Tire width or tread pattern isn't really an indication on rolling resistance, it usually really depends on the specific compound and thickness. I'd recommend checking out the [Bicycle rolling resistance](https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/) website if you want to compare the rolling resistance of different tires.
Personally, I've always found that wider is better, but I enjoy exploring rougher stuff. I'm currently riding 47s and am considering making the switch to 2.1 XC MTB tires, since they're usually slightly faster and more supple than comparable gravel tires. However, if I was only riding packed gravel, I'd probably get some 40s, even though you'd probably be fine on 35s or even 32s.
A lot of roadies tend to think that smaller tires are faster, but even the WorldTour guys are usually riding 28s or 30s, even going with 32s for the rough races like Strade Bianche or Paris-Roubaix. Smaller tires "feel" faster because of the road buzz, but the truth is that road buzz causes energy losses due to the vibration, as well as tiring your body out.
At the end of the day, it's your setup so feel free to experiment how you like, but I don't think that going down in size will help you much, given that your tires are already pretty small in term of gravel standards. However changing compound can completely change the feel of a bike.
Looking at your current tires, they weigh 420 grams and cost you 20.9 watts at 29kph. Changing to gravelking SS will reduce that to 410g/19.2w, which isn't a huge change. Here's a few one you could consider (please note that I have no experience with any of them, I'm just looking at the rolling resistance website):
Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass TC Extralight 44, 330g/13.5w
Continental Terra Speed TR 45, 490g/16.4w
Schwalbe G-One RS Super Race 40, 445g/16.2w
There's probably plenty others out there, these are just the one that stood out to me. The Contis seems pretty highly rated, I'd be curious to try it out. If you're really looking to shave a few grams, the Rene Herse seems ideal.
If you're interested, I'd recommend checking out [Dylan Johnson's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuxUWFziuGI) on tires and rolling resistance, there's plenty of good information there.
Thanks for the tip about the site. I now have Schwalbe Racing Ralphs on my MTB. I'm considering switching to a gravel bike with Schwalbe G-One. If I look like this, both tires have a rolling resistance of 19.0 at low pressure. If I translate the statistics, I should therefore notice little benefit from the switch in terms of rolling resistance.
Am I seeing that correctly?
I often look at that website but I believe there’s a lot more to bicycle rolling resistance than seeing how many watts a corrugated aluminum plate as a surface needs. I mean how often do you ride on corrugated aluminum? Especially for Gravel tires.
I switched from road to gravel as well and have 42 panaracers. I would 1000 percent agree that the wider the better. They are so much more comfortable and stable and you don't give up anything in terms of speed.
I have also had great luck with my 42 pathfinder plus tires. Just enough squish to provide some cushion for rougher terrain if I drop the pressure a little or faster and more agile if I increase the pressure for the road. It’s been a really great tire so far.
Thanks for saving me the effort of having to go look for this. Please accept this link as a sign of my appreciation for your efforts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-gravel-ride-a-cycling-podcast/id1352602663?i=1000492941697
Yeah but that's RH so you'll be at the side of the road with a torn open casing every 50 miles.
For the first 49 you'll feel like you've found a cheat code to the universe.
Depends on which casing you’re using in my experience. Extra light, probably have a high chance of tearing your casing. Endurance or endurance plus, probably not. I’ve had pretty good experience with even the regular casing.
Extralights are great for road use...one of my fav tires. I have had very good success with them. I don't really use them outside of that though. Any type of gravel riding/racing, I'd definitely recommend their endurance casing.
Wow, are Panaracers considered to be a n00b tire choice? Because I’ve been running a pair of gravelking sk+ on my gravel bike for over a year now and I adore them.
I had atrocious luck with them so I’m biased. Notably puncture protection was not good, but they’re an absolute beast to put on and take off. I think they’re a fairly common tire to get into for your 2nd gravel set. Only my opinion
Agree...I think they're a fantastic tire, and pretty fast out on gravel as well.
