Bunch Ride Finder

Talk on the street was about which Tyres are good for racing, bunch rides and the every day commute? After a few discussions in various bunches, the Vittoria Rubino Pro’s came up quite often so we thought we’d give them a go.

The Rubinos come in heaps of colours (Yellow/Black, Red/Black, White/Black, Blue/Black, White/Black, and Black).  I opted for the white ones to bling up the Colnago, but quickly came to regret it after the first ride.

The Rubino Pro product family is in the same league of Continental GP4000, Michelin’s Pro Race and Hutchinson’s Fusion concerning TPI count (Threads Per Inch) having 120 nylon threads for each single casing layer (no the sum of all layers), this is market standard for high performance and low weight – these weighed about 225gms.

The other thing they state about the tyres are: “High performance and long lasting compound thanks to Kevlar Endura 3D granting the rider high mileage, low rolling resistance and fabulous grip. Dot C.O.M. Vector tread, deriving from Diamante, higher quality product, increases cornering grip and gives for a fast rolling straights.”

The sides of the Tyres do add heaps of grip in the wet would have to be one of the great things about these ‘do it all’ tyres.  I don’t head out in the rain, but it’s comforting to know that they’ll perform should I get caught out.

After one 40km ride this is what the tyres ended up looking like (pic above). Thanks to the recent Sydney dust storms, the beautiful white tyres turned into a poo brown type colour. The Rubino’s did wash up well, although they’ll never be white again. But what did i expect?

Performance.
These tyres are fast, but not super fast, they are grippy in the wet thanks to the ‘Dot C.O.M. Vector tread’ and give great confidence cornering.

So far no punchers at all, something that the boys in the bunch did say. Apparently they are renown for being really puncher resistant which has been true so far (1500kms).

The other thing to note is that after 1500kms, they have virtually no cuts – something that the old Michelin Pro Races used to do quite easily.
Overall I am very impressed with these tyres, great for everyday use and the occasional race. For racing I’d rather have faster, lighter tyres, but for a do it all tyre the Rubino Pros fits the bill.

Word on the street is that the Conti GP4000 with the Chilli compounds are even better… might just have to check them out for the next review!