An optimal blend of durability and resiliency. This sport/training tyre is the perfect choice for late Winter or early Spring sessions, or for just putting on the commuting stead and hammering out your base miles. With more rubber than the Fortezza and Volante series, this is THE value tyre.
The seamless, disgonally-wound, 2-ply casing offers and extremely lively and resilient ride.
Two rubber compounds: All black standard rubber hardness tread for maximum traction, while a transparent compound covers the casing for added protection against cuts and abrasions.
Proprietary Silica Energy compound for improved tread durability, adhesion and low rolling resistance.
Patented Puncture Resistance System for a demonstrated reduction in flats by up to 80%.
Strengths: No flats yet, good for multi-road surfaces. Not a racer or time trialer so can't be of help there.
Weaknesses: A bit heavy, but I'm not a slave to cutting every oz. I can as cost saving is an issue
Bottom Line:
Bought at a Bi annual LBS "garage sale" for the un-bike friendly paved roads in West Bexar County and Medina County. a bit Clumsier than the Bontrager tires I replaced as I became quite intimite with my tire repair kit. The Ricossos are much more puncture resistant and almost as free rolling as the Bontragers
Strengths: They roll OK and relatively inexpensive.
Weaknesses: Slow, heavy and not confidence inspiring.
Bottom Line:
I wasn't paying careful attention when I bought these and thought I was replacing my work out Vredestein Fortezzas. Big mistake. Where the Fortezzas were fast and had great cornering, the Ricorsos are heavier and slower. All around the ride is OK but on the sluggish side. I just threw them away with miles left on the tread.
Strengths: Cheap, puncture resistant, OK feel, pretty durable
Weaknesses: Very difficult to mount on any of my wheelsets except for my Velocity Deep Vs. Every other wheel requires use of a tire iron to get the last bit of bead seated. I've been changing tires for 40 years, and I'm a big strong guy--never had so much trouble mounting a tire. Good thing they fit that one wheelset...
Bottom Line:
They're cheap, they ride OK, but oy, the mounting!
Strengths: Puncture resistant to the highest degree. Great in wet conditions...about as sure handling as you can get unless you go to cyclocross tires. Inexpensive!
Weaknesses: Heavy, soft, inefficient, energy-wasters. That said, I use them on an old steel frame. They may be just the ticket to ease the harsh ride of a jarring carbon frame. In fact, I have a scandium ride that beats me to death after 2 hours. These may be just the ticket for that ride.
Bottom Line:
Thick, Heavy, Slow, Puncture Resistant. That said, they are cheap tires that are best suited for a beater/city/bad weather rides. I've had mine for years, but only have a few hundred miles on them as they are mounted on my special occassion 'sludge' wheels. I would never place these puppies on anything where performance is a priority of any sort. but on those days when I just have got to get a ride in when it's raining, or post snow rides in the winter, I reach for my Ricorso's with confidence. I like them for the way I use them. On the other hand, I have tried them on good wheels during the season on dry days over normal roads, and they felt absolutely terrible. They felt like they had adhesive on them and they were sticking to the pavement. I nought them to serve as a winter training tire, but even for that use they were less than optimal when it is dry and the slippery factor on the road is low. There are much better choices. However, they do excell in mucky conditions. I've also tried them on the rollers and trainer, but the groves that make them so sure handling in wet conditions did not translate well to indoor training.
Similar Products Used: Hutchison Fusion Long Distance (good, stiff sidewalls, pleasently hard, thick tread, low rolling resistance, ugly colors strip); Conti Gatorskin (good in wet conditions, puncture resistant, smooth rolling, excellent all season training tire, but there are better choices for in-season fast rides, ugly sidewalls; Conti GP 4000s ( In my opinion these are the ultimate in-season tire. They are relatively puncture resistant, have low rolling resistance, they're light, and handle wet conditions admirably.)
Bike Setup: Pinarello Stelvio (Deda Uno)
Casati Gold Line (SPX)
Eddy Merckx Premium (Scandium)
Pegoretti Marcelo (Colombus Spirit)
Olmo Gara Pista
Strengths: You put it on your rim and fill up the tube and hey, you have a tire on your bike.
Weaknesses: Firstly, this tire gobbled up microscopic pieces of mica like your fat little cousin inhaling the last chunk of stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner. This caused innumerable inconvenient flat tires. Secondly, after storing the bike away for winter, the rubber began deteriorating rapidly. Spaghetti-like strands of rotten rubber decorate the tire walls now and kind of look like a circular version of Nancy Sinatra's fringed boots.
Bottom Line:
If someone invented a tire that could suck $15 out of your wallet into oblivion and formed it from the intestinal buildup from a lifetime of eating red meat, they would certainly call it "Ricorso".
Similar Products Used: My Conti Ultra2000s are 4 years old now, have about 1500 miles on them and still outlasted these tires. The Ricorsos had maybe 200 miles tops before they became the finest landfill decoration you've ever seen.
