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Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi
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Trying to figure out what pressures to run these at.

Always used the: https://silca.cc/...amp;tw_source=google

For pressures

The tire is 25mm but when seated I measure it around 26-26.5mm

When I input this into the slica calculator it's giving me 93psi (185lbs rider / bike, new roads, 700c, TT bike, cat 1/2/3 racing).

If I input 27mm it does drop to 87.5psi

These seem high to me; anyone have insight to this?

Thanks for any feedback.

2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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Conti GP5k measuring wide? Who'd have thought.... ;-)

My weight (incl. bike, etc) is almost close to yours.
I run 60psi rear, 58psi front with that tire, on smooth roads (dirt or asphalt).
If I plan to do more than a little off-road, I go 2psi less.
Anecdotally, comparing to others, this is on the high side, but I like the feel when on pavement.

No disrespect to Josh P who frequents this site, but I find the Silca calculator useless for tubeless, and still way high for tubed clinchers.

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Last edited by: philly1x: Apr 3, 24 7:22
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
Conti GP5k measuring wide? Who'd have thought.... ;-)

My weight (incl. bike, etc) is almost close to yours.
I run 60psi rear, 58psi front with that tire, on smooth roads (dirt or asphalt).
If I plan to do more than a little off-road, I go 2psi less.
Anecdotally, comparing to others, this is on the high side, but I like the feel when on pavement.

No disrespect to Josh P who frequents this site, but I find the Silca calculator useless for tubeless, and still way high for tubed clinchers.

Always felt Silca site was spot on for latex tubes; but this just seems high. This is my first year racing on tubeless; brave new world for me! From what I was reading elsewhere seems like 80's (or even high 70's) would be more inline. Not sure how much being on a 26mm tire vs 28 or 30 matters?

2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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Toothengineer wrote:
These seem high to me; anyone have insight to this?

Yeah, it's murky if trying to find a definitive answer. We had all the sources telling us that that we needed to dramatically lower pressures, hysteresis, etc. But more recently had some people on this forum - including those involved with rigorous testing with pro bike racers - telling us that the pressures more like what the Silca calculator spits out, are closer to optimal for real world road surfaces.
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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Toothengineer wrote:
Always felt Silca site was spot on for latex tubes; but this just seems high. This is my first year racing on tubeless; brave new world for me! From what I was reading elsewhere seems like 80's (or even high 70's) would be more inline. Not sure how much being on a 26mm tire vs 28 or 30 matters?

I run 87/85psi for latex tubes on the road and 5psi less when riding hardpack dirt.
When I ride 28mm Conti GP5k TR they get 57/55psi.
When riding 30mm, I go 52/50psi.

For comparison, the wife+bike are 68kg and she gets 54/52psi on her 26mm tubeless setup (she does not like squishy feeling) and -2psi when riding dirt roads.

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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I suspect it's because you put in 'new roads'. Perfect pavement is going to warrant higher pressures. Is that really what you'll have? Also, you probably know this, but if you have hookless wheels, definitely don't run that pressure!

Dimond Bikes Superfan
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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Seems fine to me, you're assuming a relatively narrow tire at high speed on a perfect surface. What speed are you actually anticipating? Also, as other posters have said, it's unlikely you have a surface which is actually that good. Typically people who talk about low pressures are also running 28+mm tires which measure 29+mm on rougher roads at lower speeds
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Toothengineer] [ In reply to ]
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Toothengineer wrote:
philly1x wrote:
Conti GP5k measuring wide? Who'd have thought.... ;-)

My weight (incl. bike, etc) is almost close to yours.
I run 60psi rear, 58psi front with that tire, on smooth roads (dirt or asphalt).
If I plan to do more than a little off-road, I go 2psi less.
Anecdotally, comparing to others, this is on the high side, but I like the feel when on pavement.

No disrespect to Josh P who frequents this site, but I find the Silca calculator useless for tubeless, and still way high for tubed clinchers.


Always felt Silca site was spot on for latex tubes; but this just seems high. This is my first year racing on tubeless; brave new world for me! From what I was reading elsewhere seems like 80's (or even high 70's) would be more inline. Not sure how much being on a 26mm tire vs 28 or 30 matters?

