Continental Ultra 2000

Price Paid:  $25.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Any good road

Bike Setup:
2005 Specialized Roubaix Elite with Neuvation wheels, use a rear rack for commute.

Summary:
Bought these to have a cheap backup set before a century ride, I rode on Michelin LithIons with one set of wheels (flat touring) and Specialized Turbo Pros on another (big and cushy for bad roads and climbs). I have backed away from Contis because of problems I had read here about sidewall thread issues, but decided to try these since they were inexpensive and I had little choice at the time.

When the Specialized started to wear out, I mounted these.
The ride was good and everything was fine until I noticed a bulge near the bead one day, less than 100 miles on the tire. It was clearly a defect in the sidewall construction where the bead meets.
I got some grief from the LBS when I demanded a replacement, since they were used, but I expect more than 100 miles out of any tire, and they relented and gave me an exact duplicate.
I have been quite pleased so far, especially on wet roads, and they are comfortable without feeling terribly resistant. I ride them at 100lbs pressure.
The surfaces where I ride (Birmingham AL) "feature" a lot of busted glass and construction nails, so ultrlight trainers do not do the job for my commute. I have about 400 miles on these. Only one flat, and that was from something embedded in the joint tar on the surface, tire is still being used.

Strengths:
Nice ride while giving back some road feel. Good on wet so far.

Weaknesses:
Other than defect in sidewall in one of the three that I have used, none so far. This may be a quality control issue OR a design defect, not sure.
Somewhat heavy, wire bead not foldable, so not a good spare tire to carry along on the ride.

Similar Products Used:
Specialized (All Condition, Pro, Turbo Pro)- mixed results
Michelin LithIons - very good tire for the money

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Price Paid:  $14.00 at performance

Favorite Ride:
shoreline road

Bike Setup:
Lemond 830 steel,mavic rims, 105 components

Summary:
Nice riding , low rolling resistance. I had good luck with flats only 2 in 2000 miles. Side walls fraying but intact.

Strengths:
Long lasting thread, low rolling resistance

Weaknesses:
Fraying side walls

Similar Products Used:
conti 1000, vittoria sc

Price Paid:  $19.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
Coast Hwy

Bike Setup:
Trek Pilot 5.0
Dura Ace

Summary:
Similar reveiw as the following rider - initally a fast, soft ride, but the flats have come way too often. 3 flats in the last 5 rides. I will not buy these again and will be switching as soon as I can.

Strengths:
Good ride.

Weaknesses:
FLATS...lots.

Price Paid:  $18.00 at Performance

Bike Setup:
Giant TCR Alloy
Ultegra/105
Velocity Arrowhead rims

Summary:
After swithcing out the Specialized tires that came on my Bike I was initally impressed with the extra speed the tires provided. It was during my second ride on the tires that the flats started happening. I have had 4 flats in the last 4 rides. Twice I've had 2 flats on the same ride! It has always been the rear tire so I wonder if my weight, 185, has anything to do with the problem. Regardless, I will be switching the tires out this week for a better set.

Strengths:
Rolling resistance is low at high psi
Price - you get what you pay for

Weaknesses:
Flats
Price

Price Paid:  $29.00 at Texas Cylce Sport

Favorite Ride:
Chileno Valley

Bike Setup:
Lemond Buenos Aires, Mavic Cosmos wheels

Summary:
Unbelieveable mileage! I've ridden Conti. GP 3Ks for years and averaged 600 to 1K miles on my rear tires. This Ultra 2K has been under my butt now for a season and a half, over 4,000 miles!! And, it still looks fine. No freying, no sidewall cracks, just a little square. Either garage elves are putting on fresh tires for me or it's a miracle that belongs in the bible next to the oil and the lamp. I commute every day and ride hard at lunch at least 3x per week. Sonoma county roads are no picnic. Most road repair is done with oil and gravel and there's more glass than a recylce center. I run at 95 to 100 PSI only.
I've had a GP 3K on the front for over 5K miles and it's starting to frey a bit. I've seen the side wall issues on the 3ks others have talked about. I've had 3k sidewalls split and blow out for no reason with very low miles. But, I haven't seen this problem lately.

Strengths:
Mileage! How far can one tire go?

Weaknesses:
A little softer ride than the GP 3K

Similar Products Used:
None