Collective Favourites - Favourite gravel tyre

Tech Tech Reviews
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Hi all,

With the gravel event season getting underway in the Northern Hemisphere, now feels like a good time to see what tyres everyone is running.

Because this is a pretty big topic, we’re hoping to get a bit more information than just your favourite tyre. If you have more than one favourite, it’s probably best to list the one you use most often. And if there’s another tyre you don’t use all the time but absolutely love when you do, feel free to mention that in the notes section.

If you do reply here in this thread, we’d like to hear

  • The favourite tyre
  • The labelled width of it
  • The max clearance your frame allows
  • any reasoning as to WHY this is your fave

But if you’d rather not reply in this thread, we’ve also created a good ol’ Google Sheet where you can drop in your answers. You can find that HERE

6 Likes
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WTB Venture, Fast casing, in a 50mm width. They’re slow as hell on tarmac, but the Western CO gravel I ride is essentially double-wide moto track (steep, loose, chunky, often pitted with bovine hoof prints) and the extra tall siping on the tread offers fantastic grip, even through sand pits.

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  • Tire: Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H
  • Size: 45mm
  • Max clearance: 48mm
  • Why: Need a tire that performs relatively well on and off road for mixed surface rides. This is the best mix I’ve found thus far but I’ll be mounting up some Tufo Thunderos next. If I rode more purely unpaved I’d probably go with a big more aggressive tire so your mileage may vary…
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  • Dry/Firm and Rocky (Scottish Summer Gravel) - 27.5x2.2 Race Kings
  • Dry/Firm and Smooth (tame Scottish Summer Gravel) and/or lots of paved in route - 700x45 Terra Speed
  • Muddy/Soft (Scottish non-Summer gravel) - 700x45 Pirelli Cinturato S
  • Bikepacking (most routes)- 27.5x2.2 Race Kings
  • Extreme Bikepacking (Highland routes inc. passes) - 27.5x2.4 Cross Kings

A few takes from that list:

  • 27.5 is not dead, and is quite important for the vertically challenged among us (I would get toe overlap with anything 50mm or above on 700 wheels, and that’s on a frame with a long wheelbase).
  • Gravel can mean many things for one person, never mind from one person to the next.

Why those tyres?

Previously used Panaracer Gravel Kings, but they lived up to their nick name and were rubbish in even a hint of mud.

Pirrelli Cinturato M tyres were better, but not much (though they did at least refrain from chucking stuff at at anyone following behind).

Race Kings and Terra Speeds are very fast, while the Cinturato S has proven to be excellent for rides where mud will be a thing (they grip pretty well, and when they don’t it’s predictable, all without sacrificing too much elsewhere).

The Fairlight Secan 3 has tyre clearance in spades (700x53 and/or 27.5x2.4).

N.B. I filled in the google form as well, but there wasn’t enough room to list all the above.

1 Like
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I have exactly the same but in the M variety.

1 Like
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Favorite tire: Tufo Gravel Thundero (or HD version is I’m racing a course that traditionally tears tires, e.g., Unbound)

Labeled width: 40 mm

Frame clearance: 42 mm (OPEN UPPER)

Why: honestly, there aren’t that many options with my limited clearance, but Thundero is a nice blend of speed, grip, a durability. I’ve tried out the Pathfinders and did not like the transition from the smooth center to knobby outside.

3 Likes
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My current gravel bike is a Marin Cortina Pro ‘cross bike. For gravel I use (and love) 40c Schwalbe G-ONE R PRO tires. Would I run larger? Sure. With the right PSI I am able to avoid pinch-flats and enjoy the advantage a smaller size tire offers. The G-One Pro handles exceptionally well, both for gravel and pave. It’s only sketchy when riding huge chunk gravel. And probably not so hot in mud. But for dry and most road/trail conditions, this tire is comfortable, handles exceptionally well, and is very fast.

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Mid-northern VT & NH, so lots of smooth hard dirt roads, some pavement, some loose-over-hard and a bit of doubletrack/singletrack. I try to avoid riding in mud.

On the old hardtail that gets used as a gravel bike, 2.3 RaceKings. They were my wakeup call to how fast a MTB tire could be.

First gen Niner RLT RDO, tire spec 40mm: On the original tires the rear wore much faster than the front, so decided that a matched pair made no sense. Currently using a 38mm Pathfinder Pro rear, 45mm Terra Speed front.

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Wouldn’t it be super nice to also include measured width and internal rim width as optional fields in the form to build up a database of how wide the different tyre models actually are? I find it to be very mixed and would be useful information for limited frame clearance.

2 Likes
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What in blue blazes is going on here….this thread is 3 days old, has 9 previous responses and NO ONE has had the right answer yet!

ThunderBurt 2.1

/thread

:zany_face::zany_face:

5 Likes
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I’m running a felt breed carbon with official 50mm clearance that you can squeeze a race king 2.2 into.

The race king is probably my favourite, combining good dry grip with low rolling resistance.

My current tire is the Schwalbe g-one rx pro 50mm. It gives me more clearance around the chainstays and allows me to run the Rockshox Rudy up front. It’s as fast as the race king but doesn’t have the same lateral grip.