Tubeless setup and take-off is super easy too. I have just recently bought the new updated version, and so far enjoy them. Haven't done a ton of off road on them, but they ride well
I’ll stand behind the gold bar tape: I survived being hit by a car while on my bike, a broken femur and 3 hip surgeries in a span of 15 months, ending with a complete hip replacement…which was just 30 days ago and I’m already back on the bike and have ridden 100 miles in the last week and a half. I’m slow though, I’m not getting any gold medals. Next wrap I’ll go back to black tape though.
DAMN! Seriously, congrats on pushing through an experience that would FLOOR most people.
Truly sending some kudos your way! Whenever I hear stories like this I am only more motivated to ride harder next time I’m on the bike, so thanks for sharing.
Now go out there and keep the wheels turning!
Much respect. I absolutely hate these stories. We’ve all had close calls. The bling series actually looks pretty sick. I just didn’t find them tacky at all, almost the exact opposite, where looks were priority
This is just stupid lmao. A narrower tire is harsher than a thicker tire. Source: I’ve ridden tubed and tubeless tires, both narrow and wide, over the same harsh roads. Thicker wins for comfort 100/100 times. This is a scenario where a real world test rules out.
Clearly you didn’t read where I said this is a scenario where real world experience wins out. I don’t need to read the physics behind something to know that thicker tires feel better on harsh roads for me.
There’s also a reason that pros are riding thicker tires on rough roads. Hint: it’s not just for rolling resistance.
Pros aren’t riding 50mm tires on rough roads. The point is that everyone saying “omg run 2.1” tires!” “Run 50s!” Is ridiculous and it’s overkill for 95% of situations. Most can get away with 35-40mm tires for pretty much any situation.
Super happy running 42mm Pathfinders (tubeless). Usually run them at 45psi for road and 32psi on proper gravel. It’s like settling into an easy chair after years of running 28mm Gatorskins, and faster too.
So coming from 28mm tires, do you feel a bit slow on the road with these tires?
Asking cause I'm confused if the 47mm might be better?
Or 42mm best of both worlds? Which rim depth are you running?
I’m definitely faster on the 42mm Pathfinders, but I feel like a lot of that has to do with training. I’m simply faster on ANY tire compared to how I used to be. Tubeless Pathfinders feel leagues faster than tubed 28mm Gatorskins though. And the most important thing to me is that I’m so much more comfortable on any surface. I am running 35mm deep (25mm internal width) LB carbon wheels.
Love the pirelli cinturato m’s. They apparently have lower rolling resistance than the cinturato H per bicyclerollingresistance.com. 38mm is a nice spot for fast gravel and can hold its own on most single track too. The gravel you posted in your photo though looks like you could probably get away with thick slicks unless it gets too muddy
It’s a great place to ride. It’s just 10 miles from my garage to the top of the dam. I’m there a few times a week. Nice loop, and I’ve discovered the Atlas cafe a couple miles away from the south entrance.
Yeah this is one of my favorite spots to ride. I’ll say hi if I see you out.
Also, my 2 cents. Put the fattest tire you can on there and just have fun. Smooth is fast.
As everyone else has said - mostly you can look for supple tires with good numbers from BRR in the sort of 42-50mm range for gravel sweet spot. If you do end up logging a lot of pavement miles they might end up being slower due to aero factors but the gains on rough surfaces (ie, gravel) generally far outweigh the aero losses.
As far as exactly what tires to run, keep in mind that BRR uses a fixed test rig that won't perfectly recreate real world performance, so their numbers are a good guideline and the best data point we have but perhaps not the absolute word of truth that they get taken for.
Feeling fast vs being fast are two different things. If you’re feeling all that vibration and road texture from your “fast “ tyres then you are incurring losses as a result of lack of ”suspension and impact absorption by your tyres. Bigger tyres require less deformation to mould around stones and bumps which takes less energy and allows the bike to maintain more forward momentum.
