Post Tour Review: Continental GP 5000 700x32 tires

Just as I was packing the bike for the Mt Shasta trip, I noticed that the Fairweather by Traveler tire on the rear had wear indicators that were barely visible. The tire had just been rotated from front to rear a month ago, and had seen only 4-5 major rides, so I knew it was unlikely to survive a tour. It was too late to do anything about it for Shasta, but I went and order the Continental GP5000 700x32 tires in time for the Tour Across Bavaria. At $40 per tire including shipping, these tires were the most expensive tires I'd run in modern times. However, I remember never actually managing to wear down a Continental Gatorskin down to the threads, so I figured even their racing tire would be fine.

The picture above are from the front and rear after 372 miles of touring. The rear is significantly worn compared to the front (unsurprising --- the total weight on the bike was in excess of 300 pounds), but could easily get another 400 miles in. The tires handled both gravel and pavement well, and never flatted during the entire trip. At 271g per tire, these tires came in below the manufacturer's spec of 295g, and lighter than the Fairweather tires as well as the Michelin Pro Endurance 700x28 tires!

These will remain my new "go to" tires for the triplet. In fact, I'm looking at switching all my bikes over to various widths of these tires in the future. They might wear a little faster (though again, the triplet is an extreme use case) but have behaved far better than my previous experience with Continental tires. Recommended.