Serfas Helix High Performance Road Tire

Update: It's now late October 2012 and I've put about 1,000 miles on these tires, mostly on pretty rough back roads and secondary highways. Granted there is a lot of debris, including sharp stones and broken glass where I ride; however, I feel these tires have worn down faster than I expected and I'm experiencing more flats than I would like, about 4 in the past couple of months, including the last one on a smooth bike path! This is the first set of "high performance" tires I've owned so maybe this is the price you pay for very light tires. I will be shopping for something more flat resistant in my next set of tires. However, the attributes I note in my initial review, just below, still hold.Initial review: I recently replaced the Michelin Dynamic 700x23 tires that came stock on my Windsor Fens road bike with a pair of Serfas Helix tires. Wow, what a difference! First, unlike other high performance tires I've read about, the Serfas tires went on my rims VERY easily, basically by hand by simply pushing them over the rim. My son recently purchased Michelin Krylion tires and they were very difficult to mount; many others comment on this in their reviews as well. Second, they are very light. I weighed these tires on my kitchen scale and they came in at about 205 grams each, about 100 grams lighter per tire than my Michelins. Third, affordable. Mine were $67 for the pair, shipped. I chose the blue sidewalls since they were less expensive, at the time, than other color options (e.g., red, black, white, etc.). So, if you're not particular about the color of your tire, check all the color/price options in the order window and you may find a bargain. I've ridden about 300 miles so far and really liking the performance of these tires. These are high pressure--145 psi--but I find they give me a more compliant ride compared to my heavier and lower pressure (116psi max) Michelins. I'm guessing the much lighter weight must be the reason. Had to buy a new floor pump to give me the higher pressure required. These tires seem to roll much faster than my old tires, again, probably due to the lighter weight and higher pressure. I've added almost 1-2 mph to my average ride speed, which may not sound like a lot, but every little bit helps. You know who you are. If you're consistently averaging 14mph on your weekend rides, imagine suddenly jumping to 15 or 16 mph by just changing the tires you're using! So far so good with regards to puncture resistance--no flats yet, knock on wood! I had "only" 3-4 flats on my Michelins over about 1100 miles, which didn't seem that bad. Oh, and the Serfas Helix have this cool graduated tread compound that's hard down the middle where you ride the most and softer/grippier on the sides for more secure cornering.

My assessment of these tires is essentially they look good but don't perform very well. I bought a set of these tires ~3 months ago mainly because they enhanced the look of my bike but I've had more flats with these Serfas (on my usual road routes in northern California) in the past 3 months than I've had on the same routes in the previous 12 months. I ride a fair amount...(clocked in just over 2500 miles in 2014) as such an extraordinary number of flats starts to add up for me in terms of tubes, CO2 cartridges, time and hassle. The stock tires (Bontragers) that came with my Trek outperformed these tires.So, with plenty of life left on the tires I'll be changing them out.

Excellent light weight tires they hug the road. I did my first century ride this past weekend 6/15/2013 I got a flat at mile 92 in my rear tire but the terrain that I was on was pretty tough so I'm surprised it lasted that long.

This was a well thought out tire,I have It on my tri . Bike .Has nice art work also.Cool factor