I’ve been riding 2″ Michelin Hard Terrain semi-slick tyres on my rigid 26er on and off road for years. After toying with the idea of a ‘proper’ gravel bike, I’ve decided to follow my heart and have ordered a Singluar Swift frame which I’ll be building up with 29er wheels and I’ll be needing to look for suitable tyres.

The 2″ Michelins are quite a tall tyres and therefore have quite a high volume and are pretty comfortable and I don’t want to go for anything too narrow straight off.

I’ve never been too hung up on designations so I’m not sure if I’m looking for ‘gravel’ or ‘monstercross’ tyres but I’ll probably be riding around 80% road to 20% stoney off road.

I think that I’m looking for something around the 1.7″-2.0″ width mark with my primary concern being that they’re good on the road and I was wondering what folk would recommend.

Schwalbe to 2.25″ G-One Allround tyres as well as a 2″ Marathon Supreme touring tyre and Continental have a 700×50 Travel Contact but I’m sure that there are lots of options out there.

Look at Compass tyres the main stockist is Velo Vitality.

For a monster bargain…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYSCMRCFOL/schwalbe-marathon-cross-wired-tyre-with-raceguard

“PRFINAL20” promo basket code (works for loads of kit there this weekend)

£20.80 for a pair plus postage, I paid £20 for a single one last summer from NextDayTyres!

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYHDSGONE/schwalbe-g-one-folding-mtb-tyre for £16.80 using code, I paid £50 earlier this year from an unused pair of TLE 29×2.35s on Ebay!

The G-One Speed tyres look tempting. Ideally I think I’d prefer the Allround model (29×2.25) for a bit of added durability but I can’t seem to find a UK supplier.