Now that the commuter is no longer commuting I'm probably going to start using it as a gravel bike (it's an Arkose). I've got some nasty 35mm kendas that it came with originally, but wondered what the 'standard' tyre is for a gravel bike - for road bikes it's easy - stick a pair of GP4000/5000s on and job jobbed.
So what tyres for a gravel bike!
Panaracer Gravel King I believe. Not on them myself, but seems to be the usual answer.
There is no standard. All depends on the terrain and the conditions and the percentage of tarmac.
Personally I have four sets of tyres that I swap around depending on what and where I am riding
There is no standard. All depends on the terrain and the conditions and the percentage of tarmac.
^ this
Rocky/lumpy/potholey = more volume required
Wet/muddy = more central tread required
For knackered backroads and many farm tracks I was happy with Nanos in a wide range of weathers.
My Arkose is a 2015 frame and I've just added some new Hunt's and Schwalbes 35's to it, I swap the wheels around depending what I'm riding I have Mavic Askium with Conti 4 seasons on 28's.
Budget?
Fitted the new Specialized Rhombus to my CGR SL.
Seriously impressed so far.
Fitted the new Specialized Rhombus to my CGR SL.
I've just been looking at those to replace my now nearly-slick WTB Resolutes. Are they good in mud? And did you find anywhere doing them at a decent price?
"Are they good in mud?"
Sorry, don't know its been dry since I fitted them. Been fine on hard pack , loose dry surfaces, dry roots and roll surprisingly well on Tarmac.
"And did you find anywhere doing them at a decent price?"
Unfortunately not as I got them pretty much as they were released. If you find that's changed please let me/us know.
Ah yes, forgot to specify that I want to go tubeless on them. Had a bunch of pinch flats yesterday on my first gravel ride in few years!
Budget is roughly equiv to GP4000/5000s, so 60-70 quid for he pair. It's a 2017 arkose 3, which i think will take a 40mm wide tyre, but i've got some mud guards on at the moment and I doubt they'll take much wider than 35/38.
Terrain is just gravel roads with a bit of road between them - the fireroads at swinley that kind of thing. Maybe the swinley singletrack as well - I road the blue and red on it yesterday, seemed fine, except for the punctures.
Schwalbe G-One Allround in 38mm is a good tyre, at the road/hardpack/fast/commute end of the gravel spectrum. Merlin has both 35mm and 38mm for £27.50 and they work fine tubeless.
I've used Schwalbe G-one 35's for a fair while now and they're great. Fast on the road and on hardpack. They do start to slide when it gets muddy, but for everything else, like tony says, they're great.
Like the OP though with no commute I'm more off road than on nowadays and could do with some more volume so switching to some 40mm nanos.
Gravel Kings come in several flavours - slick, small knob (ooh er missus), all condition and EXT (used to be called GK Mud, I think). I'm currently using 43mm SKs but they are not very good when things get wet and slippery. I just bought some 35mm Gravel King ACs for £19.99 each in the hope they'll be a bit better.
35mm Gravel King ACs for £19.99 each in the hope they’ll be a bit better.
Oooooh, where from? Have been on the look out for some of these
Oooooh, where from? Have been on the look out for some of these
Still showing as in stock at Tweeks - https://www.tweekscycles.com/uk/panaracer-gravel-king-ac-tlc-tyre-2011494/
Conti Terra Speeds for me - superb rolling resistance (or lack of it) - no good for winter mud though so will need to swap over to something else.
Still showing as in stock at Tweeks –
Cheers, sorry for being lazy, probably should have just googled it! Been running gravelking SKs for the past couple of years but need something that better at dealing with mud in the coming months
I love my G-One all round TLR's, but i must say that they really suck at not getting punctures.
G1 Speeds from what I've used, yet to try Allrounds; Gravel King; Gravel King SKs.
I've got the regular Gravelkings (37mm) on my Arkose and they were crap when run tubeless, constant punctures that i struggled to seal. They are super light but at a price.
