Road Bike Tire Test: Vittoria Open Corsa CX III 25

NOTE: We have a test available of a newer version of this tire: Vittoria Corsa G+ 1.0 (open) 2016

NOTE: From November 1, 2022, the road bike category has been updated to support multi tire sizes. Because the measured width of this tire is wider or narrower than the original values, the rolling resistance test results have been revised.

The Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX III 700 x 25C is the top of the line clincher road bike tire from Vittoria, it is a clincher version of the tubular Corsa CX. According to Vittoria, the Corsa CX is the world's best-known and most-used tubular road bike tire. The Corespun 320 TPI cotton casing, PRB 2.0 flat protection, and ISOgrip rubber compound are their highest quality ingredients. They even claim this tire to be "Provably the fastest all-round racing tire available".

The Open Corsa Evo 25C is 28 mm wide on a 17C rim, which is big for a 25C tire. Most of the 25C width tires I've tested actually measure closer to a 28C size, so make sure you have enough clearance. When examining the tire, it feels very fast, the tread feels very subtle, more so than the GP4000S; and unlike most other road bike tires, the Corsa Evo actually has a tread pattern, although it is very thin.

Like previously stated, the measured width on a 17C rim is 28 mm. Height is 25 mm. The measured weight of this sample is 237 grams which is quite a bit more than the 220 grams specified by Vittoria.

NOTE: From November 1, 2022, the road bike category has been updated to support multi tire sizes. Because the measured width of this tire is wider or narrower than the original values, the rolling resistance test results have been revised. Some parts of the text below might still be based on the initial fixed air pressures.

Rolling resistance at 120 psi is 13.0 watts, which is a little bit higher when compared to the Continental GP4000S's score of 12.2 watts. At lower air pressures, rolling resistance starts rising at a faster rate when compared to the GP4000. At an air pressure of 100 psi, rolling resistance is 13.6 watts. At an air pressure of 80 psi, rolling resistance is 14.8 watts which is 1.1 watts higher when compared to the GP4000.

Puncture resistance, on the other hand, is a little better with a score of 12 compared to a score of 11 for the GP4000S. This seems to be a trade-off that's always there, a tire with very good puncture resistance and very low rolling resistance just doesn't exist. A puncture resistance score of 12 seems to be the average for a typical high-end all-round tire.

I choose to test this tire because I believed this to be a tire that could knock Continental off of all the top spots on Bicycle Rolling Resistance. To be clear, Me or this website are in -no way- connected to Continental. I've seen a lot of other tests, which outcome most of the time is that the Open Corsa is faster than the GP4000S. I even retested the GP4000S II on the same day, and then retested the Open Corsa again, to arrive at the same results. I am 100% sure these results are correct.

All tires are bought by me, so there is no cherry-picking going on. A possible explanation is that the weight of this Open Corsa CX III is 237 grams, which is higher than the claimed 220 grams by Vittoria. Complicating things further is that my sample of the GP4000S II is actually 10 grams lighter than the claimed weight of 225 grams. How much these weight differences affect tire test results; I do not know yet.

This is a good road bike tire. While beaten by the Continental GP4000S II on the test-bench. I'm sure the Vittoria Open Corsa CX III is still a top choice for most people.