What is the best tubular tire in the world? After been working with many of the greatest world tour teams, we began to see a pattern.
The pro peloton is riding with many different tires. Mainly due to the fact that many of the teams are sponsored by the different brands and therefore obligated to ride with a certain tire. The most common tire brands we have seen from the World Tour, are Continental, Vittoria, Schwalbe, VeloFlex, and Wolfpack. But, which one of these sponsored tires are actually the best one to race with?
There is no doubt that all the sponsored tires from these famous brands are popular and high-quality tires. There is just one specific tire that stands out from the rest.
We have taken a deeper look into the one and only tubular tire, Continental Pro Limited (also spelled as LTD), which is normally only used by professional cyclists.
What makes the Continental Pro LTD so special?
These Continental Pro LTD tires are an extremely rare version of tubular race tires that you normally only see in the pro peloton.
This version is a special one and is only supplied by Continental to sponsored pro teams, and therefore not available in any shops anywhere except www.proownedcycling.com. These tires are considered the holy grail of tubular tires. Once in a while, we even see pro teams who are not sponsored by Continental, using these tires in an unbranded edition for the most important races.
The main difference between the regular Continental Competition and Pro LTD tubular tires is that the Pro LTD has a latex inner tube, which makes the tire even lighter, gives an improved grip and makes it more puncture resistant.
Mostly, we see that the pro teams storage these Pro LTD tires for several years, so they are even better to use in the race. This aging process makes the tire, even more, puncture-resistant and less able to pick up small rocks from the road.
What is the difference between the Pro LTD tires?
Continental Pro LTD ALX:
The Continental Pro LTD "ALX" is the all-round tire used for the regular road races. This is probably the most popular tire among all the cycling teams who are sponsored by Continental. The ALX variant can be found with both the "diamond pattern" tread, which looks similar to the standard competition tread, and also with the "RS profile" (slick center) tread. The two variants are very similar and the only difference is the pattern in the center of the tire. It is really a matter of taste whether you want to use this version with or without the center slick. The RS profile center slick is also known to be "faster-rolling". We would definitely also recommend the slick center edition for faster races and time trials. This edition is also the popular choice at the world tour team, Ineos.
- Tread: Competition (diamond pattern). or RS profile (RaceSport) with slick center.
- Sizes: 22 mm or 25 mm.
- Color: Black.
- Weight: 285 g
- Price: 99 €.
- Used for: All-round road races or time trials.
Available here:
Continental Pro LTD AL:
The Continental Pro LTD "AL" tire is a similar edition of the ALX edition. It is hard to tell what the difference is since there are several theories about this. There is a theory that says, that the "x" in the ALX edition means that they have a latex inner tube inside. Read more about this further below.
- Tread: Competition (diamond pattern).
- Sizes: 22 mm.
- Color: Black.
- Weight: 265 g.
- Price: 69 to 89 €.
- Used for: All-round road races
Available here:
Continental Pro LTD PTX:
The Continental Pro LTD "PTX" tire is generally harder than the other Pro LTD variants. The tire has features like extra puncture protection and thicker rubber. These features also make the tire heavier and more popular in the pro races with bad roads. This tire is often seen on the big cobble classic races like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The tire is only made with the regular competition tread but made with extra strengthened sidewalls in both orange and black.
- Tread: Competition (diamond pattern).
- Sizes: 25 mm or 28 mm.
- Color: Black and black/orange.
- Weight: 330 to 435 g.
- Price: 79 to 99 €.
- Used for: Bad roads and cobble classics.
Available here:
- Continental Pro LTD PTX black.
- Continental Pro LTD PTX orange sidewalls.
- Continental Pro LTD PTX orange sidewalls (pre-owned).
Continental Pro LTD PT:
The Continental Pro LTD "PT" tire is a very similar edition of the PTX edition. It is hard to tell what the difference is since there are several theories about this. There is a theory that says, that the "x" in the PTX edition means that they have a latex inner tube inside. Read more about this further below.
- Tread: Competition (diamond pattern).
- Sizes: 25 mm
- Color: Black/orange.
- Weight: 345 g.
- Price: 89 €.
- Used for: Bad roads and cobble classics.
Available here:
Continental Pro LTD All-round:
The Continental Pro LTD "All-round" tire is very similar to the ALX and AL editions. The main difference in this all-round edition is that is has a Vectran layer inside, which makes the tire a bit more puncture-resistant than the ALX and AL editions. Furthermore, the diamond patterns sit more closely to give an even better grip on the road.
- Tread: Competition (diamond pattern).
- Sizes: 22 mm.
- Color: Black.
- Weight: 265 g.
- Price: 89 €.
- Used for: All-round road races.
Available here:
Continental Pro LTD Rain:
The Continental Pro LTD "Rain" tire is, well, the title speaks for itself. The tread is a spectacular "rain-improved" rubber that gives a better grip on the wet roads, which allows you to take the corners with higher speed. This tire is also very similar to the ALX and AL editions. The main difference in this rain edition is that is has a Vectran layer inside and the improved grip performance in wet weather, which makes the tire a bit more puncture-resistant than the ALX and AL editions.
- Tread: Competition Rain.
- Sizes: 22 mm.
- Color: Black with orange logo.
- Weight: 265 g.
- Price: 89 €.
- Used for: Rainy races.
Available here:
Other Continental Pro LTD variants:
- Pro LTD Podium (Time-trials)
- Pro LTD TTX (Time-trials)
- Pro LTB RBX (Cobbled classics)
What does the "X" stand for?
There is a theory that says, that the "x" in the ALX and PTX editions means that they have a latex inner tube inside. There is just one major issue with this theory. We tried to cut a punctured tire of each model and found out that all the Pro LTD tires are with latex inner tubes. No one but Continental knows the true reason behind the "x".
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I hope you enjoyed reading this post and that it also gave you better insights into the best pro team tire in the world. It is very difficult to find all the information about the Pro LTD's, so, if you should have any knowledge about them, please feel free to contact us about it.
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