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  • I'm not a skidder, but I'll pass my tuppence forward on what I've recently experienced with tyres.

    In general, all tyres puncture, duh, and it's very difficult to compare. I've never noticed any to be particularly vulnerable. Any tyre will pop if you don't dodge shards of glass and pull out flints now and again.

    Anyway:

    Vittoria Techno: typical cheap tyre. Fairly hard compound and loses traction fairly easily in the wet. Held together well with few cuts. Rolls like most cheap tyres.

    Continental Ultra Sport: relatively soft compound, but thick and doesn't roll especially fast, though not bad. Not great in the wet though; I remember washing out on a corner when I thought they really shouldn't do.

    Schwalbe Lugano: hard compound and quite mediocre in the wet. Again it rolls like most cheap tyres and feels a bit hard if you take it over 100PSI. Despite being hard compund, they still cut-up quite badly.

    Michelin Pro 3 Race: Very good grip (including in the wet) and roll fast and slightly more smoothly (in my opinion) than the cheaper tyres. Loss of traction is gradual when it's about to go. Saves almost half a pound in weight for a pair over some of the cheaper tyres. Cons are that hey wear realtively fast. They do also cut-up, but they don't actually tend to split.

    Continental GP4000 S: Similar quality to the Michelin, except the ride feels slightly smoother still at high PSIs, and they have a slightly more squishy/bouncy feel to them. Grip is still very good and loses traction gradually rather than suddenly. Probably cuts-up slightly less than than the Michelin but not by that much. Also light weight. Doesn't seem to wear as fast as the Michelins. Punctured them 100 miles from new, but what do you expect after riding through Notting Hill after the Carnival.

    Vittoria Zaffiro Steel-Bead: A decent cheap tyre. Similar to the Schwalbe Lugano but better in most respects; softer and didn't seem like it would cut-up and split so much.

    Vittoria Rubino Slick: f'n terrible. Rode very hard when at 100PSI and over. Grip was horrible; they have a soft compound which once they start to lose traction starts to feels like dragging a wax candle across a sheet of paper. They just lose it and smear across the road once they start to go.

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