Friday, August 29, 2014

Some more Conti Crr data

I often get asked about how some of the other Continental tires roll, such as the Attack/Force models, and the 23C version of the SuperSonic tire. Well, thanks to Eric Reid (who sent me a new Attack and a slightly used Force) along with Thomas Gerlach (who sent me a VERY well used 23C SuperSonic) I know have a couple of those data points.

To be clear on the SuperSonic, when I say very well used, I mean VERY well used...according to Thomas, this tire has ~600-1000 miles on it of rear tire used.  When mounted on my Mavic Open Pro test rim and inflated to 120 psi, I measured a flat section on the tread that was a full 7mm across. In other words, it was near "end of life" ;-)

So, without further ado, here are their results:

Continental Supersonic 23C (WELL worn) = .0027, 25W for pair @ 40kph
Continental Attack 22C = .0035, 32W for pair @ 40kph
Continental Force 24C = .0029, 27W for pair @ 40kph

By comparison, here's the results for the "benchmark" GP4000S:

Continental GP4000S 23C = .0034,  31W for pair @ 40kph

My suspicion is that a new 23C Supersonic would probably test out closer to .0030.  The worn Crr result puts it currently at the top of my Crr chart, but with a hefty asterisk.

The result for the Attack model shows it to roll about the same as (or just slightly worse than) the GP4000S, but with its narrower profile (22.7mm vs. 24.2mm) it should be slightly more aerodynamic.  The Force model rolled very well, although it too had a small amount of miles on it.  It basically put it in a tie, or slightly behind the top mark for a brand new tire I've tested, the Specialized Turbo Cotton. However, it also measured a fairly wide 25mm on my narrow test rim. On a wider rim, such as a Zipp Super9 disc, it would most likely measure as much as 26mm.

The spreadsheet linked to in the upper right of this blog has been updated to include these results.