Using my road bike on gravel, what 25mm tyres should I get?

Want to use my 2013 Cannondale Supersix Evo on both road and some gravel tracks as well, the tracks are in good shape with a fine layer of gravel. Currently use 23mm road tyres, quite slick with not much tread. Want to change tyres to 25mm with lots of tread and with great puncture resistance.
What do you recommend?

Classic tyre would be the Vittoria Open Pave Evo CG 24mm. If it’s good enough for Paris Roubaix…

You should check that the tyre will actually fit as that age of super six is designed for a max 23mm tyre I think so a 25mm with lots tread might rub the frame

Check Kerley’s posts on the various gravel threads.

When I buy tyres for my skinny bike (which gets used on gravel), I’ve just gone for tyres with the thickest rubber, no finesse. 🙂

Yep, more rubber the better. If by great puncture resistance you mean no punctures then a Schwalbe Marathon Plus is the answer, they also grip well as are fairly soft and do have some tread.
However they will ruin the feel of your bike as they will weight 3 times what your current tyres do and also have higher rolling resistance.
I have also had success (puncture and grip) from Halo Courier Berlin tyres but again they are not fast rolling and are heavy.
I would forget the tread part as that takes you into above types of tyres and just go for a puncture resistance road tyre like a Maxxis Refuse.
If your gravel is very fine and you are not dealing with fast/leany corners then you can get away without tread and if you are still riding mostly on road with the odd bit of gravel I would lean towards a tyre that performs better on road and compromise on the gravel.

I switch between gravel and road wheels on my gravel bike and for the road use Hutchinson fusion 5 performance 11storm tubeless. The name is a mouthful but they are light, grippy enough for a road tyre and come up bang on size. I’ve also just fitted a set of 25s to the road bike and can’t fault them

That year supersix has tight clearance at the rear. I think you will struggle to fit a 25c with enough clearance between the stays.

I think you will struggle to fit a 25c with enough clearance between the stays.

And if you do you’ll wear through the frame in no time with a tiny bit of flex and bits of gravel on the tyre.

If you’re going to stick to using a skinny tyre bike offroad, probably it’s best to get a tubular wheel set. (or maybe tubeless)

I did a outback tour on tubs in Oz many years ago, heavily loaded, rough tracks, and no punctures. I’m pretty sure you can still get robust tubulars, and the bike rolls really well on them.

Can’t speak for tubeless. I’m not going there until no magic potions are needed.

Veloflex masters were ok a few years back.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oEXX6kG_NRY/U3euE05N-eI/AAAAAAAACs8/XkcCeHn2qo8/s1600/DSC_0418.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ljEgUiUWrgU/U3euFYTFpjI/AAAAAAAACtI/4KOq2D6SEI4/s1600/DSC_0423.jpg

But I’d not be in a rush again.
Wife has the Jack Brown Mile Muncher 25.5s on her SuperSix but not sure of the age of the bike. It came with 5700 group 105 so I’m guessing 2012/3?
They fit fine in there an have thick tread and supple walls.

I think you want air volume not Tread

Back in the day i did loads of bits off road on 25mm road tyres. Not technical but the old railway lines round Durham etc.

For over 2 years my gravel bike had 38mm slicks. Just fine in the dry

Don’t think air volume is an option with a frame that can only take a 25c (and that appears to be pushing it)

I use Panaracer Pasela PT 700c Road Bike Tyre on my old Claud Butler that sees some farm track riding.

Panracer say that they use a a genuine Kevlar Tourguard belt beneath the tread to increase puncture resistance.

I’ve always found them to be a reliable tyre, and dont come up large.

As above, tread has very little impact on grip in the dry anyway.

I’ve got a 32c slick (Specialized borough cx) for my CX/gravel bike’s rear in the summer and it surprisingly rarely lets go. Quite a lot of rubber on it to so it should resist punctures.

However…….. just be sure you’re happy runining a perfectly decent lightweight road bike with big heavy tyres for the sake of being bale to ride some unsealed roads. Watching Paris Roubaix might make it look possible, but just look at how many bikes get broken even by skinny pro’s!

Another vote for the “don’t do it” option. I have the same frame and it’s got marks on the chainstays from running a 24 mm road tyre. Putting a 25 mm tyre with tread on it will eat the paint and then the carbon.

tread has very little impact on grip in the dry anyway.

