Schwalbe Ultremo Clincher Tires - Clincher Reviews

Price Paid:  $37.00 at Bonktown

Bike Setup:
2009 Kestrel RT800, Dura-Ace, Reynold MV32C UL.

Summary:
Fun tire to ride. I ride my road bike on the different bike paths in Denver, CO; these usually follow creeks or rivers, so they are very twisty, with alot of little hills (some big ones too). The R1's handle great and provide really good feedback. They do wear quickly, but I understood that when I bought them. After about 600 miles though I started to see a delamination from the sidewall near the tread. It looks like the sidewall is just starting to peel away slightly. I also noticed a considerable amount (more than 8) of small 1-2mm nicks/cuts in the treads (more on the rear). The rubber tread stretched open revealing the main casing underneath. Despite this I never had any flats or problems with these tires, and I was very hard on them-and always ran them @ 120psi front, 140psi rear. I did swap the rear back to a conti 4000s because of the nicks however; they became significant enough to concern me about blowouts on high speed road descents (deer creek canyon).

Strengths:
very light, grippy, and the colors are cool too. Despite all the cuts in my tire tread, I never had a single flat. Given the size of some of those cuts, this is fairly impressive.

Weaknesses:
They wear fast, but you should expect this from a lightweight/performance tire, so I'm not sure it this really constitute a weakness.

Similar Products Used:
Conti 4000, 4000s, light weight Vittoria's.

Price Paid:  $90.00 at online

Favorite Ride:
Birregurra hill and dale country, Victoria - Australia

Bike Setup:
2010 Giant TCR Adv. 1 rolling on TWE 50mm carbon clinchers

Summary:
Over 1000km of training riding completed on rough rural roads with the R.1 spec Ultremo 23c clinchers and I could not be happier. This tyre offers great feedback, truly excellent dry and wet weather grip, positive cornering feel and a neutral controlled feeling under heavy braking. Top marks for feel and performance. Only one very minor cut/nick and zero flats/blowouts

After nearly 1,200km on rough roads the tyres are clearly wearing and I expect 3,000 km to run close to thier use by date on the rougher roads I ride on - I suspect slightly better wear might be had on consistant smooth pavement running.

If you keep in mind these are a competition grade tyre and will exhibit accellerated wear compared to other harder compound tyres I recommend the Ultremo R.1 as a performance based training tyre.

Strengths:
Truly excellent performance, effortless rolling and light weight.

Weaknesses:
At pricey end of the market

Will wear more quickly compared to a lot of other high end performance tyres

Similar Products Used:
Vittoria Open Corsa Evo KX(not the CX) 4 out of 5

Michelin Pro 3 Race Service Course 3.5 out of 5

Price Paid:  $75.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Mill Creek Canyon

Bike Setup:
Basso/Campy

Summary:
do you want a race day tire to rely on, this would be a great choice. looking for a training tire or ride some rough? maybe look elsewhere. Like most of the reviews, I really enjoyed these tires (for about a month). They were great in every category (cornering, grip, weight, etc.). My only problem with them is durability. I was riding these on nice roads, with the occasional messy patch. Sunday, I was finishing up a ride and had a blow out... right through the tire. I am pretty sure this is due to the previous days ride where I had to come to a quick stop on a descent and locked up my rear wheel. Pretty sure that spot was worn down enough to cause the blow out. Save these for the race day, if your riding in the real world, these may be too expensive for you to replace if you ride real roads.

Strengths:
Excellent performance and feel. Excellent choice for race day.

Weaknesses:
durability. If durability is a sticking point with you, you should look elsewhere.

Similar Products Used:
Vittoria Open Corsa (clinchers) and Conti's

Price Paid:  $99.00 at Schwelbe replacement

Favorite Ride:
anywhere

Bike Setup:
'03 trek 5200 all dura-ace. Spinergy FCC wht, spoke wheels, Bontrager xxx bars and stem, speedplay peddles. Easton carbon post.koobi seat.

Summary:
this review is for the New Ultremo R-1. Awesome tire, plyable rubber compound. I can truly tell a difference already from the old defective tire.

Strengths:
Low rolling resistance. High tire pressure.

Weaknesses:
none ,,, YET

Similar Products Used:
ultremo R

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
Schwinn Stingray with a banana seat. Just kidding. Roadbike, Bought the Ultremo's to get it below 15 lbs with pedals and cages.

Summary:
I bought and rode the Utremo R's last summer. They were very, very light, one tire was 10 gms lighter than advertised. I had no problem with flatting during the short time I road them. I did have a problem with a slice on the side of the tread (or maybe reading others reviews it was a manufacturing defect. I discovered the tube bulging out of the side of the tread after a twisty descent. Scary!
The sidewalls being so thin gave the rear wheel a very comfortable ride. Actually the best riding rear tire I have ever ridden. The down side is it wore down very quickly.
The front tire had very little wear by the time the rear was shot. However, as a front tire, the Schwalbe gave very poor directional stability. I never felt confident descending on the front tire. I never felt confident that it was going to hold the road. It felt like it was folding over.

Strengths:
Verrry Verrry light. Very comfortable used as a rear tire.

Weaknesses:
Possibly flawed construction??? The ultra thin sidewalls flexed too much for use as a front tire for me. Used on the rear wheel, the tire wore faster than any tire I had ever used.

Similar Products Used:
Conti GP Force, GP 4000, Huchinson carbon comp, Rubino Pros, Pro Race, Pro Race 2, and on and on.