What The Fuss Conti? GP5000TL

[biker72]

Originally Posted by bigbill

My negative Conti experience is weak sidewalls. When I lived in Texas, a blowout would follow within a few seconds if something flipped up and hit the sidewall. I carried dollar bills in my saddlebag as a temporary fix to get home.

I had the same problem with the older Conti's. Sidewalls were really a problem. For me the 5000 series have been bulletproof. I recently replaced the rear tire on my 2016 Lynskey with 4200 miles on it. Still had some miles left in it but had squared off.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by biker72

I had the same problem with the older Conti's. Sidewalls were really a problem. For me the 5000 series have been bulletproof. I recently replaced the rear tire on my 2016 Lynskey with 4200 miles on it. Still had some miles left in it but had squared off.

I lost all my 3000s to sidewall fails before wearing out mostly. I had one new one on first ride I recall cut. I dental floss CA glue repaired it. kept it up front to watch my repair, which never failed FWIW. Never do that today, LOL.

I came late to the 4000 party as a result of those 3000 paper sidewalls.

This 5000TL experience will have same result as far as getting any more Contis for me. These felt unremarkable to me anyway.

[robt57]

Conti turned down any responsibility for these crap TLs.

My reply read: This is an unfortunate decision of someone's part.
After decades of patronage I'll not purchase your tires again.

I'd end with 'All due respect' except I've lost any for Conti.

[kppolich]

Originally Posted by Pinned

5000 TL is an old tire. It's at least 2 years old right now, likely older. I'd rather be able to visually tell the tire is rotted than have it harden up and find out as it fails on the road.

^^ This


Also, common problem with the folks on this forum is the multiple bike quiver where bikes/wheels/tires don't get ridden as frequently. Good problem to have, but the maintenance burden goes up as well.

GP5000S TR user here, fast and reliable IMO

[robt57]

Originally Posted by kppolich

^^ This


Also, common problem with the folks on this forum is the multiple bike quiver where bikes/wheels/tires don't get ridden as frequently. Good problem to have, but the maintenance burden goes up as well.

GP5000S TR user here, fast and reliable IMO

I get that, I don't get why the bike hanging next to it with way older GP4000s are still fine. And I have a lot of GP4000s among my quiver. The 28s that are really 31mm made a grabber of all those I could find.

You are not the first person by any stretch I've read say "GP5000S TR user here, fast and reliable IMO"

All the more reason I feel the ones I have were a bad batch I fell Conti should have done something about.

I'd pull them for the 28mm GP4ks I have a good supply of if they'd fit that bike.

Done and done for me, bye Conti.

[DfCas]

I never got over the sidewall failure problem so i have not bought Contis in a long time.

[goodpuppy]

Originally Posted by Pinned

5000 TL is an old tire. It's at least 2 years old right now, likely older. I'd rather be able to visually tell the tire is rotted than have it harden up and find out as it fails on the road.

to me this looks like an old tire that was not stored well or experiences a lot of harsh temperature fluctuation.

I have used the 5000 TL for two years on a commuter and it's still not worn through, and no cracking. Always stored indoors.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by robt57

Barely put a dent in the center seam molding ridge. And I paid more than I wanted to for these too!! Not much irks me like not getting close to my moneys worth...

Just washed my bike and noticed my rear tire is showing similar cracking (as well as a bit flat/square) but not quite as bad. Non TLR version and about 2700 miles. Front shows none of these issues. FYI I am 158 lbs and run about 77/78 psi in the rear.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by goodpuppy

to me this looks like an old tire that was not stored well or experiences a lot of harsh temperature fluctuation.

I have used the 5000 TL for two years on a commuter and it's still not worn through, and no cracking. Always stored indoors.

I wonder how much tire aging occurs in the supply chain. I've had "brand new" tires that were over a year old before I purchased them from the retailer, and there are probably some even older sitting around before the end user receives them. Who knows what environmental conditions they subject during shipping/warehousing?

[purpurite]

I know some—but not all—bike tire manufacturers will have date codes on the tire, just like car tires. If you look on the sidewall, there would be a pill-shaped graphic molded into the rubber. It will have a 4-digit number in it. I'm wondering when these tires were born.

The first two numbers are the week (X/52) they were produced and the last two numbers are the year, using the last two digits. So a tire marked 1118 was produced in the 11th week of 2018 and now is 5.5 years old. This works for street tires, too, so you can tell if a seller has been sitting on old stock and trying to move non fresh rubber out of their inventory, or if you get 2/4 tires that were made on vastly different dates.

If nothing else, it's worth looking to see if these tires were factory-fresh or you got some new-old stock that someone was trying to dump.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by purpurite

I know some—but not all—bike tire manufacturers will have date codes on the tire, just like car tires. If you look on the sidewall, there would be a pill-shaped graphic molded into the rubber. It will have a 4-digit number in it. I'm wondering when these tires were born.

The first two numbers are the week (X/52) they were produced and the last two numbers are the year, using the last two digits. So a tire marked 1118 was produced in the 11th week of 2018 and now is 5.5 years old. This works for street tires, too, so you can tell if a seller has been sitting on old stock and trying to move non fresh rubber out of their inventory, or if you get 2/4 tires that were made on vastly different dates.

If nothing else, it's worth looking to see if these tires were factory-fresh or you got some new-old stock that someone was trying to dump.

This thread is about Continental GP5000TL tires, and for the least 8 years or so all Continental bicycle tires have had the 4 digit date code described above (that includes all GP 5000 tires). Most bicycle tires have some form of date code on them, but many can be quite arcane. Previously, Continental had their own cryptic coding, but they have now converted to the standard 4 digit week/year code, making it much easier to find the age of their tires.

[charliedid]

(4422) manufacturing date on my tires.

[callmeishmael]

I've never had a problem with GP5000s other than relatively fast wear, but a) they're a race tyre, so durability isn't really a design criterion, and b) my n=1. I've found the Pirelli P Zero to feel very similar, be slightly more robust and hard wearing, and they're still very fast tyres, but I've not ridden anything faster/grippier than those Contis. Full disclaimer, I've not ridden any Vittorias in years, nor the new Challenge or Michelins.

The hardiest reasonably fast tyre I've ever used is the Goodyear Eagle F1.

OT: we must be due a new Schwalbe Pro One soon, surely? It feels like that tyre is overdue an update.

[gurk700]

Honestly I heard this from bunch of people and NEVER, EVER experienced it on any of my conti tires over the years. Tubeless, Clincher, Tubular, variety of widths. (Including the countless GP5000 variations I've used since their introduction)

I'm convinced it's storage conditions issue and not a production one.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by gurk700

Honestly I heard this from bunch of people and NEVER, EVER experienced it on any of my conti tires over the years. Tubeless, Clincher, Tubular, variety of widths. (Including the countless GP5000 variations I've used since their introduction)

I'm convinced it's storage conditions issue and not a production one.

Which type of storage conditions are you claiming explains this? If you noticed on my post I never complained about anything, I was more commenting on the rate of wear/lifespan with my anecdotal data.

I find it similar with Vittoria/Bontrager and other race tires. Seems 2500 to 3000 miles and I need at least a new rear tire.

As Callmeishmael noted in there last post....lightweight race tires wear out fairly quickly.

Mine live indoors in a climate controlled environment and my front shows none of this cracking going on.

Curious.