Can I put gravel tyres on my mtb

I’m thinking if I’m going to try gravel riding changing my tyres could help rolling resistance etc. I have 29″ wheels on an old voodoo bizango with maxxis ardent 2¼” tyres.

Is it possible/worth going for a more gravel esq tyre and what would you reccomend I ride some tarmac and singletrack on dartmoor.

Yes

yes, it doesn’t have to be a ‘gravel’ tyre, any slicker MTB tyre will do

depends how much tread you want but a Vittoria Terreno or Schwalbe Thunder Burt have gravel tyre characteristics

I’m not sure how much benefit you’d get against an Ardent, they’re already fairly low rolling resistance aren’t they?

IMO on of the main things that make gravel bikes faster is that they’ve got narrower bars and you’re more hunched over meaning less frontal area and air resistance.

IMO on of the main things that make gravel bikes faster is that they’ve got narrower bars and you’re more hunched over meaning less frontal area and air resistance.

All depends how fast you are riding as rolling resistance is a bigger factor at lower speeds and rolling resistance is complicated on off road/variants of gravel.  Would be a question of Ardent vs whatever gravel tyre you choose as you could be right and the gravel tyre could be no better.

Also all depends on what your position is like on the MTB.  I have just bought a ‘new’ MTB, a 1996 Cannondale and the position of body is not much different than a gravel bike on hoods and the bars are very narrow (preference).  I wouldn’t expect it to be much different in speed to a gravel bike if the tyres were the same.  It definitely feels slower with the knobbly tyres it has on it when riding tarmac and compacted gravel.

As for gravel riding, just do it on your MTB with Ardents.  If you are slower than you wold be on a gravel bike it will be less than 1mph average I would guess (assuming you ride at 15mph average and not 25mph) – does that actually matter?

I ride a hardtail on Ardents (2.4 front and 2.25 rear).

When i’m in “gravel” mode I put an extra 5-10 psi in the rear and average about 25kmph.

I tried Thunder Burts years ago and they didn’t last long on my local gravel.

I think the trend at the pointy end of gravel racing is to go a bit wider but with a more supple casing (e.g. what Vittoria are now calling their ‘Lite’ casing).

Logic being (as said above) that aero isn’t as important unless you’re averaging road bike speeds, but lower rolling resistance through the tyre casing and tread IS.

I had some ‘Lite’ Terreno XC on my Superfly 29er and it felt like cheating, very smooth and fast, although a little dicey on loose marbly fast corners! 😬

This is just my personal experience, so…..

My gravel bike is so far removed from the form of any of my MTB’s, it’s part of what makes it fun and different for me – sub 10kg, stiff/rigid – instant acceleration, drop bars etc, etc. 50k on the groveller seems a breeze – 50k on a bastardised MTB would probably be a bit more of a drag

Riding a slightly altered MTB for me would just be like riding an MTB on more boring trails. But that’s just me – if skinny tyres on your MTB are what you want, go for it

50k on a bastardised MTB would probably be a bit more of a drag

Agreed, despite mucking around with tyres and bars and gearing I can never bring myself to take the 29er if I can take the gravel bike instead.

BUT before I had the gravel bike I was quite happy to do long rides on the 29er with just a set of 40mm gravel tyres fitted. I think it’s just what you’re used to.

Defo what you are used to as I’m no slower on my carbon XC bike with low tread tyres compared to my old gravel bike. Find it comfier over distance too.

I’m out today with 2.2″ XR2s on my 29er. Sort of gravel+

Vittoria Mezcals are basically gravel tires anyway – you can get them in 2.1in width. They feel bloody fast for MTB tires.

I have fast rolling MTB tyres on my shand most of the time but for my big ride a couple of years ago put on gravel tyres.  Like chesterrockwell I find it not significantly slower and more comfy

id go Vittoria tyres Mezcal front, terrano rear,

Sure you can, my fatbike often had a pair of PlanetX FatNotFat 29er wheels installed, to which I fitted anything from 28mm GP4000 Sii road tyres to 2.35″ G One Speeds.

My gravel/ commuting bike is a ridgid forked MTB with 50c gravel tires.

Faster on gravel and road.

I rode it to and from Sherwood pines last weekend. Sherwood pines is a flat easy trail center.

20 miles of sustrans there
10 miles bone dry trail center round
20 miles sustrans home.

Perfect

I put 50C Gravel Kings on my 29er that I ride on and off road on the Somerset Levels, so far I haven’t found them limiting on any surface I regularly ride apart from mud patches which is obvious. They are definitely easier rolling hasn’t vastly improved my average speed though , still can’t keep up with roadies though 😔😔😔

elray89Free Member
Vittoria Mezcals are basically gravel tires anyway – you can get them in 2.1in width. They feel bloody fast for MTB tires.

Yeah, 2.1 Mezcals on my gravel bike with 24mm internal width rims. Fine on the road, mud, rocks, etc. Really happy with them.

Another tick for mezcals. I have 2.1s on my whippet. They are fast yet surprisingly capable.

Loving that todays gravel tyres are fatter than the semi-slicks we ran back in the 1990s! 🙂

Loving that todays gravel tyres are fatter than the semi-slicks we ran back in the 1990s! 🙂

I remember putting 1.5″ Spesh tyres on my MTB ready for the cross season. They were awful! 1.5″ = 38mm – my gravel bike currently has 42mm tyres on and is a far better ride than that old 90s MTB. (Just thinking about this, my earliest MTBs came with 1.95″ – 49mm – and moving to 2.1″ felt world changing, unsurprisingly. 😀 )

Loving that todays gravel tyres are fatter than the semi-slicks we ran back in the 1990s!

My previous post on this thread was trying to be ironic 😉

I have an old Bizango and if the Ardents are the ones that that came with it then they are quite heavy and draggy. Changing to faster rolling will make a big difference.

I’ve run loads of tyres over the years and Mezcals or WTB rangers have been the best fast rolling tyres so far.

Just changed from WTB Rangers (wire bead version) to G One all rounds (folding) ready to take the bike on a tour (mainly paved) and the G Ones are significantly faster on  my commute and a 50k mix of cycle paths I did the other day.

Bike is a rigid MTB and boths sets of tires 29×2.25.

Can I put gravel tyres on my mtb

Why not, there’s plenty of gravel bikes now that have mountain bike sized tyres.