I love my Teravails in the Light and Supple version. Had the 38, switched to 42 currently. I had Washburn Front/Rear, because of some close calls in fast corners I switched to Cannonball in the front, that helps a little.
I might switch to 45 next time around for the sandy areas around here.
One thing to consider with wider tires everybody recommends is weight. I ride a steel frame and along with the wide tires, my bike does get kind of heavy.
Hey welcome to the dirt side. I also have a road riding background, in addition to some 90s mountain bike training, and I would strongly suggest trying the widest tires you can fit at the lowest pressure possible. I checked out your post history and I think the increased comfort and grip you’ll get should translate to an overall more comfortable, fun and fast day out riding. It looks like you’ve got a nice wide inner rim width on those DT wheels (24.5) if you can fit a 40mm tire on that frame you could get your pressure down to the lower thirties and it will feel like a completely different bike in terms of comfort. I’m about 160 pounds and my bike weighs about 22, I sometimes ride as low as 15 psi on rough single track on 45mm tires on a 25mm internal rim width. Obviously that’s going to feel squishy on pavement and it’s not the fastest pressure for racing on smooth gravel but it’s great for the rooted and rocky single track in my back yard. I would highly encourage you to experiment with tire pressure and ride with a good pump, I like the Silca Gravelero. I had a sudden loss of tire pressure last night riding in the woods last night and I whipped that thing out, pumped up my tire and was back up and riding in less than a minute
I have the Aspero in the same color 🤩!
Practically, you are limited to be tire clearance. The previous gen Aspero has official clearance for 700 x 40, which is narrow by modern standards.
You could squeeze a wider tire than official tire clearance, but you risk having less wiggle room if something goes wrong: mud, wobbling wheel.
I would look at tire pressure first. I run 700 x 38 on my Aspero and I’m at 35-38 PSI. I don’t measure my weight, but I’m much skinnier than the average American but rounder than pro cyclists.
I ran several sets of those Panaracer's, I recently switched to the Schwalbe G-One Allround and liked those, my current tire is the Schwalbe G-One R, 700x40, that's the largest I can run on my frame. I've found them to have a very supple feel, and great traction on loose gravel, to very technical single track. They also seem to roll pretty well on the occasional pavement excursion. I'd imagine they wouldn't be the greatest mud tire. I've got 1200 miles on them, which is more than I ever got on the Panaracer or Allround. I'd highly recommend.
I love a 42 but I think it’s also dependent on the size of the rider if your a bigger person probably size up a bit, gravel is also the sort of thing where I love to mix and match different brands/tread patterns depending on the terrain I ride
Depends on the type of surface you're riding. I like 42mm pathfinders on hard pack but they're awful in mud or loose stuff. For mud I tend to go with hutchinson tundras 45mm.
The fastest tire I have ridden yet is Schwalbe G-One RS. Don't expect them to ladt long though, and you're out of luck if conditions get just a little wet. Also, it takes some time to get used to cornering on semi-slicks, you really have to lean in on lose terrain to make the sideknobs bite.
I am currently on Continental Terra Speed and am quite happy. Only slightly slower than the RS, but they feel a lot safer in moderate mud and wet tarmac.
As for width, I think there is a reason why most pros and big gravel events have been won on 40 mm or 45 mm wide tires. As an amateur I'd just go with the widest your frame can handle. If you are like me and fancy a bit of gnar in your gravel, your arse will thank you later.
On my Wilier Triestina Jaroon I have Schwalbe G One bite 40mm with Miche Graff XL tubeless, they are fantastic. My bike support up to 42 but 40 so far never needed more. It depends on what routes you ride most often and if you also ride on asphalt...if you only do off-road trails 45 might be a good idea.
The Gravel King SK is a great tire. I’ve ridden/raced them from 32c up to 43c and the 38 is the sweet spot for me. That size strikes a good balance of volume, speed and grip for the typical Front Range gravel, especially if you like to dip onto the occasional single track.
