Large gravel tires vs. fast XC tyres

I’m looking for some gravel/XC tyres for a 29er build and can’t make up my mind

I want something tough and fast rolling, as they’ll occasionally be thrown down some rocky Dales trails, but will have to do a fair bit of road too, and a lot or easy gravel

I also want tanwalls as I’m being a tart about this build

Ideally what I want is a Thunder Burt or Vittoria Terreno 2.25″, but the tanwall versions are flimsy. The Teravail Sparwood 29 x 2.2″ would be perfect, but I’m not spending £130 on a pair of tyres

It seems easier to find a tough, large volume gravel tyre: Pirelli, Panracer and Goodyear all do 700 x 50mm tyres that seem to have tough casings. Price and availability again an issue though. And I’d rather a little larger

So that leaves a few more nobbly XC tyres: Pirelli Scorpion Hard, Hutchinson Skeleton, Goodyear Peak, WTB Ranger, Maxxis Ikon, Rekon Race. At least a couple of these can be found for a not unreasonable price. Question is, are these going to be significantly slower than something like a Thunder Burt or Gravelking?

Vittoria Barzo or Mezcal might be worth a look

I have some used WTB ranger tanwall 29×2.25 lying around. They will do all you need, although I didn’t try rocky trails (the casing is on the thinner/light side.

If you can get to NG25 you can have them gratis

Halo Twin Rail?
Twin Rail II 29″ Tyre – Halo Wheels

Continental Race King Protection TLR are ace and have grip beyond their slight tread knobs, £44 a tyre too, which is nice.

Search on here https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/

On the basis of their tests I put 2.35 Racing Ralphs on my rigid 29er and they are great. They don’t feel slow in the least on road and are perfectly capable off it. They have been pummelled on South Wales rocks for years, however I did jab a bit of very nasty sharp shale type stuff in them in Mid Wales a while back which cut the sidewall. But I was giving it some and it was a fluke, being nearer the bead than the tread.

I want something tough and fast rolling, as they’ll occasionally be thrown down some rocky Dales trails,

Rocks don’t puncture tyres – sharp rocks do. If you don’t have sharp rocks then you’ll be fine. I ride on very rocky sandstone/limestone all the time and don’t get any punctures because they are rounded; but in other parts of the country soft dirt with the occasional rock can be deadly because it’s a pointy bit of flint.

Agree, I mainly ride gravel fire roads in New Forest and they are very pointy flinty. The only tyre I have’t punctured is a marathon plus – all others (and I have tried a lot of tough tyres) puncture every few rides.

If you can get to me in Notts. you can have some used tanwall WTB Rangers 29×2.25 for free.

They have been great on most stuff, although I’d be careful on rocky terrain as the casing is on the thinner side.

I ride Vittoria Mezcal 29er x 2.25 on a hard tail and they are fast on road, gravel and trails. Not so good in deep mud. I rode the HONC on then this year without any issue. Would recommend.

@cb200 thanks for that, it’s a super nice offer, but I think I will hold out for something a bit tougher

Perhaps there’s someone else on here in need of a set of tyres/struggling for cash at the moment?

Just go for some Super Ground carcass Thunder Burts as opposed to the Super Race… The weight difference isn’t huge either, only about 40-50g per tyre, but they’re quite a bit more robust.

If I was building a “gravel” bike again, I’d just do what my mate did and buy a nice 29er XC bike from a few years ago and run 29×2.25 Thunder Burts on it… It’s easily as fast rolling on the road as any 45’s I’ve used, and so much more competent off road obviously.

Hutchinson Skeleton

By far the flimiest tyre I’ve ever used. Punctured on almost every ride, with or without tubes. They went in the bin eventually when the sidewall split beyond repair.

Been on Continental Race King since then, just as fast and not one single puncture in about 2k miles.

WTB Ranger come in two weights. The Tough ones are bombproof but a bit heavy and draggy. Don’t know what the lightweight version is like.

The Vittoria Terreno comes in the grey TNT sidewall too?

I’ve given my grey Terreno Dry gravel tyres plenty of abuse, seem relatively sturdy although not immune to damage if you bang the rim hard enough on a rock ☹️

The tan wall Terreno has actually survived a fair amount of rocky abuse too, albeit not sharp rocks but more the more rounded type.

+1 Mezcals.

I went for Conti Cross King front and Race King rear, Black Chill Protection variant. Available in tanwall too.

Some other recommendations were given in this thread of mine https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/gravelising-rigid-mtb-wheels-tyres-mudguards