road / gravel tyre widths
Discussion
Probably a stupid question, so apologies in advance!
My gravel bike came with 40mm tyres, but I am doing 90% road riding with only the occasional venture onto paths and tracks.When the time comes I am thinking of replcaing the tyres with something a little more road focussed, but not a full road tyre. I am looking at either the schwable g-one all round 35mm or g-one speed 30mm.
My wheels have an inner width of 22mm, will I have any issues reducing the tyre width as far as 30mm?
Thanks in advance!
My gravel bike came with 40mm tyres, but I am doing 90% road riding with only the occasional venture onto paths and tracks.When the time comes I am thinking of replcaing the tyres with something a little more road focussed, but not a full road tyre. I am looking at either the schwable g-one all round 35mm or g-one speed 30mm.
My wheels have an inner width of 22mm, will I have any issues reducing the tyre width as far as 30mm?
Thanks in advance!
jimmy156 said:
Probably a stupid question, so apologies in advance!
My gravel bike came with 40mm tyres, but I am doing 90% road riding with only the occasional venture onto paths and tracks.When the time comes I am thinking of replcaing the tyres with something a little more road focussed, but not a full road tyre. I am looking at either the schwable g-one all round 35mm or g-one speed 30mm.
My wheels have an inner width of 22mm, will I have any issues reducing the tyre width as far as 30mm?
Thanks in advance!
700c or 650b?My gravel bike came with 40mm tyres, but I am doing 90% road riding with only the occasional venture onto paths and tracks.When the time comes I am thinking of replcaing the tyres with something a little more road focussed, but not a full road tyre. I am looking at either the schwable g-one all round 35mm or g-one speed 30mm.
My wheels have an inner width of 22mm, will I have any issues reducing the tyre width as far as 30mm?
Thanks in advance!
James, if you are doing 90% riding on the road, then 700 rather than 650b will give you a a faster top speed. The sweet spot for your type of riding would be 700 x 36c to 700 x 38c semi slick from Schwalbe or WTB. Tyre pressure up to 40 psi
If you have to stick with the 650b fitted to you bike, then a similar type width would work too. You don’t need to go as narrow at 30.
Cheers Ian
If you have to stick with the 650b fitted to you bike, then a similar type width would work too. You don’t need to go as narrow at 30.
Cheers Ian
3rtt said:
James, if you are doing 90% riding on the road, then 700 rather than 650b will give you a a faster top speed. The sweet spot for your type of riding would be 700 x 36c to 700 x 38c semi slick from Schwalbe or WTB. Tyre pressure up to 40 psi
If you have to stick with the 650b fitted to you bike, then a similar type width would work too. You don’t need to go as narrow at 30.
Cheers Ian
Agree 100% with this. The comfort from using wider tyres with less pressure on our crappy roads far outweighs the small speed increase from using narrower tyres with higher pressure’s.If you have to stick with the 650b fitted to you bike, then a similar type width would work too. You don’t need to go as narrow at 30.
Cheers Ian
Thanks for the replies. I won’t be changing the wheels any time soon. I assume that the frame can take 700c, although as canyon spec 650b I guess it’s possible that they don’t!
I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
Edited by jimmy156 on Sunday 25th October 17:04
jimmy156 said:
Thanks for the replies. I won’t be changing the wheels any time soon. I assume that the frame can take 700c, although as canyon spec 650b I guess it’s possible that they don’t!
I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
I like to reply by name, I think it makes the communication a bit more personal. I could see your name on your profile 🤛I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
Edited by jimmy156 on Sunday 25th October 17:04
Any good recommendations for 700 x 40mm tyres that are off road biased? That will handle gravel lanes, the odd bit of mud and singletrack through woods? WTB Raddler looks like it might be suitable.
Bike currently has 33mm CX tyres on but want a slightly higher volume option for longer local rides that will open up more trails.
re. tyre sizes- is 28" x 1.5" the same at 700 x 40? Looking at specs, I think 622x40 is the "proper" way of defining the size? It's such a pain to search when tyres are all listed differently.
