25c Vittoria Open Corsa SC - A Real World Review

[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

[phcollard]

Thanks for the review and the... woah... amazing pictures of amazing rides. So not only you ride fast but you are also a talented photographer. I hate you!

[marciero]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Very nice mix of roads. I love mixing gravel roads in with mostly paved roads and approaching as a road ride, with 25-28 tires and road bike. I know many here use 27-28 even on D2R2-type rides.
The Vitoria do have a yummy-gummy feel that I really like, esp when new.
Right now am considering Vittoria Pave 27 to replaceme the Schwalbe One 28 one one bike (having received two defective tires) The other choice would be the Compass 28.

[jwess1234]

Nice review, pictures, bike, and most importantly ride!

[Vamoots58]

Amazing photos!!

[zank]

Beautiful pics!

And the rubber looks HOT on your ride. Pretty fun ripping down the biggest mountains on a frame you built, isn't it?

[Tim Porter]

Nice review and amazing pics. Now, after that litmus test in the mountains, how are you liking the bike you built? Any lessons learned, things you'd change, things you nailed the first time, etc.? Sorry for the hijack, but it'd be interesting . . . . Tim

[Javaman]

Oh man! Awesome review! But I must admit I clicked your post for the pictures.

[AngryScientist]

nice!

i must say that on a trip like that, you probably could have been riding armadillos and enjoyed the ride. bike looks great! can we expect a full ride report about the rest of the trip?

[stephenmarklay]

Thanks for the pics and review. Awesome. How is the SC different than the CX. Is it just sidewall color?

[guido]

Beautiful pics Eric! I still like my Compass tires though...

[rain dogs]

Seconded. I just put SC's on my bike on Saturday. I actually thought there wasn't really any difference in SC's and CX's other than sidewall colour and rubber surface compound (which I thought would only effect durability/grip)

But man, there is a difference. I love CX's. They are spectacular, but these SC's feel even better. I was surprised I even noticed a difference, but the difference (especially in how they roll), IMHO could not be more noticeable.

I'm sure I'm not going faster, (and I honestly don't really care) but it does feel like it. Get a nice big sh*t-eating grin riding these tires.

[CDollarsign]

More importantly, that spray painted dong on the sign in the first pic is super cool.

[bobswire]

Beautiful bike, roads,terrain.

[ANAO]

Fantastic, thank you Eric.

What are you shooting with?