the tires. (Maybe that's where they inject the rubber onto the tire skeleton during manufacturing... who knows). That flimsy rubber spine was still on the tires after a month of daily riding! You'd expect them to rip off after a ride or two, but they're still there. So, I'm thoroughly impressed, and convinced that I won't need new tires for a long time, especially once I stop riding over gravel every day.Just a note to you novices out there (I'm a novice, which is why I'm making this note):Make sure to re-align your brake pads over the correct braking surface on both rims when you install your new tires. I think my old tire exploded because my rear brake pushed only partially on the braking surface, and a little of it pushed against the sidewall of the tire itself, eventually wearing down the tire and causing my mishap.I would recommend these to a friend any day. The yellow-ish brown sidewalls aren't super pretty, but that's okay. In this case, I'm very willing to sacrifice cool looks for a very functional, seemingly flat-proof tire. Thanks for reading!

I cycle 10,000 miles a year and I don't like fixing flats, especially if I'm near the end of a 200 mile ride. I have been riding Armadillo tires a lot recently but the Specialized web site started giving me grief so I thought I'd try these Gatorskins which have a similar flat-proof reputation. I have several hundred miles on them now and I've had no flats yet.They went on easily (thumbs only) but I have no idea how hard they are to remove because they haven't flatted yet. They're fairly slick but I've had no issues with grip even in the rain. I think I'm going to like these.Update: It's nearly the end of April and I've ridden 2000 miles on them - no flats so far!3000 miles and my first flat but it was a roofing nail which would have flatted my truck tire so it doesn't count. Keep rolling!Final Update: 4500 miles - one flat from a roofing nail - starting to wear out on the rear wheel. I'd say I got my money's worth! Time to buy another one.Final Final Update: I hadn't planned on adding any more to this review but something happened last week that I want to tell you about. We were driving home along the I70 in Colorado when the Thule mount holding $12,000 worth of bicycles failed and my wife's $2,000 carbon bike got towed down the freeway at 80mph. The bike sustained considerable damage but the interesting thing is that the Gatorskin tires took a lot of the damage. Even though they were badly scraped and frayed, they still held air. If the pedals and rear derailleur hadn't been destroyed she could have ridden the bike. I think that's pretty amazing. And yes, I did replace them anyway :-)

If there's a better tire out there for balancing ride quality, puncture resistance and durability, I don't know what it would be.As soon as you put these babies on, particularly when replacing cheapo stock tires most bikes are sold with, you feel a difference that just makes you say "Damn!" like you've morphed into Samuel L. Jackson.Counting all the bikes I've used Gatorskins on, I've tallied miles in the thousands with them. My one and only flat involved a 2' screw that I'm pretty sure would have put the kibosh on any tire -- so no love of my 'skins were lost over that.12/23/15 UPDATE: Got taken out by a staple. I've been reading and viewing vids on Schwalbe Marathons -- I'm betting it would have easily survived the staple. This being my FOURTH flat on a 'skin, I'm bumping them down from five to four stars.