Bike currently has 33mm CX tyres on but want a slightly higher volume option for longer local rides that will open up more trails.
re. tyre sizes- is 28" x 1.5" the same at 700 x 40? Looking at specs, I think 622x40 is the "proper" way of defining the size? It's such a pain to search when tyres are all listed differently.
lufbramatt said:
Any good recommendations for 700 x 40mm tyres that are off road biased? That will handle gravel lanes, the odd bit of mud and singletrack through woods? WTB Raddler looks like it might be suitable.
Bike currently has 33mm CX tyres on but want a slightly higher volume option for longer local rides that will open up more trails.
re. tyre sizes- is 28" x 1.5" the same at 700 x 40? Looking at specs, I think 622x40 is the "proper" way of defining the size? It's such a pain to search when tyres are all listed differently.
Hey Matt, Don't try to understand the crazy way bicycle wheels / tyres are measured and described, it will do your head in.Bike currently has 33mm CX tyres on but want a slightly higher volume option for longer local rides that will open up more trails.
re. tyre sizes- is 28" x 1.5" the same at 700 x 40? Looking at specs, I think 622x40 is the "proper" way of defining the size? It's such a pain to search when tyres are all listed differently.
For your tyres, I would recommend either Schwalbe G-One Bite or Ultra bite 700x38c, WTB Riddler 700x37c, Venture 700x40c or Raddler 700x40c.
Cheers Ian
jimmy156 said:
Thanks for the replies. I won’t be changing the wheels any time soon. I assume that the frame can take 700c, although as canyon spec 650b I guess it’s possible that they don’t!
I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
https://axs.sram.com/tirepressureguide is worth tryingI’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
Edited by jimmy156 on Sunday 25th October 17:04
jimmy156 said:
Thanks for the replies. I won’t be changing the wheels any time soon. I assume that the frame can take 700c, although as canyon spec 650b I guess it’s possible that they don’t!
I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
35mm sounds good to me. I've got a much older bike that I run as a "gravel" bike mainly. When I bought it from eBay, it was the seller's commute bike and was wearing 28mm tyres. I noticed absolutely no loss of pace switching to 38 mm Bontrager LT-2 tyres.I’ll go for the 35mm schwable g-one all rounds then. I was thinking 30mm would feel rather hard after getting used to 40mm plushness!
Interesting I see I lot of recommendations for pressures as low as 40 (or even less) online, but my current tyres state 50-75 psi as the correct range.
On a side note Ian, do we know each other in the real world (you referred to me by name) or was that a guess from my username
Edited by jimmy156 on Sunday 25th October 17:04
As for pressures? Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Find what works for you. Start somewhere within the tyre's "correct" range, and adjust down until they feel horrid under you. Then add some air back in, a little at a time, until they again feel uncomfortable. Your ideal tyre pressure will be between the upper and lower limits YOU set, not the ones set by the tyre manufacturer. I run mine on the road at about 40psi (f) and 45psi (r). This is a nice balance between road and off-road. If I'm mainly off-road, I've dropped as low as 20psi (f) and 25psi (r). So long as you aren't snapping spokes, knocking rims out of shape, or getting regular punctures, there isn't really an "incorrect" tyre pressure.
Vaguely on topic, I found this quite interesting.. https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/... They also have a bunch of data on gravel tyres.
Yes on a roller (albeit non-smooth). I'd expect a slight skew towards wider tyres on real/rougher roads, but some interesting conclusions.
Mine came with Riddlers. They're 'good enough' for me offroad, and I wouldn't want anything more chunky on. Also ran g-one allrounds previously, in about the same ballpark as the riddlers. I'd not want to go chunkier, but YMMV - my bias is definitely towards smoother/faster tyres.
Yes on a roller (albeit non-smooth). I'd expect a slight skew towards wider tyres on real/rougher roads, but some interesting conclusions.
