25c Vittoria Open Corsa SC - A Real World Review

[velotel]

You rode some good places. I'm guess the first shot is somewhere above the second shot which is just above Flumet, road to Saisies. Third and fourth shots no idea where, fifth shot north side Col du Joly, on the ski area roads, last three Col du Solude. Like I said, you did some very fine roads. Nice.

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

So while maybe not as robust at a standard rubber sidewall, the SC's seem to have an edge in durability over a Veloflex Master, for example.

Durable in what way? I find the Veloflex Masters to have a much better tread life than the Vittoria Open Corsas with no more - or less - puncture resistance.

[eBAUMANN]

Zank and Tim - I feel beyond lucky to be able to test the bike in some of the most beautiful and demanding terrain in the world, not a mile goes by that it doesn't cross my mind. i didn't really do anything crazy with the geometry, pretty tried and true angles that just work, and man, do they WORK. Up over 60mph...stable as can be, it never felt sluggish on a climb, and always held a perfect line through a switchback. I put in 100+ mile days with around 15k feet of climbing (stage 19 of the tour) and could not have asked for more from the bike, might need to rethink the saddle choice for that many hours though

ANAO - b&w shot with a ricoh gr, color was from iPhone 6

OtayBW - i may have to edit that statement, especially after an experience I just had in the hours immediately following the posting of this thread..stay tuned.

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If there is interest in a ride-by-ride report, id be happy to put something nice together with pics and routes and info for you guys. Just finished up my last ride of the trip after around 12 days of consecutive riding, headed back to boston tomorrow morning.

[denapista]

I had a short stint on Corsa SC tubular tires. My 3rd ride I popped my front a block from my house.. So I just chalk that up to South Pasadena not keeping the streets clean, and my lack of running low PSI in tubular tires. I find that 80-90psi is the sweet spot. Also when it's blazing hot, I see that Latex tubes lose air faster than normal. One climb on FMB's, I kept losing air pressure. I was constantly pumping and losing air, due to the high road temps.

I've been riding Veloflex Master 25c clinchers, and I put these things through hell. Dirt road with huge rocks, etc. They've been holding up like champs! I'm now riding Vittoria Pave 27c (Black) and man these may be the best tires yet. So fast at 70psi and they're so plump on 25mm rims. Easy to mount as well. I really want to try latex tubes in the Pave's but I'm scared of the heating issues in LA. The road temps on some of the Mountain roads (GMR, HWY39, GRR) are scorching hot in the summer.

My next set of wheels (Tubular), I'm going with the Vittoria Corsa Elite tires. You can get them so cheap, and they still ride somewhat like 320tpi Corsa's

[dk2ck]

I usually use Veloflex Masters but maybe I'll need to try these Open Corsa SCs. Anyone have more ride comparisons? The Veloflexes are great and I have no complaints about them, but maybe some variety would be good!

[tv_vt]

I've been using both the Veloflex Master 25 and Open Corsa SC 25 this year. Both are great. The Vittoria SC is definitely a bigger tire. Veloflex almost look like 23's. But I have been surprised at how little tire tread wear there has been with both of these tires. They're lasting longer than I expected.

[denapista]

all I run are Vittoria and Veloflex tires. IMHO the Vittoria tires have a lower rolling resistance and they just feel faster all around. They wear faster than Master/Corsa tires, and they cut easily.

Veloflex tires are fast rolling, but not the same feel as the Vittoria Corsa tires. Possibly the 320tpi Vittoria gives it that feel. The Master/Corsa tires do get rocks stuck in them when riding, so pay close attention. Don't let a pebble work itself into your tire, which will cause a deep cut and flat. I think Master/Corsa tires are more durable off road wise. I've ridden long dirt trails, etc on the Veloflex tires and they've been running like champs.

Both tires are somewhat identical in terms of performance, with Vittoria having a better feel to them. That being said, Veloflex tires always pop up on sale, so that's mostly the reason I run them back to back. Biketiresdirect always has them on sale for under $30-40/ea

[soulspinner]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

Ive always been a fan of Vittoria's Open Corsa range, particularly the 25c EVO CX - smooth, fast, light, and fill out nicely on a wide rim, hard to dislike really. So with a 2 week vacation in the French Alps looming, I knew this was my chance to finally try out my dream tire, the EVO SC, which I long assumed too fragile for general use in the greater Boston area.

Boy was I wrong about that. The sidewalls of the SC seem to be very well sealed up, at least as well as the EVO CX version. So while maybe not as robust at a standard rubber sidewall, the SC's seem to have an edge in durability over a Veloflex Master, for example. They also stay pretty clean, even through riding in the dirt and the wet.

Now, lets get one thing out of the way - What AREN'T these tires? These tires are NOT your 4k mile training rubber that will just go and go and get squared off and sliced and just keep on rolling. They have very little rubber on em compared to say, a Conti GP4Ks, a tire which I regard as being among the best out there in terms of striking a balance between durability and ride-quality.

That said, I took the SC's across just about every kind of road available here in the mountains and they have not let me down, not once. Perfect pavement, crappy pavement, dirt, cow paths, crushed gravel, BIG gravel (seriously gnarly 13% twisting descent with drainage channels in road), they took it all in stride. Even an ascent of Alpe d'Huez the day after the tour came through, which means broken glass everywhere. No issues.

