Pirelli has announced a tube-type version of its fastest road bike tyre, the P Zero Race RS.
The new clincher tyre uses the same SmartEvo2 rubber compound as the P Zero Race TLR RS, but swaps the SpeedCore tubeless casing for a 120 TPI TechBelt Road clincher version.
According to the Italian brand, a 28c P Zero Race RS clincher weighs only 230g per tyre, compared to 290g for an equivalent tubeless version.
This, Pirelli says, enables it to offer a “record system weight” when paired with its SmarTube TPU inner tubes.
Available now in 700x26, 28c and 30c sizes, the Pirelli P Zero Race RS clincher tyre costs €79.99 (US and UK pricing is to be confirmed).
Why is Pirelli launching a high-end clincher tyre in 2025?
With tubeless road bike tyres becoming increasingly dominant in recent years, it’s rare to see one of cycling's biggest tyre brands releasing a new flagship clincher.
With the P Zero Race RS, though, Pirelli says it's looking to better serve the needs of riders who prefer to stick with inner tubes.
According to Pirelli’s head of global marketing, Samuele Bressan, the pros want tubeless tyres and technology, but around 50 per cent of its customers still prefer clinchers.
As a result, then, it's convinced there’s still a big enough market for clinchers to warrant making separate tyres.
After all, it’s worth remembering tubeless tyres can be used with inner tubes on both hooked and hookless rims, whereas clincher tyres (including the new P Zero Race RS) can only be used on hooked rims.
The primary gains from ‘tube type’ tyres, then, come from a reduction in weight. In this case, for example, the P Zero Race RS clincher is a little more than 20 per cent lighter than the tubeless version.
This is because clincher tyres can use a lighter bead and casing, because there’s no requirement for them to be airtight without an inner tube and pressure from inside the tube helps retain the tyre on the rim.
Clincher tyres also offer improved compatibility with older clincher rims, which lack the deep central channel designed to offer more slack when installing inflexible tubeless tyre beads.
Different construction, same performance
Despite the change in construction, Pirelli says the P Zero Race RS offers comparable performance to the tubeless version (when paired with a high-quality inner tube, of course), with a focus on speed and racing.
Despite this and the tyre’s low weight, Bressan insists the P Zero Race RS is “usable in the real world”, because the TechBelt Road casing includes a dedicated puncture protection belt.
Bressan also notes that its pro teams have consistently requested lighter, faster tyres in recent years, even at the cost of some durability, because they experience relatively few punctures.
