Collective Favourites - Favourite gravel tyre

If Dunlop is your real name, that’s a very fitting name for a true tire nerd! :grin:

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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.

  • WTB Resolute

  • 42mm but measures just under 45mm on 25mm internal hooked rims

  • My bikes max clearance is 45mm

  • 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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I did a 50km road ride a few days ago on G One RX Pro 50mm on my Stigmata with a Rudy fork, and was amazed at my average speed for the watts I put in. Not that much slower than my Crux with 40mm Caracal Race. There was no road noise or sluggish feel. I did pump them up to around 30psi, when I’d run them 22-25 off road. But it was still a very comfy ride on the rough chip-n-seal of Scottish roads.

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Tyre: Pirelli Cinturato M TLR

Width: 45mm

Frame max: 45mm

Why?: don’t know to be sure. Nice looking tyre and performs on mixed terrain (while I predominantly dry terrain). Previously ridden WTB’s which attracted punctures

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Pirelli Gravel M = Cinturato M ? I’ve found the gravel Ms in 40 to be excellent. Decent grip on muddy conditions. Confidence inspiring grip on wet tarmac. Roll very nicely.

I also have Caracal races in 40mm. Not so good in wet mud or grass. Seem good on tarmac, I’ve yet to fully try them on dry gravel so the Jury is out on them as yet

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Despite having 2 wheelsets and 3 other sets of tyres (Gravel king SK 38s, Thundero/Speedero 40s, GP5000 32s), I havent bothered swapping out the Cinturato M 45s in over a year. They just work well and have been puncture free (or sealant worked) until recently.

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These guys work well in the pnw loam as well.

Continental Terra Hardpack 650b

50mm

officially 700×45 mm tires and 650×50 mm

fast, supple, as wide as I can go in my current frame I switched to these to prep for the east Texas showdown and central Texas showdown

I personally would not recommend Maxxlite tires for any use other than building a light show bike. :sweat_smile: That is coming from someone who sold them in store for years when they released, and worked for a Maxxis distributor for almost a decade. But anyone is free to choose what they want.

We used to sell a lot of them when super light mountain-bikes were all that mattered. But people quickly got over the whole super light tire thing, for good reasons. Nothing is slower than a puncture or a crash. They have been updated in the mean time, But to make them that light a lot of things have to be compromised. You don’t get anything for free. They are basically thin slicks that are neither grippy nor durable. They might work for some people in specific conditions. But as an multi use gravel tire i’d rather go with the Maxxis Rambler instead.

I used to run Maxxis Ravager 40mm in the front and Rambler 40 or 45mm in the rear. Worked pretty well for our local scandinavian gravel. (i run 25mm internal rims)

Been using Continental Terra Trail and Terra Speed in 40 and 45mm tires. Good grip, fast rolling, solid tires, but wear pretty quick.

Last year I started testing Pirelli Cinturato M in 45mm and these are my favorites in the dry. Roll fast, good enough grip, last longer. On fast off camber loose corners they slide around a bit, but not more than a Maxxis rambler or Terra Speed.