Winter commuting 32 mm tires

Endurance bike, DR Swiss E1800 wheels, winter city commuting, 20 km daily both ways.

Vitoria Corsa Control G2.0 or Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons?

Both in 32-622, tubed setup.

Opinions.?

I have the Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons on my ā€œwinter bikeā€ (I donā€™t ride when its under 4 degrees Celsius), and they are crazy good when it comes to grip, confidence on the bike, on wet surfaces etc.

You can feel how sticky the rubber is, love it when I just want to focus on riding and its cold and miserable outside :wink:

What types of temperatures and conditions are you gonna ride in?

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I ran the Corsa Controls last winter, great grip and road feel, but I did get a couple of punctures, and has to chuck them eventually because of a few cuts. The tread does seem to trade susceptibility to cuts from debris for grip. Depends what your roads are like I guess.

Heard the same from multiple people riding the Corsas here in Sweden, the second its a bit wet outside, people started to get puncturesā€¦

Wet didnā€™t seem the issue in of itself, more the stones/gravel that gets washed onto the road. Itā€™s a shame because the performance is superb apart from that :cry:

Yeah, debris is the issue, wet probably makes it worse since it washes out to the roads.

But the treads seems to be the issue in general. Stuff gets stuck there :frowning:

I have Corsa Controls in 28 mm and have never had a puncture with them. They have great grip. Although if speed is less of an issue, Iā€™d seriously consider Schwalbeā€™s G-One Speed.

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Thanks for the input, guys.

I currently ride GP 4 Seasons in 28mm on my endurance-turned-commuter. Coming from GP5000 on summer/nice bike, I really like how fast, supple and comfortable 4 Seasons are, but as wet/winter days are coming I started pondering something bit wider. itā€™s mainly urban ride, but wider tires give me more confidence. Thinking of them in 700x32. People are reporting Corsa Controls as faster, but more fragile. Anyone tried Panaracer Gravelkings Slick? Any other competitors?

FWIW, I tried Donnely Strada USH 700x32 I had laying around, but downgrade in speed was too noticeable. Comfort was also out of the window, despite lower pressure and higher width.

Iā€™m a big fan of Challenge Tyres.

Ran the 27c Paris Roubaix on a winter bike and they seemed tough but still supple.

Using the 36c Gravel Grinders currently but will swap those out for some Strada Biancas 30 or 36.

If I win the lottery, Iā€™ll get some Rene Herse

I know this is a boring and slow option, but Iā€™m a big man of Schwalbe Marathons. For my life, there are few things worse than flats while commuting in miserable weather. I had a few flats last winter were I was on the side of the road in the rain with temps close to freezing, once on the way to a meeting and once on the way home after a long day. Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™m sacrificing grip but it doesnā€™t feel like it, and Iā€™ll gladly give up some speed and suppleness to avoid the frigid punctures when I just want to get home.

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Iā€™d vote Conti 4 Seasons, had a lot of luck with them. (32mm on my bad-weather-bike). Have the Schwalbe Marathons on my Townbike, they are of course rocksolid but also heavy as bricks. I would not consider them for anything remotely sporty.
Cheers!

Recently switched to Specialized Roubaix 33/31, love them! Had Hutchinsons Fusion5 before in 28, but found they punctured pretty quickly on my commute. The bigger spesh ines also feel much softer and nicer.

+1 to this - I have these tires on my commuter with a tubeless set up. Feel great, ride fast and ver comfortable.

Yep, those are the wintertime compromises Iā€™d make, for commute, training or recreational riding.

I donā€™t understand why you think you need to choose between the two? Set your wheels up tubeless, keep the sealant fresh (every 3-4 months) and you can have a fast ride, a supple ride and not have to worry about a flat tire.

I took a direct hit on a ride 2 weeks ago from this nail (picture below) - over 1 inch/3cm long. It was squarely embedded in my tireā€¦and I wasnā€™t riding my commuter. I was on my road bike with a 28mm Vittoria Corsa G2.0 road tire - these are tires I race on.

I simply rolled the punctured area to the bottom, pulled the nail out, watched it spit a small bit sealant on the sidewalk and it sealed right up. I probably lost less than 5 psi. Rode 10 miles home with no problem at all.

Tubeless is a world without compromisešŸ¤˜

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I have to choose between the two because money is a factor. Not the sexiest reason, but here we are nonetheless. In a perfect world Iā€™d do the same as you suggest.

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30mm G-One Speeds worked well for me last wet winter/spring; came out to about 33mm on a 25C rim.

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So in the end, while I did two weeks of commuting on cold and slimy/foggy streets on my GP 4 Season 28ā€™s, and itā€™s definitely doable but not confidence inspiring, Iā€™ve opted for same 4 Seasons but in 32.

It took some getting used to seeing that girth on front wheel while riding, and lowering pressure down to 55/50 psi to achieve same level of magic carpet ride, but itā€™s definitely better option. Speed losses are pretty much unnoticeable, but grip and handling is supreme.

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