Hi

My 2018 Specialized Diverge can take up to 42 tyres. Its currently got 28’s I think. I’m tempted to try out some cheap 35/37’s from Planet X for c£10 each with the aim of making it just a bit more comfortable, less twitchy.

My usual ride out is 2 hours mostly country lanes with a bit of mild gravel/path stuff but 90% of everything I do is a slow and chatty road ride. Comfort over speed is the key.

Will that work? Am i missing something?

Tyres are a trade off between weight/grip/comfort/resistance

I would say a 32/34 would be a nice sweet spot for your type of riding (depending on your weight)

Personally I stay away from cheap £10 tyres as some level of performance is important to me and im not just talking about speed. I include puncture resistance, grip, wet weather grip and weight in there.

Something like a WTB exposure, Schwalbe g-one or Panaracer gravelking would be my choice.

Busting the £10 budget but 700×40 Marathon Supremes are a good combination of fast rolling and very good puncture resistance. Fairly light for size as well.

£20 each at

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s142p3263/SCHWALBE-Marathon-Supreme-wired

Check out Decathlon own brand tyres. I saw some tubeless mountain bike ones for £20 in there and they looked alright.
KMC make chains for them, so maybe someone else reputable is doing their tyres?

Cheap tyres are likely to have a creappy stiff carcass and ride badly.

I wouldn’t compromise, it really affects ride quality.

Wider is most certainly better, but you need those supple tyres for that smooth ride. I have a spare set of wheels for my gravel bike and have some 42 wide Soma tyres on there. Just the most fun of a magic carpet ride on rough roads.
Depends on how wide your rims are and your frame clearance.

Agreed, the 32c GP5000s I’ve put on a lovely, comfortable, fast, supple, and smooth riding, but cheap they are definitely not.

Panaracer Gravelking slicks – 32mm, very fast rolling or if you want to mix it up a bit, 35mm Schwalbe G-Ones. Cheap tyres are usually horrible – stiff sidewalls means increased rolling resistance.

Conti ultra sport isn’t too plasticky but still double you budget, have got spesh Roubaix 30/32 tubeless on the commuter, pretty good but more like £30 an end

Thanks all. Good advice. Buy cheap. Buy twice.

I was very happy commuting on 35mm G Ones Speeds, my 38mm Gravel King SKs (the nobbly ones) are great in slightly muckier conditions

Currently running the 32mm slick Gravel Kings as my “road tyres on my gravel bike” and very impressed so far

Buy cheap. Buy twice.

Sometimes you can get lucky, planetx had 38mm vittoria hyper for 12 quid, they’re cracking tyres, I’ll be gutted when they die.

https://www.ridinggravel.com/category/components/tires/

These blokes have tested a lot of tyres.

Planet X have Vittoria Revolutions for 15 quid each. I ride similar stuff to you – a bit more of the off-road stuff, but nothing too extreme, and I use Revs at 700×38. They seem ideal, grippy (not on wet grass or mud, but everywhere else) but fast rolling and comfortable.