Bespoke Blog

Around five years ago I was not a Vittoria fan. They were the iconic Italian brand that had sold out and moved their production to Thailand with detoriating quality. It did not help that I got a puncture using their tyres in an 'A' race.

In contrast the much smaller Veloflex were the cool guys, they had taken Vittoria's old factory and made the best tyres in the world. Give me a set of Veloflex Carbon's over a set of Vittoria Corsas any day of the week, said I...

My prejudice remained for many years, and when the Vittoria rep told us of the new Corsa G+ and the wonder material graphene I was not interested. But as I read more and more amazing review on the new Corsa's I was intrigued. Then I bought a set…and I was blown away.

They come in many widths and two colours; a tan sidewall or a grey one. I love the tan one's - every time I see them on my bike it brings a smile to my face.

They come in 23mm, 25mm and 28mm. I run the 25s and they come up neutral in sizing (a 25mm Conti is wider).

Puncture resistance
Touch wood; so far so good. 1000 miles on them on shocking London and Kent roads and no issues to date.

Rolling resistance
They fly. Various lab tests have these as been amongst the quickest tyres available. Their Crr (rolling resistance) is very low - putting a pair of these on can save you 5-10 watts. They test very similarly to the excellent Continental GP4000sII's. But to me they "feel" much quicker.

Grip
The tyres are very tacky; and this really helps with grip. When combined with the generous 25mm width they are very reassuring

Conclusion
Tyres are really not something you should notice. If you are talking about your tyres it normally means you have had an issue with them (saddles are the same). I normally put tyres on and forget about them. I am also pretty happy to swap around and have Continental GP4000sII on other bikes and Schwalbe tubs on my climbing wheels. But if I am building a bike up for 'racing' I will always put the Vittoria's on. To me they are the best all round race tyres on the market.