Really depends on what the gravel surface is like. Where I ride tread has a noticeable impact when running 28c tyres. Slick 25C are pretty sketchy on corners whereas treaded tyres are much better.
A slick 40c tyre is very different off road to a slick 25c tyre.

Putting a 25 mm tyre with tread on it will eat the paint and then the carbon.

I can vouch for that and have gouged and chipped many carbon forks over the years. I now ride a frame that actually has clearance for 32c and have a 5mm+ gap all a round the tyre so no more ruining paint.

I can’t believe that people are recommending Veloflex Masters of Vittoria Open Pave – whilst great tyres for the right conditions, resistance to cuts isn’t one of them. Open Paves are great in places like Flanders and Paris-Roubaix because they don’t have small flints – I doubt I’d get as far as 10 miles on my local roads before I punctured.

As noted, race bikes of that era were made for 23mm tyres and many struggle with a 25mm and moderate clearance. Whilst something like a Schwalbe Marathon in 25mm would fit, it would be a bastard to fit, feel like a solid rubber tyre and would be a complete shit to remove if you punctured.

I have ventured onto the occasional gravel track on my race bike, it’s not really something I’d fancy when something with 40mm tyres is going to make it a whole lot more enjoyable.

I’ve got Continental Sport Contact 23mms on my beater road bike that gets used for rough stuff (most recently the old broken road up Mam Tor at the weekend). I figure just the cheapest tyre possible as they get trashed fairly quickly.

Whilst something like a Schwalbe Marathon in 25mm would fit, it would be a bastard to fit, feel like a solid rubber tyre and would be a complete shit to remove if you punctured.

Agree they are not the nicest tyres to ride but in my experience a 25c Marathon plus was easy to fit, near punctured in years of use so never had to be removed. When I use Marathon plus I don’t even taken anything to fix punctures with me.
An alternative is the Continental SuperSport Plus which I had good experience with. Much lighter than the Marathon Plus but less grippy and I did get a puncture once.

I have used those extremely puncture proof tyres because where I live the gravel roads are very flinty and no ‘normal’ tyre will last a single ride without a puncture. If riding only 10% of less flinty gravel the a road tyre may be fine.

Specialized Roubaix Pro?  It’s got puncture protection, feels grippy and comes in a 23/25 where, I understand, the 23 refers to the width so would fit.

I’ve got the 30/32 equivalent which I use for a similar purpose and have got me through the winter fine with a lot more confidence than other tyres.

e.g. https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/specialized-roubaix-pro-tyre-review.html

Grand prix 4 Seasons were the tyre of choice when my son rode the Cicle Classic a couple of years ago

Spesh Roubaix Pro or Schwalbe G-one Speed

Grand prix 4 Seasons

Was going to suggest this, they’re my winter road/cycle path tyres and have proven resistant to the usual winter detritus and cycle path glass.

Set a PB on a local gravel-ish section the other day on that bike (largely tail wind assisted, admittedly) but the tyres were fine going through the large drifts of fine gravel that covered parts of the road, and then the middle section with numerous big dried up puddles (my old self still looks at the possibility of doubling up some of them) just required a bit of finesse to avoid the bigger stones, but again the tyres held fine.

I’d agree with most of the above though, I think all you could hope for is a tough carcass and your own technique to pilot a 25c or 23c tyre over gravel.

This is probably why gravel bikes exist – a bike that doesn’t even have 1mm tyre clearance to spare is going to be wholly unsuited to any kind of offrad.

It certainly makes a gravel bike the sensible choice although many road bikes (the disc brake ones) have way more clearance than old road bikes and many can take a 30c tyre with room to spare.
Ideal for someone who may only ride 10% of their time on gravel

My 2012 Supersix was a lovely ride on 25c GP4000s but certainly not gravel capable for any kind of distance. As others have said, the clearance at the rear was very tight and I suspect any non-slick tyre would lead to trouble.

homourablegeorge
This is probably why gravel bikes exist

But nonetheless…

When your only tool is a hammer, everything is a nail

(In Oz a few months back and the only bike I had was a Giant Bowery. Did manage to squeeze 28mm tyres in for a bit of luxury though. 🙂 )

NVM

When your only tool is a hammer, everything is a nail

Proper vertical terrain too! 😉