# Gravel Tires - Slicks, Tread or otherwise - there is no "best" **URL:** \ **Category:** Tech\ **Tags:** gravel\ **Created:** [July 13, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853 "2025-07-13T12:41:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/discordisbetter/32/13503_2.png) [@DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/DiscordIsBetter)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/167 "2025-08-14T16:42:31Z")
“Ted King is well past his prime and not winning any meaningful races anymore” Well this is gravel, where cyclists go when they’re unable to win meaningful races anymore! (running/ducking) I believe Keegan has also won on Kenda Flintridges. So nice to just have massive physiological reserve over all but the best gravel bros. Not like most of us who are biting, scratching, clawing under a low-hanging physiological ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Lee\_Rocks](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/david_lee_rocks/32/1299_2.png) [@David\_Lee\_Rocks](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/David_Lee_Rocks)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/168 "2025-08-15T00:35:31Z")
And for the 350 at Unbound, the tires the top two were running (there’s a limit to how much googling I’m willing to do). Men: 1: Schwalbe, 2: Vittoria Women: 1: IRC, 2: Schwalbe ---
**Author:** ![John\_Karrasch](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/john_karrasch/32/1451_2.png) [@John\_Karrasch](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/John_Karrasch)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/169 "2025-08-15T01:01:52Z")
FWIW someone told me they finished the 350 XL pretty well on the beach racing special G One Speed Pros. Wild My Unbound tire data was a bit rushed but I spent way more time pre Leadville hoping I tested all the hot stuff before the big day. I’ll call it pretty good. Forgive the wattages if they seem impossible to hold static. I don’t. Tested for CrR values and converted to be relatable. Anyway my current rough gravel test values vs Leadville big hitters race day choices: ![IMG_0364](https://community.escapecollective.com/uploads/default/original/2X/6/6c01fc3303bc9efe6e9a0fe8081df0f01290f502.jpeg) ![IMG_0362](https://community.escapecollective.com/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c4ecb1d56f381fc74541cb21105cb48d1e0ea06b.jpeg) ![IMG_0361](https://community.escapecollective.com/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b10a723d13ae9aa7378c1ac9fbcdea6543f3dafa.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mr_stevens_from_catering/32/3133_2.png) [@Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mr_Stevens_from_catering)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/170 "2025-08-15T01:11:44Z")
> [@VeloBouf](#): > > I had never heard of Sehili before He had a very meteoric rise from life as a cycle courier and dominated bikepacking for a few years and is now on some kind around the world stint. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mr_stevens_from_catering/32/3133_2.png) [@Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mr_Stevens_from_catering)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/171 "2025-08-15T01:13:00Z")
Thanks for doing this John! Its really great to have this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas\_Trautmann](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/douglas_trautmann/32/1968_2.png) [@Douglas\_Trautmann](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Douglas_Trautmann)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 6:25am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/172 "2025-08-15T06:25:45Z")
All these nice tires but I’m still on my character building Marathons ---
**Author:** ![DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/discordisbetter/32/13503_2.png) [@DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/DiscordIsBetter)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/173 "2025-08-15T17:26:49Z")
I didn’t know dominating bikepacking was a thing. 🙂 (am aware of ultra-cycling races where you have to camp out to get some sleep) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mr_stevens_from_catering/32/3133_2.png) [@Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mr_Stevens_from_catering)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/174 "2025-08-15T19:24:45Z")
Ha ha. Very good. Yes, I guess I mean timed bikepacking events. That’s a good point. I’ve always equated bikepacking with off-road events like the Tour Divide and ultra-cycling with road based events like the Transcontinental. ---
**Author:** ![DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/discordisbetter/32/13503_2.png) [@DiscordIsBetter](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/DiscordIsBetter)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/175 "2025-08-16T13:40:50Z")
I was only being half sarcastic….I don’t have a lot of awareness of the competitive end of bikepacking. And I agree there’s a crossover between ultras and pure bikepacking. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mr_stevens_from_catering/32/3133_2.png) [@Mr\_Stevens\_from\_catering](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mr_Stevens_from_catering)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/176 "2025-08-18T22:44:52Z")
Sofiane is still not having a great time with his tires. Is that a Pirelli ? ![1000054031](https://community.escapecollective.com/uploads/default/original/2X/8/80e6fd2fb938246be807170094641ed16ae517dd.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Stead](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mike_stead/32/795_2.png) [@Mike\_Stead](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mike_Stead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/177 "2025-08-25T18:58:12Z")
This is really quite something: [Meaghan Wins Silk Road Mountain Race – Rene Herse Cycles](https://www.renehersecycles.com/meaghan-wins-silk-road-mountain-race/) ---
