Review: Vittoria Rubino Road Tyres

Wiggle Bike Shop: £10.99

When you come to replace a tyre, it is probably the best time to gauge whether it has been a "good tyre" or a "bad tyre". As you lever it off the rim, you are probably either thinking about how many miles the tyre has racked up or how few punctures it has had (a good tyre) OR you are thinking how on earth has that side-wall exploded like that? or why are so many nasty little flints getting through this expensive puncture protection strip (a bad tyre).

Luckily, when I came to take the Vittoria Rubino Tyre off the rim of my winter/touring bike it was the former thoughts that were occupying my mind. This tyre, which comes in at an incredibly reasonable £10.99 has frankly been outstanding.

I put the tyre on the bike back in August of 2011, before I set off on our fully loaded touring trip through France and Spain [Tag Link]; as you can see from the picture of my bike to the left, it wasn't exactly a light load to be borne by a 25C skinny road bike tyre! (yes that is a French-baguette strapped to the top of my pannier rack).

The tyre managed the full 1400+ mile trip with only one puncture; and since then has remained on the bike since September, clocking in another 2000+ miles, without any more punctures!

By anybody's reckoning that is a pretty good life for a tyre that costs under £15. It seems that either I have been very lucky, or (more likely) the puncture protection and durability of these tyres really is rather good.

The tread is good as well, the micro-dots seem to provide a good amount of grip for cornering, and the speed isn't bad at all for a winter tyre.
Another thing worth noting is their snug fit on the rim; which is something you definitely want to consider when descending an Alp on a fully loaded touring bike (a blow-out at that speed doesn't bear thinking about!).

Overall, these seem to be a great set of tyres; in my mind easily comparable to the significantly more expensive Continental Gatorskins that are found on many winter bikes. So if you are on a bit of a budget and looking for a good tyre to cover many miles this winter/spring, then these could seriously be worth considering, I will certainly be buying them again.


Comments

  1. Good review. These tyres are cheap and look great too. I've had mine for 15 months not flatted once but replaced the rear due to a large cut from a large piece of gravel which embedded in the tyre but didn't go through protection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Tim,
    I too have had fantastic life from Rubino tires - the wire beaded/non-beaded/ standard and pro versions. The average life of the tire is fair to good, depending on the roads, here in South Africa just fair seems to be the norm.

    The one thing that's been a plus is the high TPI - which reduces the chances of the odd rouge piece of glass or road shrapnel puncturing the tire.

    I think the grip and feel of the Tire is mediocre and find a continental gp tire a lot more responsive.

    cheers,

    Dale

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Dale,
    Fully agree with you there, I use GP4000s on my race bike, and the grip is not really comparable.

    For the price on these though, and the durability, they make a great set of winter tyres.

    Cheers
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  4. +1 on the Rubinos Tim. I buy the non foldables from Wiggle and have them on both my winter and summer bikes as good year round tyres.

    Carl

    ReplyDelete
  5. No complaints here either. I did 2600 miles on these tyres last year and never had 1 puncture. I did however need to replace 3 tyres over that time due to cuts caused by potholes, but at this price I have no complaints.

    ReplyDelete

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