Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR review: comfortable and easy to fit – but look elsewhere for excitement

The Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR will appeal to those looking for a mid-priced training tyre, who don’t necessarily need the fastest or most tactile ride experience.

On the road, its main strength is the ability to dull buzz from pimply tarmac and offer a comfortable ride, and it’s one of the easier all-season tyres I’ve tested to fit – great if you need to insert a tube by the side of the road following a puncture.

That said, there are faster and more responsive-feeling all-season tyres available for similar money.

Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR tyre details and specifications

The Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR is the second-tier offering from the brand’s Cinturato range.

My colleague, Oscar Huckle, has reviewed the range-topping Cinturato Velo (which is also tubeless-compatible), while I’ve tested the Race TLR 4S tyre from the racier P Zero range – both have well-earned places in our list of the best winter training tyres.

Like the Cinturato Velo, the Cinturato Road TLR has a 60 TPI (threads-per-inch) casing and shares the same SmartNet Silica compound technology.

The casing, though, is formed of Pirelli’s TechWall+ Road design, which represents a ‘downgrade’ on the Armour Tech construction of the Cinturato Velo.

In short, this means the tyre employs a standard puncture protection belt, rather than integrating Kevlar fibres into the construction.

Nevertheless, my 700x28c tyres weighed 366 and 367g each on my scales, making them just 6-7g heavier than the higher-spec option.

This weight isn’t out of the ordinary for an all-season tyre, albeit there are lighter all-season tyres available – including the Specialized S-Works Mondo (317g, £55 / $80 / €70) and Michelin Power Protection TLR (322g, but a little more expensive at £79.99 / $84.99 / €81).

The tread features a shoulder pattern to improve grip when cornering, while the compound is said to be optimised for wet-weather conditions. Pirelli claims this is down to “silica rod particles” embedded in the rubber, which have a “high affinity” for water.

The Cinturato Road TLR is available in four sizes: 700x26, 28, 32 and 35c.

Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR tyre installation and setup

Although all-season tyres tend to be sturdier in their construction, and therefore more difficult to fit and dismount (relative to lighter, more flexible road bike tyres), the Cinturato Road TLR is an exception.

I was able to fit the tyre relatively easily on the Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheelset used for testing – about as easily as the two notably light tyres from Specialized and Michelin – which bodes well for emergency roadside fettling.

This is likely down to a marginally more flexible bead and sidewall (helping me to cajole and slide the tyre over the rim), and was also a general finding for Oscar when testing the Cinturato Velo.

Although the Hunt’s rims are relatively progressive (at 22mm wide internally and 30mm wide externally), I measured the Cinturato Road at 28.1mm wide at my reference 80psi / 5.5 Bar tyre pressure.

Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR tyre performance

Aside from the easy fitting, the Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR gives a good account of itself on the road.

The compound felt adequately grippy in damp and wet conditions, and gave me confidence to push into corners. That said, there are grippier compounds out there, mainly on racier all-season tyres.

The 60 TPI casing might not be as supple as higher-count carcases, but it’s still informative enough (in combination with the compound) that I didn’t feel completely isolated from the road.

It falls short of racier all-season tyres in this respect, but the upside was vibrations from rougher tarmac felt slightly muted compared to more transmissive tyres.

Tyre pressures make a world of difference to comfort levels, of course, but compared to many rivals, the Cinturato Road TLR felt appealingly comfortable.

While I’ve seen a couple of knicks to the compound through testing, the tyres have remained puncture-free – none the worse for the lower-spec construction compared to the Cinturato Velo come the end of testing.

That said, it’s understandable that many will find reassurance in a more 'premium’ construction – all things being equal, you'd expect that to be faster, more supple and/or tougher.

For those after a racier experience, there are better options available – the Specialized S-Works Mondo, Michelin Power Protection TLR and Teravail Telegraph all have the Pirelli beaten in this respect, each with more supple, higher-thread-count casings and (in the case of the Specialized and Michelin tyres) noticeable chunks of weight saved too.

How we tested | all-season road tyres

I tested this selection of the latest all-season tyres through the northern hemisphere’s late autumn and winter.

Testing conditions varied wildly, from a prolonged period of dry, mild days to the aftermath of storms Ashley, Bert, Connell and Darragh. By the end of testing, I had covered in excess of 1,500km.

I used a Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheelset for testing consistency, and assessed ease of installation and removal – after all, while we hope all-season tyres will save us from punctures, it’s never guaranteed.

Each tyre’s specifications, sense of speed, grip and suppleness were also assessed, with the overall goal of indicating where on the all-season tyre spectrum each sits – and relative value was also addressed.

All-season tyres on test

• Specialized S-Works Mondo 2Bliss Ready T2/T5
• Michelin Power Protection TLR
• Teravail Telegraph ‘Durable’
• Vittoria RideArmor TLR
• Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR
• Schwalbe One 365 ‘Performance’

Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR tyre bottom line

The Pirelli Cinturato Road TLR is a competent all-season road bike tyre, with good comfort levels and a decently grippy compound. It appears resistant to punctures too.

The easy fitting experience shouldn’t be overlooked either.

That said, it has stiff competition around this price point, be it from all-season rivals that are racier, or those with even tougher puncture protection.