Vittoria

Corsa Evo SC Tire - Tubular

It's no secret that most Pro bike racers use tubular tires. Aside from the responsive ride and lessened danger of pinch flats, the main reason may simply be that tubulars offer a margin of safety. Luis Leon Sanchez was able to ride his flat tire inside the bunch as they sped towards the finish in Stage 2 of this year's Paris Nice and only stopped for a wheel change once inside the 3km safety zone as to not lose time on the stage. With clincher tires, this would not be possible. The Vittoria Corsa Evo SC Tubular Tire offers everything Sanchez and his Rabobank teammates expect in a full-on racing tire.

For the Corsa Evo SC, Vittoria builds the tire with its 320 tpi Corespun cotton/poly casing. It's the highest thread count available on the market. This higher thread count makes for a more responsive tire since there is more structure and less matrix, not unlike optimizing the fabric/resin ratio in a high performance composite bike frame. This high density fabric is coated with natural latex rubber to ensure that it's as supple and resilient as possible to conform to irregularities in the road surface, offering the best possible grip through fast corners as well as the absolute minimum rolling resistance.

The tread received as much attention as the casing. Vittoria caps the Corsa Evo SC Tires with its dual compound Twin Tread. As you might expect, it uses a harder durometer rubber in the center to decrease rolling resistance. The shoulders of the tread are made of a softer rubber to increase the grip on the road. Vittoria calls their rubber compound Isogrip SC. Overall, you'll get the best of both worlds -- durability and great performance. Vittoria's PRB 2.0 puncture resistant belting situates a high density aramid layer underneath the tread. This is the same technology they use with the tires supplied to their sponsored teams for the cobbled brutality of Paris-Roubaix. So even though these tires are very light, you won't sacrifice one bit of road-worthiness.

The Vittoria Corsa Evo SC Tubular Tire has a Black tread with a natural latex sidewall. The file tread makes this an excellent all-weather racing tire, and it's at home on any road surface as well. The alloy Presta valve stem is 42mm long.