They roll beautifully smooth, stick to the road in even the tightest switchbacks, are light enough to not hold you down on a climb, easy on and off most rims, 320tpi(!), actually measure AT LEAST 25mm wide, and look awesome on almost any bike. The only drawback is how hard they can be to find in stock so buy a couple sets when you have the chance

Chapeau Vittoria!

Sidenote regarding latex tubes - this was my first time using latex tubes as well, my feelings are mixed. The ride quality is undoubtedly the best I have ever experienced in a clincher, but I did have issues with tubes losing air. The standard 10-20lbs overnight was fine, but one morning I came down to find the tire completely flat. So i pumped it up and waiting 15 minutes, it seemed to be holding fine so I hopped on and climbed Col du Glandon. By the top of the climb I had about 20psi in the tire. So I hand-pumped it back up and descended, swapping for a butyl tube that night. So yea, still deciding if that risk is worth the reward

Anyways, here are some photos of a few of the roads I encountered over the past 2 weeks...
















^ Alpe d'Huez and Bourg d'Oisans

Great pics.

[makoti]

Very nice. Great pics & nice review of the tires.

[icepick_trotsky]

Looking forward to many more photos, @eBAUMANN.

What kind of gearing did you have for those cols?

[stansarch]

Great photos! I too have used the Vittoria's with success, although after a 1,000ish miles in commuting they can develop pretty big gashes - but they still work fine for what I need.

I noticed the rims being carbon clinchers - sometimes latex tubes, warm weather and heavy downhill braking just don't mix and the heat causes them to fail in curious ways. The fact it wasn't inflating for long probably says as much. Just a thought, I could be wrong!

[tv_vt]

What wheels are those - Zipp 202 clinchers?

"IMSHICYCLES" on the down tube - care to explain the origin of your bike? Sounds like there's a story there.

[professerr]

I too use Vittoria Open Corsa and Veloflex clinchers.

I agree with the post above, and prefer the feel of the Vittorias. The Vittorias in 23 are actually very slightly wider than the Veloflex 25s on my HED wheels. The Vittorias have a more dampened ride. The Veloflex feel more "bouncy", which is surprising given the Vittorias are actually bigger.

The Veloflex seem to wear longer, but that just my general sense -- I never tracked it. The Veloflex seem to flat slightly less, but my sample size -- 2 or 3 flats a year -- is way too small to draw any conclusion.

As for the comments above about latex tubes losing air, well, if it goes flat over night or down to 20lbs during a ride, then you simply got a slow leak that's all.

[eBAUMANN]

Originally Posted by denapista

all I run are Vittoria and Veloflex tires. IMHO the Vittoria tires have a lower rolling resistance and they just feel faster all around. They wear faster than Master/Corsa tires, and they cut easily.

Veloflex tires are fast rolling, but not the same feel as the Vittoria Corsa tires. Possibly the 320tpi Vittoria gives it that feel. The Master/Corsa tires do get rocks stuck in them when riding, so pay close attention. Don't let a pebble work itself into your tire, which will cause a deep cut and flat. I think Master/Corsa tires are more durable off road wise. I've ridden long dirt trails, etc on the Veloflex tires and they've been running like champs.

Both tires are somewhat identical in terms of performance, with Vittoria having a better feel to them. That being said, Veloflex tires always pop up on sale, so that's mostly the reason I run them back to back. Biketiresdirect always has them on sale for under $30-40/ea

Spot on! This is exactly what I was gonna say.

The 25c Veloflex tires look tiny compared to the SC's, even on a wide firecrest rim, they measure around 2mm narrower. They just don't feel as supple and smooth rolling as the Vittorias at the same pressure.

That said, the tread on veloflex master/corsa's seems to be thicker and made of a harder rubber compared to the SC's. Good for durability and resistance to road crap but maybe sacrificing a little comfort in the process, which isn't all that terrible of a trade off.

And this brings me to a quick follow up based on my ride today, or rather, everything that happened before my ride today (right after I posted this thread up).

I went down to grab my bike off the rack and the rear tire was flat, 2nd time this has happened in a few days. I pumped it up and listened...slow leak. So I took the tire off and tried to find whatever might have caused the puncture, didn't see anything suspicious. Put a new tube in, pumped it up and off I went. Everything was going great and them PSSSSSSSSSTHHHHTTTTTTTT, rear tire went flat after a mile of descending.

This wouldn't have been as big of a deal had the spare tube I was carrying also not had a slow leak (smart move on my part, I know). So I put the less-busted of the 2 in the tire and climbed a mile back home, stopping 5 times to top up the tire. It sucked.

So, convinced there was some phantom glass in the SC, I swapped it out for a fresh veloflex corsa I had brought along as backup, grabbed a new tube, and I was finally in business.

I could immediately feel a difference in the ride. It was striking. The front maintained that smooth SC feel but man, the rear just felt hard, like I was riding on a 23c at 120psi instead of 25c at 105. It was ok, don't get me wrong, it just lacked that magic carpet feeling of the SC's.

So, moral of the story: SC's seem to hold onto road crap in a rather devious way, leading to a lot of swearing...but they just ride so damn nice.

[eBAUMANN]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

What wheels are those - Zipp 202 clinchers?

"IMSHICYCLES" on the down tube - care to explain the origin of your bike? Sounds like there's a story there.

202's yep.

Bike info is HERE.
Long story short - I made the frame