I was excited to receive these tires and set up my road bike as tubeless. I've been using tubeless setups for many years for MTB and the past 5 years for gravel/CX, so I was excited to finally say goodbye to tubes!
I was able to mount and inflate the tires easily, although full disclosure I always use an air compressor. And I really like ride quality of these tires. They have good grip and feel smooth on the road.
One of the key benefits of tubeless tires, of course, is the ability to self-seal when there are small punctures. This is where the tires failed to impress me. I was 140 miles into a 162 mile ride (my longest ever) when my rear tire was punctured. I stopped and inserted a Stan's No Tubes Dart plug. Although the hole was small, I was unable to get the plug to stop the leak. A friend of mine suggested that it may have been due to the high cotton content of the tire. And it could have been the Dart plug. In any event, I had to revert to installing a tube to finish the final 22 miles of the ride. This was a messy and bothersome process to go through when I was tired and just wanted to finish the ride!
At my friend's suggestion, I have purchased the N.EXT version of the Corsa G2.0 tire for next summer's riding season as it has a nylon casing. I'm hoping that it will provide the great ride quality of my current tires in a more durable casing.
Really like the tire, so much I wanted to get a pair for my other bike. My other bike is older, I ordered 2 25mm tires, when I mounted them, they were too "big" measured closer to 28. Could not use them on my bike,
One the bike I do have them on, I love them!
I've ridden Conti Grand Prix tires for years for racing and training but have always appreciated the suppleness of Vittoria tires despite the flats I used to experience. The Corsa Controls grip very well when cornering and the road feel is supple. I've not flatted (yet?) in 500 miles so can't attest to durability but this has now become my favorite tire!
After the immense difficulty getting these tires to seat, I was about ready to chuck them out. And my first ride, puncture! It sealed up fine, but I thought these were supposed to be fairly tough tires.
Im glad I kept them on! They ride real soft, corner in the wet quite well, and are fairly fast and light for durable tires. The one issue is holding air, but, no problems while riding.
Was really excited to try these, after a few fails from Hutchinson fusion 5's, I wanted to try another 'reputable company. Out of the box, the tires seemed too easy to mount. Way too easy. So easy that a 50 gallon compressor couldn't mount these easily. Muc-off sealant was used, and within half a day, psi dropped from 85-40. Strange micro-bubbles on the sidewall appeared and dried up. Almost as if the sidewall rubber still needed to cure. Pumped up again, added more sealant, and I was good to go for 2 weeks. Woke up to ride one day, and one tire completely flat. The other at 40 psi. Added sealant again, was good for another 2 weeks, then the same problem. Took the tires off, and the sealant was pretty much gone. These tires just eat up sealant, they are so porous, its almost as if you're leaving sealant out to dry in open air. Never the less, i added more sealant, and a few days later, i got a puncture, one that any other tubeless tire would handle no problem. It never sealed. I finally decided that was it for these tires, and tubeless in general (after 4 years of success with tubeless) But these tires finally made me throw in the towel.
However, I will say, these feel great, basically like riding tubulars. Id use these if you have a deep pocket and only for race days on a very well matieneced road.
After a bad fall on the wet-weather risky Gatorskins, I grabbed for these. Some observations there is some drag but I run low pressure so it may have a lot more to do with that. I rode these in a fast A-group ride where there wasnt a lot of time to think. We were going hot into wet turns and these tires hung in there. I was impressed. After riding them about 5k, the tread was worn and mine started to show severe wear and tearing from abuse over crappy spring asphalt. Roll in damp weather with confidence.