**Author:** ![Thunder\_Burt\_Reynolds](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/thunder_burt_reynolds/32/2761_2.png) [@Thunder\_Burt\_Reynolds](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Thunder_Burt_Reynolds)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/179 "2025-08-25T20:39:17Z")
Imagine how fast she would be on Thunder Burt’s. At one point a Trek rider won the TdF 7 times in a row. They must be the best bike made. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Stead](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mike_stead/32/795_2.png) [@Mike\_Stead](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mike_Stead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/180 "2025-08-25T20:44:42Z")
> [@Thunder\_Burt\_Reynolds](#): > > At one point a Trek rider won the TdF 7 times in a row. Who was that? I only know of a Trek rider who had 7 wins stripped from him. Same guy? ---
**Author:** ![jasedepuit](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jasedepuit/32/27_2.png) [@jasedepuit](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/jasedepuit)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:31am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/186 "2025-08-26T06:31:55Z")
@Mike_Stead - You have made your opinions on RH tires abundantly clear, multiple times on this topic. Your perspective is helpful, appreciated and no doubt warranted based on your experience but the repetitiveness of your perspective along with inserting it into conversations about other tires is what people are reacting to. I have asked you directly, twice, to leave this topic alone for further discussion. At this point continuing to highlight RH tires is not helping the discussion, it’s hindering it. To be honest it’s also not helping the reputation of RH tire. So now I’m asking you again, publicly. As for the reactions to your posts, they’re also not helping the discussion and some messages have been sent to those individuals as well. I think we all understand that RH tires are an option, potentially a good one. There are also other good options and we’re all just here to share our experiences without overwhelming anyone else. So let’s try and keep it like that please. (ChatGPT might make a good moderator based on that summary). ---
**Author:** ![jasedepuit](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jasedepuit/32/27_2.png) [@jasedepuit](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/jasedepuit)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 10:35am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/187 "2025-08-26T10:35:25Z")
Just a further note to highlight that in line with my previous message, along with taking some actions on flagged posts, we have tidied up the topic a bit. That involved removing a few posts and their replies. ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_G](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/matt_g/32/1146_2.png) [@Matt\_G](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Matt_G)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/188 "2025-08-28T13:18:41Z")
I haven’t been following this whole thread but I take this to mean you did all this testing and then raced Leadville? If that’s the case, where did you land on as the ‘best’ Leadville tire. Taking Crr, grip, protection, weight, etc into account? \*Might be a bit off topic though since this thread is for gravel ---
**Author:** ![John\_Karrasch](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/john_karrasch/32/1451_2.png) [@John\_Karrasch](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/John_Karrasch)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/189 "2025-08-28T13:35:02Z")
I wouldn’t worry about the cohesiveness of this thread too much, haha. No, I wasn’t out there this year, but I had a few friends that were. The reason I paid really close attention to Leadville was this [podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ZUart8MEEKTQybj3ESi6P?si=aek7uNsESiSSR6wUs-bRTA) that I recorded with Michael Hotten on fast Leadville tires. ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_G](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/matt_g/32/1146_2.png) [@Matt\_G](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Matt_G)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/190 "2025-08-28T13:39:07Z")
Sweet thanks! I’ve listened to many episodes of that pod despite never doing Leadville. But I’m looking to hopefully do it next year so I’ll definitely go give that episode a listen. Edit: Just realized I also listened to you on on Performance Process as well so I’m interested to hear that applied to Leadville. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Pitts](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mark_pitts/32/1302_2.png) [@Mark\_Pitts](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mark_Pitts)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/191 "2025-08-30T19:41:41Z")
I got a pair of Blunder Thurts to try out, 650b x 2.1” for my gravel bike. No miles yet but some impressions from install. They seem to be a little looser than other tires I’ve mounted on the same wheels. If allowed to deflate, one of the tire beads will come off the shelf. Never had a problem with Vittoria or WTB tires I used on these rims (Astral Outback alloy rims). Hopefully this will resolve once the tire breaks in some and the casing relaxes. The center knobs are pretty short and there aren’t many of them. I don’t expect the tire to last very long as a result. Hopefully they ride really nice but unless I can get good mileage out of them it will be the last pair I buy. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Pitts](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/mark_pitts/32/1302_2.png) [@Mark\_Pitts](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Mark_Pitts)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853/192 "2025-09-01T23:30:01Z")
First ride update: Ok, the Thunder Burts are really nice. Run very quiet on Tarmac and very comfy on gravel. Loved the extra compliance on rough stuff and the grip when climbing compared to the 48mm WTB Venture’s I ran previously. [Previous page](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/gravel-tires-slicks-tread-or-otherwise-there-is-no-best/1853.md?page=8)