My runner up combo that I’m going to spend some time with this season is the Schwalbe 2.1 Racing Ralph rear, Racing Ray front combo. The Ray is very confident on loose stuff up front and both tires are fast on the drum. They’re also not hyped much so you can find good deals on them online!

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Fezzari Schafer V 1.0= Conti Terra Speed 45mm on 24mm IW rims. Good for pretty much everything. Road, racing, gravel, light mtb trails

Salsa Cutthroat V 2.0= Conti Race King/Dubnital 2.2/2.4 or Vittoria Mezcal 2.25 on 26mm IW rims. Bike packing and chunk, but still pretty fast.

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Tire: Specialized Pathfinder Pro

Size: 47mm (frame, Specialized Crux, goes to 50mm-ish)

Why?: AFAIK it’s the fastest rolling gravel race tire out there and that’s really all I care about. Have never had any puncture issues either am seems quite tough. Terrain ranges from smooth gravel to fairly chunky, but leans to the former (think upstate NY / CT / NJ / MA gravel). I used to do a lot of CX/gravel bike on MTB trails on Long Island but candidly it beats up my body too much so discontinued that.

Other commentary: Only tire I’ll ever swap it out for is a Panaracer slick for when I’m doing a decent amount of road or road mix. Somewhat curious to try other similar tires (Schwab’s G-One RS maybe?) but no real need given how good the Pathfinder is.

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Tire: Schwalbe G-One RX Pro

Size: 50mm

Frame clearance: 50mm ISO (Checkpoint SL5 Gen3)

Have previously run Vittoria Terreno Dry/Mix, Pirelli Cinturauto Gravel M, Continental GP 5000 AS TR 35mm. the GONERX just feel good and fast, and they test almost as fast as the less-treated R/RS variants. I was using my gravel bike as double-duty for ‘beer league’ cyclocross, so I wanted one tire for all conditions. Though it was never super muddy, they faired quite well in the dry or wet on pavement and mud/grass. It’s also a less dramatic difference when leaning the tire over than the a semi-slick which makes it feel a bit more predictable to me.

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I’m a Schwalbe fan in general, so if anyone would ask my recommendation for a decent gravel tire (for euro-gravel), I’d more than likely propose the G-One Allround in 40mm.

That’s probably the one I’ve done the most kilometers on, and also the only one I’ve bought more than once. But most of those kilometers were commuting. So I don’t know if it’s really my favourite gravel tyre.

Another tyre I’ve been positively surprised about, was the American Classic Kimberlite (40mm). Very tough and hard-wearing, still smooth rolling. But I wouldn’t buy it again.

I’ve had Hutchinson, Pirelli and Continental tyres - they were a bit meh (underwhelming rolling, less wear or puncture resistance…), and I never bought them a second time.

Right now, I have something new on, from Vredestein. And I think that might replace the Schwalbes as the go-to, and would also entice me to try other profiles from their portfolio. So I’ll describe that one here:

The favourite tyre: Vredestein Aventura Seta

The labelled width of it: 44mm

Measured width: 44mm on a 700c i26 hookless rim

The max clearance your frame allows: Surly Midnight Special prescribes max 700c x 42mm, but that seems very conservative, because my 44mm fits well, even with FD and mini front fender (Asssaver Mudder).

Any reasoning as to WHY this is your fave: Super easy to get on the rim and set up tubeless (no compressor needed). Part of my liking it might be because of those rims, they’re a quite new wheel set and my first carbon wheels - but the Vredesteins roll nicer than the Kimberlites that were on it before. It’s like I don’t notice any difference with the Schwalbe Pro Ones on my road bike. They’re a less expensive option than the more well known brands. I also feel more confident on them than the Kimberlites: they’re both tyres with a smooth center and knobs on the shoulders - generally, I don’t like cornering on tarmac with those knobs, but the Vredesteins seem to have a profile that allows faster corners on tarmac.

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I haven’t ridden on them myself, but LBS/local gravel race team manager swears by them.

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Tire: Schwalbe Thunder Burt SuperRace

Width: 29x2.1

Max clearance (Santa Cruz Stigmata official): 50 mm

Why: I am confident riding them on almost all kinds of terrain. They made it through 10 days of pretty rough off road riding in central Mongolia without a single puncture.

1 Like
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how wide are your rims? (inner)

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Reserve G|25, internal rim width 25 mm. The Thunder Burts measure 52-mm wide.

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About to fit some new Maxxis Rambler Hyper-X in 700x45. I was previously on old Rambler and have run some Pirelli Cinturato H in 45mm for the last 2 years. I like the Pirellis. They are faster than the Ramblers but with winter coming I want a little more bit and I want to try the new Hyper-X version.

Running on some Hunt Gravel 35mm wheels (internal 25mm) and the Pirellis sit at 47mm. It’s on a Trek Checkpoint Gen 2 SL6 (official 45mm clearance) but there’s loads of clearance. In fact, I had some Roval Terra EVO wheels for a while (internal 30mm) which made the tyres 49mm wide. Never got on with that setup as I think it was too wide for 45mm and I couldn’t ever get the goldilocks tyre pressure. Even 1 PSI either way made a big difference.

No interest in going wider for where I ride (mainly type 2 - 4 gravel). If I need wider than 50mm, I’ll be on my Epic Evo XC bike, thanks.