If Dunlop is your real name, that’s a very fitting name for a true tire nerd! 
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It’s my real name, but I don’t have any insider knowledge, and I definitely want to disassociate myself from my namesake valve
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I am running Pirelli P Zero TLR Race in 40mm. My frame can take a 47mm.
I ride mixed a lot of chip seal tarmac and champagne gravel in the Adelaide hills. Probably a 60/40 split, and hardly any “adventure gravel” and never anything muddy. The slicks are a bit dicey through loose corners, but are very quick on the black stufff.
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WTB Resolute
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42mm but measures just under 45mm on 25mm internal hooked rims
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My bikes max clearance is 45mm
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They’re fast on every surface (including sand) and easy to mount. Best of all they work well and feel good in a fairly large range of tire pressures above and below what I feel is ideal. I’ve had tires that were super finicky about pressure. I found Panaracer Gravel King SKs nearly impossible to dial in.
Id also throw a votes toward:
Pirelli Cinturato M in 45mm. Very fast, comfortable and bombproof. I used them for Unbound because I believed the hype about how brutal the gravel is…..it isn’t
Pirelli Cinturato RC 40mm. Crazy fast on the right gravel and pavement but a bit too fast wearing for me.
The correct answer is … it depends. In my semi arid part of the world, Rene Herse tyres in whatever wheel diameter, the one with the oval knobs. Roll fast, choice of casings, enough knob to bite into short sharp hilly bits, nearly no punctures. 48mm measures 48mm. If you live in a northern hemisphere bog they are probably not your thing, although they come from a place called the Pacific Northwest (via Japan) and in the Twilight movies it looks pretty, you know, damp. Anyways, they cost a bit but I don’t mind spending on tyres. Ceramic jockey wheels? Not so much.
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Specialized Pathfinder Pro tanwalls
700x42
Custom Zukas steel gravel bike with clearance for 51.
Gravel in Virginia consists to stretches of paved roads and a wide variety of gravel, from Champaign to blown out forest service roads. I have played around with Maxxis Rambler and Reaver, Specialized Rhombus and Tracer, and Rene Herse varieties but have always come back to the Pathfinder for its versatility. Not necessarily the best on every course, but I always know how it will respond.
Definitely love all the Rene Herse versions I’ve tried: 38 knob&slick up to the 55knob and slick. Extra light versions are so fast and feel so good but are a little too fragile for me personally in Northern California; generally I am using the Endurance casing and absolutely loving it.
Vittoria Terreno Zero 650x47
Width on a 30mm internal rim: 50
This combo clears my ‘25 Crux with heaps of space so I’m guessing it could work on a lot of older gravel bikes such as the Gen 1 Aspero, Gen 2 Carbon Stigmata (circa 2019 release)
I like this tire because it’s round doesn’t have shoulders. Rolls very quickly and is stout AF bombing down bumpy, loose-over-hard gravel. I don’t ride in mud or on MTB trails, so for me, a good gravel tire is just a high volume road tire with some added protection. I just ordered the same tire 700x47, excited to see how they ride.
Haven’t seen them mentioned yet, so I’ll throw in a wildcard. For those of you who commute on gravel bikes, or who are more bothered about reliability than performance, I would highly recommend the Schwalbe G-One Overland 365. Tubeless gravel tyre with optional reflective sidewalls for urban use, a decent level of puncture resistance, a good compromise of tread pattern, and excellent cold/wet grip. Are they fast? Not really, but they’re a nice halfway house between a faster gravel tyre, and a hardcore commuting/touring tyre.
Will also put a good word in for the Hutchinson Caracal Race (fast gravel, mixed road and off) and the Pirelli Gravel M (chunkier gravel, mud, mixed road and off), my go-to options for non-commuting use.
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Rene Herse 44mm slicks with standard casing for all the road, gravel, and road+gravel rides. For gravel bikepacking or more aggressive rides I’ll switch to something like the 45mm Schwalbe G One R Pro for a little more confidence - Those inflate to 46mm on my Enve AG25 and do roll really well on road.
I was riding the 48mm RH slicks for a couple of years, but they felt like too much tire with a very muted ride. The 44mm gives me enough road feedback to capture some ‘road tire’ feel, and still manages to handle super underbiked single track segments (ridden gingerly).
For reference I’m mostly riding in Upstate New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Because of the split between road, gravel, and trail around here, my regular riding partners are all in the range of 42-48mm slicks or file treads on gravel bikes.
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Tufo Gravel Thundero, 44mm
My frame takes 45mm
why? Good rolling resistance according to BRR, in my experience good grip and hardly any flats.
I have bike packed with them in Iceland fully loaded across the interior and ridden thousands of km on euro gravel and would buy them again any time.
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