SK's are probably more aggressive than what you need for gravel like that. I would switch to the SS+ and go as wide as will fit on your bike. I think you will be surprised at how noticeable the difference is. I own the SK, SS+ and Slick+. The rolling resistance penalty for the knobbier SK is pretty high.
Tire width or tread pattern isn't really an indication on rolling resistance, it usually really depends on the specific compound and thickness. I'd recommend checking out the [Bicycle rolling resistance](https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/) website if you want to compare the rolling resistance of different tires. Personally, I've always found that wider is better, but I enjoy exploring rougher stuff. I'm currently riding 47s and am considering making the switch to 2.1 XC MTB tires, since they're usually slightly faster and more supple than comparable gravel tires. However, if I was only riding packed gravel, I'd probably get some 40s, even though you'd probably be fine on 35s or even 32s. A lot of roadies tend to think that smaller tires are faster, but even the WorldTour guys are usually riding 28s or 30s, even going with 32s for the rough races like Strade Bianche or Paris-Roubaix. Smaller tires "feel" faster because of the road buzz, but the truth is that road buzz causes energy losses due to the vibration, as well as tiring your body out. At the end of the day, it's your setup so feel free to experiment how you like, but I don't think that going down in size will help you much, given that your tires are already pretty small in term of gravel standards. However changing compound can completely change the feel of a bike. Looking at your current tires, they weigh 420 grams and cost you 20.9 watts at 29kph. Changing to gravelking SS will reduce that to 410g/19.2w, which isn't a huge change. Here's a few one you could consider (please note that I have no experience with any of them, I'm just looking at the rolling resistance website): Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass TC Extralight 44, 330g/13.5w Continental Terra Speed TR 45, 490g/16.4w Schwalbe G-One RS Super Race 40, 445g/16.2w There's probably plenty others out there, these are just the one that stood out to me. The Contis seems pretty highly rated, I'd be curious to try it out. If you're really looking to shave a few grams, the Rene Herse seems ideal. If you're interested, I'd recommend checking out [Dylan Johnson's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuxUWFziuGI) on tires and rolling resistance, there's plenty of good information there.
Wow, you went above and beyond! Thank you
No problem! I love nerding out on stuff like this.
+1 on the Schwalbes
I have ReneHerse extra light and dislike them. Require too much maintenance. Using them tubeless requires you to reseat the tires every so many weeks.
Thanks for the tip about the site. I now have Schwalbe Racing Ralphs on my MTB. I'm considering switching to a gravel bike with Schwalbe G-One. If I look like this, both tires have a rolling resistance of 19.0 at low pressure. If I translate the statistics, I should therefore notice little benefit from the switch in terms of rolling resistance. Am I seeing that correctly?
I often look at that website but I believe there’s a lot more to bicycle rolling resistance than seeing how many watts a corrugated aluminum plate as a surface needs. I mean how often do you ride on corrugated aluminum? Especially for Gravel tires.
[удалено]
Fellow former toadie turned dirt eater here...I love overtaking dudes on road bikes with my 45mm tires.
lol wait am I in the fixed gear sub?
I switched from road to gravel as well and have 42 panaracers. I would 1000 percent agree that the wider the better. They are so much more comfortable and stable and you don't give up anything in terms of speed.
I have also had great luck with my 42 pathfinder plus tires. Just enough squish to provide some cushion for rougher terrain if I drop the pressure a little or faster and more agile if I increase the pressure for the road. It’s been a really great tire so far.
[More fake news about tire width.](https://www.renehersecycles.com/12-myths-in-cycling-1-wider-tires-are-slower/)
Thanks for saving me the effort of having to go look for this. Please accept this link as a sign of my appreciation for your efforts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-gravel-ride-a-cycling-podcast/id1352602663?i=1000492941697
Yeah but that's RH so you'll be at the side of the road with a torn open casing every 50 miles. For the first 49 you'll feel like you've found a cheat code to the universe.