Mine came with Riddlers. They're 'good enough' for me offroad, and I wouldn't want anything more chunky on. Also ran g-one allrounds previously, in about the same ballpark as the riddlers. I'd not want to go chunkier, but YMMV - my bias is definitely towards smoother/faster tyres.
upsidedownmark said:
Vaguely on topic, I found this quite interesting.. https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/... They also have a bunch of data on gravel tyres.
Yes on a roller (albeit non-smooth). I'd expect a slight skew towards wider tyres on real/rougher roads, but some interesting conclusions.
Mine came with Riddlers. They're 'good enough' for me offroad, and I wouldn't want anything more chunky on. Also ran g-one allrounds previously, in about the same ballpark as the riddlers. I'd not want to go chunkier, but YMMV - my bias is definitely towards smoother/faster tyres.
It's only anecdata, not science, but I find I can ride through plenty on 700c x 25mm road tyres. I'm into VeloViewer Explorer Tiling. When I plan a road ride I often see on my map a byway, bridleway, or even (whisper it) a footpath that will get me another tile or two and save me a separate journey out with a gravel or mountain bike. Continental GP 4 Seasons will go up, and down, plenty of stuff you wouldn't expect them to. I've done rooty bridleways, slick wet grass, chunky gravel (cautiously, of course) and even puddles and sloppy mud for short sections in preference to turning around. And that's at road tyre pressures too. Obviously at far slower speeds, and carefully picking lines to avoid deep holes and large stones, which does somewhat suck the fun out of those sections of the ride, but hey? The tyres themselves cope. So when I switch to the Cannondale with 38mm gravel tyres on, it feels like I'm riding a magic carpet in comparison. Where the road bike struggles is less the tyres it wears, but the gearing. When a byway or bridleway starts to climb, it gets tough when you don't have a crawler gear with which to slowly winch yourself up the slope. That, and rider comfort, are where a gravel bike or a MTB really come into their own...Yes on a roller (albeit non-smooth). I'd expect a slight skew towards wider tyres on real/rougher roads, but some interesting conclusions.
Mine came with Riddlers. They're 'good enough' for me offroad, and I wouldn't want anything more chunky on. Also ran g-one allrounds previously, in about the same ballpark as the riddlers. I'd not want to go chunkier, but YMMV - my bias is definitely towards smoother/faster tyres.
Anecdotally <cough..> I may have ridden down an MTB trail on a carbon roadbike on 23mm's just to prove a point to a mate with an excess of gravel kool-aid - biggest problem was the garmin crash detection absolutely loosing its s**t!
But as you say, it's not ideal for various reasons (mostly not tyre). Am pretty happy with 30mm pure slicks for general road, plus a bit of towpaths, hardpack gravel etc. Despite all the hype around tubeless and lowered rolling resistance of wide tyres (the article I linked above puts that in context), anything that's got more than token tread is draggy.. The lack of tread really only becomes an issue when it gets muddy (or sandy, but I don't see much of that). The riddlers go on when I'm planning a pure off-road ride/minimal road. At 40ish psi they're super comfy, but a good chunk slower, as were the allrounds. They're not *terrible*, but unless you're primarily offroad, just no..
But.. I also think that 'gravel' is in danger of turning into XC MTB which seems largely pointless to me too
But as you say, it's not ideal for various reasons (mostly not tyre). Am pretty happy with 30mm pure slicks for general road, plus a bit of towpaths, hardpack gravel etc. Despite all the hype around tubeless and lowered rolling resistance of wide tyres (the article I linked above puts that in context), anything that's got more than token tread is draggy.. The lack of tread really only becomes an issue when it gets muddy (or sandy, but I don't see much of that). The riddlers go on when I'm planning a pure off-road ride/minimal road. At 40ish psi they're super comfy, but a good chunk slower, as were the allrounds. They're not *terrible*, but unless you're primarily offroad, just no..
But.. I also think that 'gravel' is in danger of turning into XC MTB which seems largely pointless to me too
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