I run latex tubes

205 lbs. have run 85 psi front and back per HEDs instructions when I called them, for years with the conti 5000s 25c. Never a problem
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I think 25 is still a pretty narrow tire hence the higher pressures. I’m similarly sized and run 90psi on 25’s, 80 on 28’s, and 70 on 30’s. Maybe 5 psi less if it’s wet out. Seems to work for me. Next road bike will have 32’s and 24mm internal width for sure. The extra comfort and grip is nice but still on 25/28 for tri bike.
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [imswimmer328] [ In reply to ]
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imswimmer328 wrote:
Seems fine to me, you're assuming a relatively narrow tire at high speed on a perfect surface. What speed are you actually anticipating? Also, as other posters have said, it's unlikely you have a surface which is actually that good. Typically people who talk about low pressures are also running 28+mm tires which measure 29+mm on rougher roads at lower speeds

Galveston texas; i am going to switch road surface to "worn / some cracks" brings psi down to 88. Speed should be right around 25mph.

2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
No disrespect to Josh P who frequents this site, but I find the Silca calculator useless for tubeless, and still way high for tubed clinchers.

Several years ago, I spend an entire afternoon testing tire pressure, riding both a smooth bike path and the somewhat rougher road running parallel to it. For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels, I got 95psi for the path, and 90psi for the road. A few years later the Silca calculator came out, it recommended 95.5psi and 90.5psi. I repeated my testing when I switched to wider tires, and the Silca results were again nearly identical to what I came up with. So I feel pretty confident using whatever it recommends...

"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [Warbird] [ In reply to ]
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Warbird wrote:
For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels
What results did you get when running tubeless on hookless at <60psi?

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Last edited by: philly1x: Apr 3, 24 12:24
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
Warbird wrote:
For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels

What results did you get when running tubeless on hookless at <60psi?


Just over 4watt (at 40km/h) penalty with a 28mm tire
Last edited by: marcag: Apr 3, 24 12:45
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [marcag] [ In reply to ]
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marcag wrote:
philly1x wrote:
Warbird wrote:
For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels

What results did you get when running tubeless on hookless at <60psi?


Just over 4watt (at 40km/h) penalty with a 28mm tire

You didn't do that with a GP4k tire, which was released in 2007—before road hookless tubeless, before testing to validate wider (eg, 28mm) tires offers lower CdA and Crr—and 19mm-23mm tires were a thing.

And you also previously wrote about using 26mm, right?

I'm just pointing out that comparing apples to oranges does not work in this instance.

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here
Last edited by: philly1x: Apr 3, 24 12:57
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
Warbird wrote:
For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels

What results did you get when running tubeless on hookless at <60psi?

I don't use tubeless, hookless or otherwise, so I've never tested that. Just pointing that at least in my experience, the Silca calculator was pretty much dead on, rather than "still way high for tubed clinchers"...

"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
marcag wrote:
philly1x wrote:
Warbird wrote:
For GP4Ks that measured 26mm on my wheels

What results did you get when running tubeless on hookless at <60psi?


Just over 4watt (at 40km/h) penalty with a 28mm tire


You didn't do that with a GP4k tire, which was released in 2007—before road hookless tubeless, before testing to validate wider (eg, 28mm) tires offers lower CdA and Crr—and 19mm-23mm tires were a thing.

And you also previously wrote about using 26mm, right?

I'm just pointing out that comparing apples to oranges does not work in this instance.


You are right, we did not test a GP4k
We did test 25 to 30mm, lots of 28
We tested hooked, hookless
We tested older inner widths and more modern (22, 23..)
We tested ok, good and bad roads
We tested cycling pros, tri pros, tiny women and big big men.

To what I thought was your question, running tubeless on hookless < 60PSI was never optimal unless on the really roughs roads.

Testing is believing :-)
Last edited by: marcag: Apr 4, 24 2:49
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [marcag] [ In reply to ]
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How’s this rank vs the testing Zinn, et al did?

Anecdotally and from interviews with mechanics, etc, pressures for 28mm-30mm are <60psi.

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here
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Re: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) Psi [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
How’s this rank vs the testing Zinn, et al did?

Anecdotally and from interviews with mechanics, etc, pressures for 28mm-30mm are <60psi.


I have never seen the tests from Zinn. I have seen stuff for gravel but never road. To be clear, I am testing for road racing and triathlon. (as well as Belgian classics).
My tests may be 100% flawed which is why I encourage people to do their own tests.
I just find the coincidence that the numbers line up more with Silca than the other calculators interesting.

I have another 6 guys lined up in 2 weeks. One is a 7x grand tour winner. That should be fun.

Optimal tire pressure testing protocol is now part of the product we use.

If we can get rid of this pesky snow I should be able to test the fatty end of the weight spectrum :-)

Robert Chung used to add bottles to test varying weights. I wonder if he has a solution for removing weight. I am having beers with him later, I'll ask.
Last edited by: marcag: Apr 4, 24 5:24
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