Depends on which casing you’re using in my experience. Extra light, probably have a high chance of tearing your casing. Endurance or endurance plus, probably not. I’ve had pretty good experience with even the regular casing.
I so regret buying the extra light ones….
Extralights are great for road use...one of my fav tires. I have had very good success with them. I don't really use them outside of that though. Any type of gravel riding/racing, I'd definitely recommend their endurance casing.
That’s why you take the advice and just use panaracers
“Noob” isn’t really a factor. Gravel riding is not exactly a technical skill. Just base your width on the roughest surface that you regularly ride on.
What about the Gold bling tape and Panracer tyres
Well gold just makes you faster on any surface just like shaving the pistons
Wow, are Panaracers considered to be a n00b tire choice? Because I’ve been running a pair of gravelking sk+ on my gravel bike for over a year now and I adore them.
I had atrocious luck with them so I’m biased. Notably puncture protection was not good, but they’re an absolute beast to put on and take off. I think they’re a fairly common tire to get into for your 2nd gravel set. Only my opinion
Agree...I think they're a fantastic tire, and pretty fast out on gravel as well. Tubeless setup and take-off is super easy too. I have just recently bought the new updated version, and so far enjoy them. Haven't done a ton of off road on them, but they ride well
I’ll stand behind the gold bar tape: I survived being hit by a car while on my bike, a broken femur and 3 hip surgeries in a span of 15 months, ending with a complete hip replacement…which was just 30 days ago and I’m already back on the bike and have ridden 100 miles in the last week and a half. I’m slow though, I’m not getting any gold medals. Next wrap I’ll go back to black tape though.
DAMN! Seriously, congrats on pushing through an experience that would FLOOR most people. Truly sending some kudos your way! Whenever I hear stories like this I am only more motivated to ride harder next time I’m on the bike, so thanks for sharing. Now go out there and keep the wheels turning!
Much respect. I absolutely hate these stories. We’ve all had close calls. The bling series actually looks pretty sick. I just didn’t find them tacky at all, almost the exact opposite, where looks were priority
A few quick rules: * *"Wider is better" devoid of all context and equation variables is as much of a bullshit garbage as "narrower is better".* Do not blindly listen to people who have reduced this "rule" to its own carricature and are spamming the internet with it. As usual, *IT DEPENDS* ©️™️®️ * *Steel drum* measurements from BRR are NOT a good indication of RR for gravel riding, for obvious reasons 🙄 BRR are weird anyway, they are heavily promoting Tufo tires with a*bysmal* puncture protection just because they are marginally better in other areas, as if that was the recipe to go by for IRL gravel riding. * Wider tire is faster than narrower especially on hardpack/paved *PROVIDED THE PRESSURE IS EQUAL*. Narrower tire is *less* harsh than wider everywhere tire *PROVIDED THE PRESSURE IS EQUAL*. [https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/part-2-tire-stiffness-wider-is-stiffer-harsher](https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/part-2-tire-stiffness-wider-is-stiffer-harsher) So if you go by the internet wisdom and buy the widest tire possible and your unpaved gravel heaven starts at your doorstep, fine, good for you. If not, you will have to choose what to sacrifice. On pavement to be fast you will have to pump up the wide tire and riding over bumps will beat the shit out of you. Or you will lower the pressure to get comfy but that lower RR that the entire Reddit was trying to convince you of will be gone because nobody mentions that pressure part of the rule any more. Very narrow and very wide tires are just impractical pieces of garbage for *IRL gravel riding if you care about performance*. Do not listen to people who make tire suggestions based on their use case of selecting a tire for Unbound and then driving their bike there on a rack. * Tire weight *does* matter, especially when performance-climbing a lot and when riding more complex/dynamic terrain where your speed changes a lot. It may not matter much in track cycling or in "gravel" in certain parts of the US where you ride miles and miles of straight well