Tough, handle well, long life

Slower compared with a faster tires, a bit heavy and plasticky.

This is a great tire if a GP4000 S2 gets too easily damaged on the the rear. Where I live the roads can be very smooth or be covered in metal shards, glass or even have massive pot-holes. Unfortunately this means the GP4000 S2 can't feasibly cut it on the rear or my enduro rides.

I've had very few punctures with it and contrary to the other reviews it seems quite quick certainly if running a GP4000 S2 on the front. It's at least as quick as a Schwalbe Durano Plus, which is a similar tire.

I highly recommend it IF you need it.

Similar Products Used:

Schwalbe Durano Plus, Conti Gatorskin, Specialized Espoir, and every MTB under the sun.

Practically indestructable, decent ride for such a tough tire, pretty good grip.

none

I have been running these for a several years now, absolutely love them! I commute in Metro Detroit area and the roads here a totally bombed out at best. I like to cruise the ghetto areas and getting a flat there could be much more then an inconvenience in a hurry. I have not had a flat in a year with these. Great tires

Similar Products Used:

Panaracer tourguard

They last forever.
Nil punctures to date.

Terrible ride.
Wet weather grip.
Heavy (but most tyres like this are)

Awsome if you want a long lasting tire. Terrible if you like riding. I've got these on my commuter and i iwesh they would wear out so I can replace them. I guess they do their role well if puncture resistance and tire wear is your highest priority. That said they are really harsh riding and wet weather grip (which tends to occur if you commute a fair bit) is very sketchy. When it rains I just back right off as they've let go a few times on me, with no warning.
The harshness. Well, I have these on steel frameset, an open prior wheelset, 28mm width and run about 95psi and they ride harsher than my 23mm tires on my CAAD10 aluminium bike. The sidewalls are the key as to prevent pinch flats they are really stiff and so ride that way.
So, in short. I won't buy these again as I value a nice ride and grip a bit higher. Will aim for a tire with a bit more give, knowing I may occasionally have a flat or wear them out.

Similar Products Used:

Contact Sports
Ultremo's

Nearly indestructable

Expensive

For commuting, it is hard to beat these tires. They are pricey but I guess you get what you pay for. Before I installed these, I destroyed 2 sets of cheap Bontragers in 2 months. These have been on for the same amount of time and show practically no wear!

strong
very strong

pricey. (but worth it)

I love love love these tires. oh yeah did I mention I love these tires. I have yet to get a flat on them in over 1500 miles of hammering on these bad boys. I am sold bottom line. the only thing I wish is that they had a variety of colors.

So far, no punctures in 3,000+ miles. Good grip for hard cornering (after the new tire shine is gone). Long wearing.

If your rear wheel slips out of the dropout under power, i.e.: QR wasn't tight enough after remounting wheel ... the sidewall will shred considerably, and perhaps be unusable afterward. Similar results can come from gutters and curbs if you get forced off of the road at high speed. Both of these are real life situations that have caused extra wear on my tires, but not "killed" them.

I still carry a pump and 2 patch kits with me on every ride because of my rotten luck with flats prior to buying Gatorskins. My average ride is 24 miles over asphalt with the occasional pothole, patch of gravel, glass or a 50yd golf course crossing to hit the cart path. Aside from the usual daily ride, I try to do a century every 6-8 weeks. These tires have never let me down, but I made a pact with myself to never be caught with an unusable inner tube again. The real life problems that I have read about from Gatorskins seemed to be from overinflation. There is a unique texture in the sidewall which will essentially come undone if the tire is overinflated. I always recommend these to people who are sick of flats, and give them the caveat of NEVER OVER-INFLATE.

No flats.

A bit slow and weak sidewalls?!?

Don't remember what tires came on my Scott CR-1 Team in 2011, but they flatted fast. So I switched to these in 25mm. No flats. But, just before a fast community ride, right at the start line, 5 min before the whistle, I noticed a bulge in the sidewall. Tire finished the race, and dealer swapped it out for a new one. I would buy again, but might look at something lighter and faster with a sealant instead. Kinda rough to mount the steel-beaded variety...not a problem unique to Gatorskins, however.

Resistant flats, cuts, grips well (wet & dry) & rolls well.

Hard to put on (but isn't every tyre these days), pricey (depending on where bought) but the biggest problem for me was a BULGE that developed. I decided to ride on it and it got much worse. Thankfully I have tire liners and could get to a stopping point.

Obviously very good tires only let down in my case by a random bulge which meant its premature end.

Grippy
low rolling resistance
durable

overly difficult to put on and take off
a bit pricy

I have put about 4000 K on these tires over the past 6 month season, mostly on horrible Michigan roads. They are extremely durable and seem to withstand the occasional patches of broken glass, rough roads, and long periods of abuse. I have gotten two flats on my rear tire on the same ride from going through one patch of glass (I think another piece was still inside my tire when I pulled the chunk out). They also have much better cornering grip as well as much lower rolling resistance than what I got as stock bontrager tires.