What do the pros ride for strada bianche these days? What if you wanted a tyre to run in 30-35c, comfortable on crap roads, canal or towpaths but not for riding singletrack like a hipster because you actually have a mountain bike. A “go-anywhere” tyre.

According to bicyclerollingresistance:

Vittoria Corsa Control G+ 16.7W @ 100PSI
Gravelking TLC (the slick) 20.8W @ 36PSI
Continental Terra Speed (quite a knobbly gravel tyre) 20.8W @ 36PSI

G-one speeds are garbage due to crap rubber and carcass. I wonder what the RR of a terra speed would be at like 50-80PSI, vs a corsa control at similar psi.

I’d suggest the slick GravelKing in 32mm on the understanding that it will be slippy as hell on any wet surface that isn’t tarmac

Do

bicyclerollingresistance

measure tyres for canals and towpaths? Not something I look at, but I thought they were all about smooth roads.
I use G-ones, but then I’m not a pro and don’t know what strada bianche is. Just have tyres that work well for all surfaces

A “go-anywhere” tyre.

I tailor my riding speed to the limits – I accept that because 80-90% of my riding is (rough) backroads, a near slick tyre is best. I just go a bit slower on the mud when I do encounter it and giggle at the slides I can manage…

Mrs_OAB runs Giant P-SLX tyres in 36mm flavour – properly nippy on the road, just enough grip on forest tracks and similar, poor in mud…

I run Kenda K879 (catchy product title…) in 37mm that came on the bike – surprisingly OK on road and marginally better off road than mrs_oab tyre.

middle_oab runs Small Block 8’s in 35mm and they feel like velcro on road compared to the other two – and I am not convinced they are any better offroad.

I find my G one’s to be pretty nippy on the road, in fact i’ve been using them as a winter road tyre since October and have never felt that they’ve significantly slowed me down.

I have some WTB Expanse on my winter road wheelset for the gravel bike. 32mm roll nicely and tough enough for light gravel/towpaths etc.

The roads around here are shocking – i recently replaced my 37mm GravelKing TLCs with 37mm GravelKing SK Plus as i was fed up with the TLCs terrible puncture resistance.
The SKs do feel a little draggier, and according to the site you linked above they’re rated at 24.7W (which explains a lot!)
The regular TLC GravelKings were so nice to ride on – and also performed really well on smooth tarmac but i ended up scrapping them as they had a few cuts in them i couldn’t fix.

I swear the South Downs lanes I ride have got worse over the winter, so I’m probably going to order up a pair of 32mm GP5000s (that size slightly small) to fit on my road bike, to at least fit one on the rear to give more comfort at the same time as being low rolling resistance.

For something more rugged that could cope with tame dry trails, I’ve been quite impressed with my 35mm Marathon Supreme so far on the commute hybrid for the last month or so. Pondering a 32mm purchase.

I can’t add much other than to say that the TerraSpeed feels really quite nippy on faster rolling surfaces (and I run them in 40mm). It clearly isn’t a road tyre, but it’s a good all-rounder. Wears quite quickly in hot weather.

Fitted Specialized Roubaix 32mm tyres to my Vaya for mainly B roads, lanes and canal towpaths and they’ve been excellent, fantastic grip especially in the wet and even coped with off road gravel after dropping the psi a little.

I’ve been using the Jack Brown Blue for commuting and off-road extensions for a while. It’s fun to find how much you can ride on slicks. Get your weight in the right place and you get get up quite steep muddy slopes.

when I took the guards and the rack off last summer I put on the lighter a pair of the JB Green – lighter, less puncture protection. They feel nicer, but difficult to tell how much is due to taking all the other stuff off!

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYPAJBG/jack-brown-green-folding-tyre

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYPAJBB/jack-brown-blue-folding-tyre-with-puncture-protection

I have Schwalbe Marathon Supreme Kevlar tyres on my commuting hybrid that, my commute includes canal tow paths and a rough cycle track, mine are 40c but also available in 32/35c. They are essentially slick with some slight grooves at the edge. Came stock on the bike and I’m happy with them.

Lachlan Moreton used 35c Vittoria Terrano Dry for GBDuro. He was a bit nippy on those.

Maxxis Refuse might be alright?