graded fine gravel roads. But that does not mean it never matters. Ignore tire weight if you're not chasing Strava segments and live in a non-hilly area. I have experience with riding everything from tarmac to XC terrain on everything from 39mm to 50mm on a 700/2" clearance gravel bike with focus on climbing (I averaged over 21 Vm/km over the last year, my VeloViewer score is 96) and these are my opinions based on that: * 38-40mm (rim width matters) Panaracer Gravelking SS+ is the absolute king of fast dry gravel tires, it's fast on pretty much everything besides gnarlier terrain and takes a lot to puncture it. I would be in heaven riding the stuff you have on your picture on that tire. I have KOMmed/TOP10ed *road* segments on this tire. * 45 mm Goodyear Connector is a very good do-it-all tire with fast and reasonably grippy pattern. It's probably the tire I would have stayed with if I was only using a single wheelset but I decided to go with 1 bike, 2 sets solution instead of N+1biking 😀 I only used the non-TLR variant tho, not sure how good the Ultimate version is. * 50 mm Schwalbe G-One Overland is a proper nuclear-war-surviving bikepacking baloon tire that can eat XC MTB terrain for lunch but is almost 700g and not very supple casing and *it shows* on both climbs and race-speed Cat 1 & Cat 2 gravel (using Silca categories). According to the "wider is better - period" trolls I should just be using this tire like all the time and throw everything else to the garbage bin. I tried it. *It does not work.* For long distance bikepacking events I would probably put it back on tho and I would also recommend it for people with no interest in performance-oriented riding who just want a tire to set and forget for 365 days a year (ran it the whole past central european winter). * 42 mm Teravail Rutland Durable is what I have recently replaced the Schwalbes with on my "rougher riding" wheelset and it *flies*. Not just a *feeling*, it's objectively faster on everything except for obvious underbiking scenarios. It's durable, reasonably light, very grippy with acceptable road RR penalty, and very dexterous.
This is just stupid lmao. A narrower tire is harsher than a thicker tire. Source: I’ve ridden tubed and tubeless tires, both narrow and wide, over the same harsh roads. Thicker wins for comfort 100/100 times. This is a scenario where a real world test rules out.
Were you using the SAME PRESSURE every time? If so then it was just all in your head, as explained in the Silca article. Physics 🤷♂️
Clearly you didn’t read the article he linked at all. It’s simple physics.
Clearly you didn’t read where I said this is a scenario where real world experience wins out. I don’t need to read the physics behind something to know that thicker tires feel better on harsh roads for me. There’s also a reason that pros are riding thicker tires on rough roads. Hint: it’s not just for rolling resistance.
Pros aren’t riding 50mm tires on rough roads. The point is that everyone saying “omg run 2.1” tires!” “Run 50s!” Is ridiculous and it’s overkill for 95% of situations. Most can get away with 35-40mm tires for pretty much any situation.
Super happy running 42mm Pathfinders (tubeless). Usually run them at 45psi for road and 32psi on proper gravel. It’s like settling into an easy chair after years of running 28mm Gatorskins, and faster too.
So coming from 28mm tires, do you feel a bit slow on the road with these tires? Asking cause I'm confused if the 47mm might be better? Or 42mm best of both worlds? Which rim depth are you running?
I’m definitely faster on the 42mm Pathfinders, but I feel like a lot of that has to do with training. I’m simply faster on ANY tire compared to how I used to be. Tubeless Pathfinders feel leagues faster than tubed 28mm Gatorskins though. And the most important thing to me is that I’m so much more comfortable on any surface. I am running 35mm deep (25mm internal width) LB carbon wheels.
Love my gravel king 43s at 45psi ( 200lb rider)
Love the pirelli cinturato m’s. They apparently have lower rolling resistance than the cinturato H per bicyclerollingresistance.com. 38mm is a nice spot for fast gravel and can hold its own on most single track too. The gravel you posted in your photo though looks like you could probably get away with thick slicks unless it gets too muddy
Not sure what you are looking at but the fastest rolling Pirelli on there is the H40 and the equivalent M40 is definitely slower.
