Pirelli P-Zero tyres for your road bike...
Discussion
...as per title really.
Pirelli P Zero Velo Road Bike Tyre @ £39.90 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pirelli-p-zero-...
Pirelli P Zero 4S Velo Road Bike Tyre @ £43.90 - £45.90 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pirelli-p-zero-...
I just found an e-mail on my account from Chain Reaction Cycles with links to these tyres. Having not seen the Pirelli brand in bike shops before, I'm presuming that it means these are a first for Pirelli. Anyone seen one of these new tyres? Anyone used one? It looks like they're jumping straight in to the middle to higher end of the market, in competition with the likes of Michelin and Continental.
Plenty of marketing buzz-words in the listings, along with references to Pirelli's experience and technology from motorcycle tyres, but I wonder just how much we need that technological cross-over. The thing that caught my eye first and grabbed my attention was the "Functional Groove Design" of the tread. After all these years of being assured that we don't need tread grooves to shed water because 'you can't aquaplane a bicycle tyre at normal riding speeds', it turns out that these fantazmic grooves are exactly what's been missing from our current sub-standard bicycle tyres.
Call me an old cynic, but...
It'd be interesting to see some real-world reviews of them if anyone has any direct experience or can link to peer-to-peer reviews on other forums, rather than marketing spiel or reviews in the bike press from magazines that carry the advertising...
Pirelli P Zero Velo Road Bike Tyre @ £39.90 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pirelli-p-zero-...
Pirelli P Zero 4S Velo Road Bike Tyre @ £43.90 - £45.90 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pirelli-p-zero-...
I just found an e-mail on my account from Chain Reaction Cycles with links to these tyres. Having not seen the Pirelli brand in bike shops before, I'm presuming that it means these are a first for Pirelli. Anyone seen one of these new tyres? Anyone used one? It looks like they're jumping straight in to the middle to higher end of the market, in competition with the likes of Michelin and Continental.
Plenty of marketing buzz-words in the listings, along with references to Pirelli's experience and technology from motorcycle tyres, but I wonder just how much we need that technological cross-over. The thing that caught my eye first and grabbed my attention was the "Functional Groove Design" of the tread. After all these years of being assured that we don't need tread grooves to shed water because 'you can't aquaplane a bicycle tyre at normal riding speeds', it turns out that these fantazmic grooves are exactly what's been missing from our current sub-standard bicycle tyres.
Call me an old cynic, but...
It'd be interesting to see some real-world reviews of them if anyone has any direct experience or can link to peer-to-peer reviews on other forums, rather than marketing spiel or reviews in the bike press from magazines that carry the advertising...
Oh, and a couple of "professional" bike journalist-written reviews to give you a head start if you're considering buying them...
http://road.cc/content/tech-news/224316-pirelli-la...
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/pirelli...
http://road.cc/content/tech-news/224316-pirelli-la...
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/pirelli...
I wouldn't particularly want a first attempt, with that marketing BS, at that price, from Pirelli. And certainly not if you were thinking of going to a Silverstone Cycling event in case of delamination at high speed.
gazza285 said:
Not quite their first foray into bicycle tyres, I still have some Pirelli T16 tyres on my early '80's Monty cyclotrials bike...
Ah. Yes. About that.I did some back-reading, and it seems that Pirelli have a pretty decent history with bicycle tyres. Right back, in fact, to the early years of the TdF and the Giro. So not exactly a "first" for the company as I had presumed in my OP. Still, they've been absent for a fair few years now and tyre technology has moved on quite a lot since those 'plasticky' Michelin Tracer amber walls that seemed ever-present "back in the day"...
I had a chat about them with one of their sales guys at the 'official launch' at Rad am Ring two weeks ago.
His starting line of stroking a tyre and saying 'zis rubber feels good ya' had me gripped, I had to talk to him!
There was a load of the same old stuff about thread count etc but what it came down to is that they are pretty much the same as any other tyre at this price point and he was quite open about the fact that the "Functional Groove Design" was just marketing crap, because they found that people feel that a tyre would be safer/have more grip if there is texture on it, even though it serves absolutely no purpose.
I very nearly picked them up for E30 each but they don't do them in pink!
His starting line of stroking a tyre and saying 'zis rubber feels good ya' had me gripped, I had to talk to him!
There was a load of the same old stuff about thread count etc but what it came down to is that they are pretty much the same as any other tyre at this price point and he was quite open about the fact that the "Functional Groove Design" was just marketing crap, because they found that people feel that a tyre would be safer/have more grip if there is texture on it, even though it serves absolutely no purpose.
I very nearly picked them up for E30 each but they don't do them in pink!
They're up against tough competition. The Michelin Pro Competition is that good.
Not only do the Michelins roll exceptionally well, I also recently accidentally rode mine over a huge patch of broken glass and they didn't puncture - In fact I've never had a puncture with the Pro 4 or the new Competition.
Not only do the Michelins roll exceptionally well, I also recently accidentally rode mine over a huge patch of broken glass and they didn't puncture - In fact I've never had a puncture with the Pro 4 or the new Competition.
I might try them. I'm riding on 23mm Michelin Power Competition for the past year, they have been very good - fast rolling, light, comfortable, precise steering, great dry grip and medium wet grip (which has degraded in the past year). I got one puncture in 5000km due to a shard of glass. Wear has been good too, there is still some life left in them.
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