I’ve had my GP5000 TL tires for 500 miles now so I thought I’d post my experiences
I bought both 25 and 28mm tires because I wanted the 28s but wasn’t sure if they would end up fitting
I mounted the 25 first to measure (dumb mistake because now I can’t return it) and it was really tough.
The 28mm tire was easier to get on, but definitely couldn’t do it by hand. A little coaxing with a hair dryer and some tire levers and I was good to go.
Compared to the Schwalbe Pro Ones that I put some other wheels these were about the same but seated easier
The GP’s seated and inflated just fine with my floor pump, but I think that is mostly down to internal rim design and tape job.
So to quote myself, I did this - fitted some new 28c tyres to an old set of wheels and left them in a hot/cold garage for 4 weeks. They went on the carbon TL rims without putting up a fight. Managed to gently lever on.
The 25c that were coming off the wheel, were fitted fresh out of the packet and that was an epic battle. They also came off really easily - for anyone concerned about fitting a tube on the roadside, they do stretch a little.
This was on AR46 LightBicycle rims. Hooked, 28mm wide, 21mm internal.
Some days ago I received my new bike mounting the non TL version of Conti GP 5000 in Fulcrum 4 db wheels. Because I found logical to swap to the TL version of the tires I’ve order with the bike a pair of GP 5000 TL. I spent a whole day trying to fit the TL tires into the rims but I only got frustration and finger pain. I’ve found this thread and followed all tricks, e.g. soapy water, sun bath, oven baking, hands of a wife…but nothing worked. I was ready to return the GP 5000 TL to the shop and order a pair of Schalwbe Pro Ones TLE, but I decided to try something that @TheOtherOne pointed out: the new schalwbe tire levers. Definitively, those were the 5 Euros better spent in my whole life! Assisted by the clip feature of levers I’ve installed the GP 5000 TL tires in less than 5 minutes. After that everything was easy peasy: beads were seated with the first Airshot discharge and even the tire can hold 90 psi without liquid sealant…no leaks in 24 h!! Anyway, I would pour some Stan’s no tubes sealant into the tire and then it’s time to hit the road.
Great to hear that this tire works for other people as well. I have Roval CLX 50 wheels and just fitted a new Conti 5000 TL 28C rear tire. It was definitely stubborn but went on with a lever. Front tire is in 25C and will be replaced when I see fit. Over 2k miles on the tire so far and it still looks pretty new to me. Definitely prefer the 28C in the rear but will keep the 25 on the front as long as I can. Never had a flat, enough grip for the roads I ride and never punctured so far knock on wood.
Putting these tires on with a Kool stop jack, I had similar issues but found the crankbros “speedier” levers with the knuckle guard has a similar notch like this for tire installation. I use one of them to “pin” the tire in the rim while working my way to it with the tire jack. Between the jack and a pair of these for all other on/off activity has saved me some manhandling of tires and lever risk to carbon rims with tight tires.
Granted these aren’t mobile tools, but I’m sure like the others that I won’t be doing any more than trying a plug on roadside… anything bigger than that and it’s a pickup call. I don’t need to be risking latex splatter on my kit from a messy roadside tire triage.
Yea. The takeaway I had from my experience is that with a few really good levers and a tire jack…getting the tires on isnt completely god awful.
My second takeaway is that bikeshops charge $10-$20 to throw a tire on and do it properly. I like doing my own work…but for something that has no obvious route to success, may have to be repeated multiple times, and require significant experienced diagnosing issues during installation…$12 a tire I paid is a far better choice than spending a day fighting a stubborn installation that wont seal up.
Next time…I’ll try once for 15 minutes, and if not making steady linear progresss…it goes straight to the shop.
Man, I just mounted up my gravel tires from last year on my cross bike. Vittoria terreno dry in 40mm. Wow what a pleasure lol. Tires put on by hand only, no levers or jacks. Seated with a floor pump without bothering to take out valve cores or put sealent in first. All in all, including letting pressure out to check bead seat and put sealent in, 10 minutes, and possibly easier than installing clinchers with tubes.
I helped a friend with these tire installs last night. The rear went on with no issues and was centered. The front had one hop that returned after multiple attempts of dropping pressure, pulling the bead off the rim shelf and reinflating.
I did the old motorcycle tire, soapy water on the bead trick, on the full length of both beads. Inflating afterwards yielded the familiar ‘pops’ and a centered tire. Not something I have to do with most setup. This was 28mm 5000 TL on Bontrager Aeolus 3 wheels with their rim strips.
