Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless road clincher officially announced
Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless road clincher officially announced
Well, this one isn’t exactly a shocker.
After plenty of spy shots in the wild — and recent wins at the men’s Paris-Roubaix and the men’s UCI time trial world championship — Continental has officially unveiled its new Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless-ready road clincher to the world, and at least on paper, it’s hardly just some modest update to the current model.
Continental says the new Grand Prix 5000 S TR is 50 g lighter than the outgoing Grand Prix 5000 TL, yet boasts “28% more sidewall protection”. Rolling resistance has also decreased thanks to a new two-ply construction (the old version was three-ply), prompting Continental to claim the new tire is also “20% faster”.
Perhaps more importantly, when it comes to tangible benefits to consumers, Continental says the new Grand Prix 5000 S TR is easier to install than the Grand Prix 5000 TL, which was notably tight on many rims. The new tire is also now compatible with the growing range of hookless road rims, such as from Zipp, Cadex, Enve, and others, but with one notable caveat. Despite the latest ETRTO guidelines specifying that 25 mm-wide tires are safe to use with 23 mm-wide hookless rims, Continental explicitly does not approve of that combination.
Naturally, Continental’s other trademark performance features carry over, including the Black Chili rubber compound (with that distinctive “Laser Grip” tread design) and Vectran breaker belt for additional puncture protection.
Starting today, Continental is offering the Grand Prix 5000 S TR in four 700c widths — 25, 28, 30, and 32 mm — in both blackwall and “transparent” tanwall colors. Claimed weights are 250, 280, 300, and 320 g, respectively, all with a retail price of US$100 / €80 (pricing for other regions is to be confirmed).
Now that one of the last two major holdouts on hookless road tire compatibility has made the switch, will Vittoria be far behind?
Either way, more information can be found at www.continental-tires.com.
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