Continental Grand Prix 4000 Black Chili Compound Road Race Tyre

Product Information

What sets the GP's apart from other race tyres, which also offer impeccable grip, is the incorporation of the Vectran Breaker. I'll be comparing a 23C, 25C, and 28C Grand Prix 4000S II to see how weight, size, and rolling resistance compares across different sized road bike NOTE: Grip test data is only available on tires tested after November 2018. You can find more information about our grip test here: Introducing Grip Testing Static Grip Test Results to know when you decide to go for a bigger tire because you like a more comfortable ride or ride on bad roads with potholes a lot.

The bigger the tire, the lower the rolling resistance at the same air pressure. When you run lower air pressures, the differences get Noteworthy is the very flat rolling resistance graph of this tire, dropping air pressure to 80 psi increases rolling resistance by only 1.5 watts per tire. This is a great feature because rider comfort will increase greatly at 80 / 90 psi at a very low cost. With the AS TR, Continental has paired the speed of the Grand Prix 5000 and the longevity and protection of the Grand Prix 4 Season. The new tyre has a boosted tread pattern, multi-layer overlapping ply construction and additional sidewall protection - although from afar it looks very much like a "regular" GP5000.

PolyX Breaker Technology With their PolyX Breaker, Continental bring PKW know-how to the bike tyre arena – Polyester has been used successfully for years in car tyres and been tried and tested many times. The extremely resistant polyester fibre is woven tightly crosswire making a very high fabric density which not only makes the Breaker more resistant to foreign objects but is also resistant to punctures. The rolling resistance is not affected either by the PolyX Breaker. Between finger and thumb, you can feel that the GP 4 Season is stiffer than a lighter summer tyre because of this extra protection, but for the casing Conti uses the same thread count at 330tpi (actually three layers of 110tpi) as it does in the GP 5000s. Compared to rival all-season tyres such as the Michelin Power All Season with its three layers of 60pti, it is much more supple. Performance With regards to grip, the Conti sits in the middle of the field. Like the Schwalbe, it provides good control at the limit and a predictable grip threshold. The sidewalls are relatively stiff and can sometimes cause the tire to feel skittish on uneven surfaces. We ran the tire at 6.5 bar, which already feels plenty hard, so we strongly recommend keeping the pressure below that mark. However, according to Conti’s recommended pressure settings, that is already at the lower end of the scale. The rear tyre is a 28mm GP4000S2 so I decided a 23mm tyre would be fine for my requirements on the front. From a performance point of view, there’s little to fault with the Grand Prix 5000 AS TRs. They feel every bit as good as the standard S, but with the added protection to cope with poor road conditions. They’re very expensive, though, and with many other tyres on the market offering similar performance at a much cheaper price, the competition is tough. Verdict

The tubeless GP 5000 is available in 25, 28 and 32mm widths, plus a 28mm wide 650B version. Our samples of the 25mm versions weighed an average of 302g each; we've seen reliable reports of 295g samples too. That's heavier than some comparable tubeless-ready tyres (a 25mm Schwalbe Pro One weighs about 255g) because Continental has gone for a fully tubeless construction with an airtight rubber layer on the inside. There are so many significant differences between the Grand Prix 5000 S TR and its TL predecessor that Continental could easily have designated the new version Grand Prix 6000. The headline changes are: The all new Vectran breaker belt, developed and patented by Continental, surpasses even the famous puncture resistance of the former leader in this category, the GP3000. The extremely strong Vectran fabrics are more flexible and lighter than all other puncture protection materials. Vectran offers more resistance to cuts than Aramid, is five times as strong as steel and features less weight than a nylon double breaker. It also maintains strength in the wet. They're "variable" when fitting them too, some are so tight you wouldn't want to risk using them on a ride because the idea of sitting at the roadside in 5 degrees and rain attempting to get the thing off the rim is just too awful to contemplate. Grand Prix 5000 AS TR is a new all-season GP5000, adding some extra protection, grip and longevity to the fast GP5000 road tyre lineup. Even though this is the heavier of the two new GP5000 tyres, it is perhaps more exciting for those who enjoy a little speed boost in everyday conditions and not while racing.

The Goldilocks performance road clincher

When testing the rolling resistance of bicycle tires, I always try to use tires of the same size as much as possible to make it easier to compare different brands

So in my view these tyres are well worth the money, not only for life span, performance, grip, reduced rolling resistance, and puncture resistance. Thanks to its DuraSkin anti-tear fabric and two Vectran anti puncture strips, the Grand Prix 4-Season holds up under extreme conditions. In the Paris- Roubaix race, the "Hell of the North", cyclists equipped with DuraSkin™ enhanced tyres have the fewest tyre related problems during the race. Incorporating our special wear resistant carbon compound, the tyre is characterized by very good mileage performance as well as excellent adhesion on wet roads and at low temperatures.Puncture Force Sharp Needle: Pre-2021, this score was known as 'Puncture Resistance'. On some tires with weakly bonded casing wires, the sharp needle can split the casing wires resulting in a lower score. All tests were performed with the same wheel, tire, load, speed, and air pressures on the same day. But this isn't a massive range expansion. There has been a TT version of the GP4000 or GP5000 for some time, so it makes sense to make a TR version of that. And then, why not a tougher version for those who want to go fast on less than ideal roads or compacted gravel that would/could result in punctures if running the standard version of the tyre. Continental's not saying exactly what wizardry of rubber formulations and carcass construction has been wrought to achieve this, but it's impressive as hell, especially when you consider that the improvement over the clincher version of the GP 5000 is 17% — Conti only claims 5% — and the tubeless GP 5000 therefore has over 30% less rolling resistance than the GP 4000 S II. That makes it the fastest Continental tyre yet.

Active Comfort: The revolutionary approach in cycling. Embedded in the tyre construction the Active Comfort Technology absorbs vibrations and smoothens your ride.

Conclusion

Performance in the rolling resistance test is great. At an air pressure of 120 psi, rolling resistance is a low 12.2 watts, which is excellent for a Tour / Race type tire. Dropping air pressure to 100 psi results in a rolling resistance of 12.9 watts. Lowering air pressure even lower results in a rolling resistance of 13.7 watts at an air pressure of 80 psi.