They've got tubes in them not and not had a puncture so far.
The wear really well, i've done 100s of miles on rough roads and no sign of wear.
They do a Gravelking Plus now (and and SK Plus) which apparently has better puncture protection, i'd be keen to try those tubeless at some point but at £50 each they're a little out of budget right now.
Recommend what you've got: WTB Resolutes. Knoblier than the Challenge Gravel Grinders that they replaced, with no obvious increase in rolling resistance (found a test online that said they were actually better). Still pretty hopeless in mud.
Might be trying those GK EXTs as it gets muddier.
Schwalbe G-One Allround in 38mm
Yeah, I really rate the G-Ones. They seem like a great 'goldilocks' tyre that rolls really well but can handle a bit of off-road. I've heard they wear pretty quickly though.
I've just swapped my 'summer' fatter tyres (Surly Knard 41mm) for the 'winter' commute tyres and I'd forgotten how sluggish the Knards are on Tarmac. I'd like a 40mm + G-One but it doesn't exist (yet?).
For knackered backroads and many farm tracks I was happy with Nanos in a wide range of weathers.
I use GP4000’s in deepest darkest Shropshire/ Wales . They work fine on absolutely horrendous roads, and even made dirt/gravel roads (Yep we still have some of them in the area)
The G-Ones All round are the best I have had, but the pair cost £80 and I wore them out in 2,500 miles, albeit predominately commuting on tarmac. I would get them again now that I am working for home and the bike is likely to be used off road at a much higher %.
Tried the Gravel King SK's (I think it was), they were as fast if not slightly faster than the G-Ones, but they were highly puncture susceptible whereas the G-Ones were awesome except for one flint that cut through it.
I've been happy with my Gravel King sk's. They replaced wtb Riddlers which were horribly puncture prone.
I'm running Vittoria Terreno mix, they're the 38mm ones in full tubeless fancy graphene flavour. They grip well on everything I've ridden them on, roll pretty well for a treaded tyre too. The rear has about 50% tread after only about 1000km's which isn't a great wear rate but then they are a premium tyre so kind of expected that.
I had gravel kings SK before that which I agree with the comments above at being very lightweight and fragile but they are very fast tyres. They wear quite well too.
Just don't go below 40mm
The rear has about 50% tread after only about 1000km’s which isn’t a great wear rate but then they are a premium tyre so kind of expected that.
Yeah... I'm starting to feel guilty about recommending the Vittorias to so many people, mine have worn quite fast as well! 1600km and my rear Terreno Dry has a smooth strip around the centre.
Fantastic tyres though, I guess if you considered them like you would a premium MTB tyre then 1600km might seem OK...
Schwalbe G-one Speed. They have the same carcass as their first generation Schwalbe One road tyres. Tiny knobs don’t rob too much speed on road, and are fine for modest gravel.
I really rate my Hutchinson Touaregs. Been great over this dry summer of the South Downs. Will be swapping to something with more tread in next couple of weeks though.
I bought my Terreno mix tyres for about £35 each so quite cheap compared to some.
WTB Nano in TCS light 40c were surprisingly good when I used them for a few very rank winters.
They are a hardpack / gravel tyre but I found them better in mush and mud than a Schwalbe X-One, and ended up using them for everything.
Got some Clement (Donnelly) X'plor MSO 650b in 42mm flavour from Planet X when they were on offer. Been really impressed with them having tried a fair few tyres. Decent rolling on road and reasonably grippy off, even on the odd slippy surface. Doubt they'd handle real mud but then I'm more likely to be on the mountain bike in that scenario.
Likely too wide for you @Ewan but I’ve got a pair of Terreno zero in 700/40 (43mm) tubeless If you’re interested? Used for my Armenian trip last year and not really much since.
https://flic.kr/p/2jMJyNL
Thanks but a bit too wide I think.