Just managed to fit GP5000TLs to Mavic Cosmic Pro UST wheels. I was a bit worried reading this thread and had thought I might have made a bad decision. I have had GP5000 on some other wheels and really liked the tyres and wanted to stick with the GP5000 and go tubeless.
They were tight but they did go on and sealed very quickly just with a track pump. I made sure I finished at the valve and that the bead was right in the centre of the rim. I did need to use my wife as a second pair of hands to pin one side of the bead, some soapy water (just washing up liquid and a little water) and three plastic tyre levers, just on the last tough bit around the valve. I also had to take the rear tyre off and refit as I had put it on in the wrong direction! It was still tough but went back on easier the second time.
I bought my Light Bicycle AR56 wheels this spring, and just had to replace the rear Conti GP5000TL 28c after 6,600 km. I’m super happy with how well the tubeless setup worked, I’ve only had one flat in that whole time at around the 6K mark, when I picked up a piece of glass on the rear. Dynaplug in, another 600km without a problem, and am down to the threads, new tire time. I typically pump the front (25c) and rear (28c) to 65-70psi (I weigh 77kg) and check pressure with the pump once a week, and ye ol’ “push the tires with my thumb” pressure check before every ride.
I thought I’d take a video this time, since I didn’t have any problems the first time. I do have the advantage of not having rim tape since I went with the holeless rim bed. In the video is a brand new tire, wasn’t mounted or in the oven or anything special, no lube, rim cleaned with Muc Off sealant cleaner. Takes about 2-3 minutes to mount without levers. If I was running rim tape, I’d probably have to use a lever at the very end. I then seated the tire with a regular floor pump (took me a minute, didn’t see the bead sitting on top of the valve on one side, which I show in the video). I pumped it up to 80psi, will let it set for a while, then put sealant in (was using Stan’s, am trying out Orange Endurance this time).
There are rumors that conti have quietly made some changes to the tubeless 5k to make them easier to fit - I hope this is true. Whilt they want on my WTOs they were harder than I would have liked.
Whilst I can’t confirm that, I can only report that about 2 month ago I got some GP 5000 TL 28mm from one of the biggest German online bike shops. I had to wait a bit for them because they were sold out in that size. So I’d say it was a rather new batch and I would support that theory with n=1 experience.
After reading this thread here, I bought upfront a tyre jack, was ready to use soapy water etc. FYI, I’m living in a hot humid climate (around 30C) - that might help… On the day the tires arrived I just wanted to fit them ‘a bit’ in the late evening - so they get stretched over night. To my surprise they where easy to fit completely with my hands (well and gloves) only and no other tools, soap etc. in only sth like 5-10min each. Compared with other tires I would say the effort was a 4/10. So not super easy, but I was happy with that. Wheels are Farsports Feder with 21mm ID.
GP5Ks were also a bitch to get on my ENVE SES 3.4s. I helped my friend do it while giving him beer using the tire bead jack.
I don’t understand why anyone would try for hours for these specific tires. I get that they are the popular name brand, but the sidewalls are just shit. I’ve had so many issues with sidewall punctures as well as almost everyone else I know. Combined with the difficulty of getting tires on, their fragility is unacceptable and I’ve moved on. Currently using the new ENVE tires but also have some Hutchinson Sectors as a backup.
They are a performance tire designed for speed, not toughness. You can cut sidewalls on anything. Also, if you have Sectors I’m not sure the 5k is right for where and what you ride since the Sector is designed specifically for rough roads and the 5k doesn’t even claim to be
Yah I get they are supposed to be fast. So are the ENVEs. I haven’t even tried the Sectors yet - but the buddy who helps me install stuff when I am unable to had a good experience so I ordered them just in case.
Everyone I know IRL that has uses or has used the GP5ks has had sidewall issues at least one time really early in the mileage. Also on Reddit in the /r/velo thread where half of the people are talking about the GP5ks, the other half discuss their own sidewall issues.
I’ve had a couple of GP5ks where little thin strips of rubber just keep peeling off of the sidewalls. It has made me think they make them very cheaply. Completely anecdotal experience I understand, but with all of the other anecdotal experiences matching up it has made me give up on them. I don’t care how fast a tire is when it busts and you’re sitting on the side of the road trying to fix it. Especially when it’s so hard to get it off/on.
@cali many run them w/o problems including me for years and years. As far as installing…they are tough but, when you understand the beads need to be in the center of the rim as you install they are not more than a couple minutes per tire and no need for levers.