I’ve always used 30c G One Speeds and have been very happy. I’ve just replaced them with the same but in 35c flavour as I occasionally divert onto some light gravel tracks / disused railway lines etc.

+1 for Specialized Roubaix 32mm. Virtually slick, but do surprisingly well on unsurfaced tracks. I’ve had one puncture which didn’t seal and needed a plug, but later removed a big splinter of glass from inside the tyre so can’t really complain!

What do the pros ride for strada bianche these days?

Challenge Strada Bianche Pro. Awesome tyres to ride, but a little fragile for me.

Ritchey Alpine JB WCS. Almost as good to ride as the above, but much tougher. Fast, grippy, good puncture protection. Highly recommended.

road.cc has lots of well-written reviews – like this one for the terreno.

Personally, being tight & having used the no-longer-available & slick Voyager Hypers for years, I’m going to give those Jack Browns from Planet X a go at £15 each.

Lots of puncture resistant hybrid commuter tyres – none of these will be faster than the ones I posted.

Do gravelking slicks get any better above 40psi? I can’t see why you’d pick them over terra speeds based on the RR tests.

G-ones are garbage. Cheap rubber, cheap carcass, not supple.

Roubaix pros look interesting. Wonder how they compare to Corsa controls?

Ironically, despite you writing them off, I found G-ones in 35 and 40mm, and g-one speeds to be lightening on the road and amazingly capable off it. Certainly fine for most things you describe.

On my road bike, I run 25mm Corsa Control tubeless, max width that’ll fit. They’re excellent on winter and crap roads, wouldn’t take them near anything muddy though as they’re hopeless, same with wet grass and gravel. G-ones blow them out of the water for this, especially woth braking.

What do the pros ride for strada bianche these days?

Whatever their sponsors make them ride. So Conti Pro-Ltd or Specialized Turbo tubulars predominantly! They used to run bespoke FMB Roubaix, but the PR people put the kybosh on that!

Seriously, you’re probably over-thinking this.

I was pretty happy with conti 4 seasons in 32c,fine for a little bit of gravel or towpath.

What…watts..is it a race?

Slick on the rear, gravel tyre up front (if you are ok with the un-matched look!).

35c Voyager hyper on the back and a 40c front file tread works for me. Rolls loads faster than a gravel tyre on the rear, and barely worse off road.

Fitted Specialized Roubaix 32mm tyres to my Vaya for mainly B roads, lanes and canal towpaths and they’ve been excellent, fantastic grip especially in the wet and even coped with off road gravel after dropping the psi a little.

Same here on my Diverge, I’ll swap to some proper gravel tyres soon as I only gravel in summer.

I used Corsa control 30c last year for around 2500 miles on my Audax/go anywhere bike. A trek Crockett.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGNALkJl4Q3/?igshid=pkx84q1z2q52

Really liked the tyres. Plenty of feel and grip on mixed road surfaces. Jack Brown green label are good for suppleness (yes shoot me) but quite draggy in comparison. Rene Herse Snoqualmie pass 44c also surprisingly good.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CANtnA6FXFR/?igshid=pkrksxr3se3c

Much better that the JBs.
Currently using the new Bontrager R3 hard case lite in 32c tubeless and impressed with how quick they are.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK9BKjjluK6/?igshid=mcr8dgkssbi5

Not as supple or smooth as the Corsa control or the Rene herse but lower tpi so not shocked there. Much less resistance than the JBs.

What do the pros ride for strada bianche these days?

28mm max, 25mm most according to GCN

I run the Gravelking TLC (38mm) as my summer tyre on the gravel bike. I do ride them on singletrack despite having a mountain bike and not having a beard. The number of dings in my rims would suggest that I might be using them slightly outside their designed range 🙂 but the main reason I run them is that they are so efficient on the road sections. Interesting to see that the TerraSpeeds are supposed to be just as efficient though despite having a bit more tread.

I’m running 35mm Terra Speeds tubeless on the winter/cx bike. Quite nippy, comfy at 60/55psi (rear/front) but the rear is nearing the end of it’s life at 2600km, I may get another 1000km out of it if I’m careful. These are the black chilli variant.

Thought most of the pros are still on tubs, imagine they will run slicks for Strade Bianche – but could be wrong.

Specialized Pathfinder seems to be a favourite of US gravel racers.