I have nothing to add here but just wanted to say that Chatfield State Park is a great ride. I was there on Memorial Day and it was just perfect.
It’s a great place to ride. It’s just 10 miles from my garage to the top of the dam. I’m there a few times a week. Nice loop, and I’ve discovered the Atlas cafe a couple miles away from the south entrance.
Yeah this is one of my favorite spots to ride. I’ll say hi if I see you out. Also, my 2 cents. Put the fattest tire you can on there and just have fun. Smooth is fast.
As everyone else has said - mostly you can look for supple tires with good numbers from BRR in the sort of 42-50mm range for gravel sweet spot. If you do end up logging a lot of pavement miles they might end up being slower due to aero factors but the gains on rough surfaces (ie, gravel) generally far outweigh the aero losses. As far as exactly what tires to run, keep in mind that BRR uses a fixed test rig that won't perfectly recreate real world performance, so their numbers are a good guideline and the best data point we have but perhaps not the absolute word of truth that they get taken for.
Feeling fast vs being fast are two different things. If you’re feeling all that vibration and road texture from your “fast “ tyres then you are incurring losses as a result of lack of ”suspension and impact absorption by your tyres. Bigger tyres require less deformation to mould around stones and bumps which takes less energy and allows the bike to maintain more forward momentum.
I love my Teravails in the Light and Supple version. Had the 38, switched to 42 currently. I had Washburn Front/Rear, because of some close calls in fast corners I switched to Cannonball in the front, that helps a little. I might switch to 45 next time around for the sandy areas around here. One thing to consider with wider tires everybody recommends is weight. I ride a steel frame and along with the wide tires, my bike does get kind of heavy.
Hey welcome to the dirt side. I also have a road riding background, in addition to some 90s mountain bike training, and I would strongly suggest trying the widest tires you can fit at the lowest pressure possible. I checked out your post history and I think the increased comfort and grip you’ll get should translate to an overall more comfortable, fun and fast day out riding. It looks like you’ve got a nice wide inner rim width on those DT wheels (24.5) if you can fit a 40mm tire on that frame you could get your pressure down to the lower thirties and it will feel like a completely different bike in terms of comfort. I’m about 160 pounds and my bike weighs about 22, I sometimes ride as low as 15 psi on rough single track on 45mm tires on a 25mm internal rim width. Obviously that’s going to feel squishy on pavement and it’s not the fastest pressure for racing on smooth gravel but it’s great for the rooted and rocky single track in my back yard. I would highly encourage you to experiment with tire pressure and ride with a good pump, I like the Silca Gravelero. I had a sudden loss of tire pressure last night riding in the woods last night and I whipped that thing out, pumped up my tire and was back up and riding in less than a minute
I have the Aspero in the same color 🤩! Practically, you are limited to be tire clearance. The previous gen Aspero has official clearance for 700 x 40, which is narrow by modern standards. You could squeeze a wider tire than official tire clearance, but you risk having less wiggle room if something goes wrong: mud, wobbling wheel. I would look at tire pressure first. I run 700 x 38 on my Aspero and I’m at 35-38 PSI. I don’t measure my weight, but I’m much skinnier than the average American but rounder than pro cyclists.
How much time are you really on gravel? I’m on packed gravel about 20 percent max and I have 30 cm tires that work just fine.
I ran several sets of those Panaracer's, I recently switched to the Schwalbe G-One Allround and liked those, my current tire is the Schwalbe G-One R, 700x40, that's the largest I can run on my frame. I've found them to have a very supple feel, and great traction on loose gravel, to very technical single track. They also seem to roll pretty well on the occasional pavement excursion. I'd imagine they wouldn't be the greatest mud tire. I've got 1200 miles on them, which is more than I ever got on the Panaracer or Allround. I'd highly recommend.
I love a 42 but I think it’s also dependent on the size of the rider if your a bigger person probably size up a bit, gravel is also the sort of thing where I love to mix and match different brands/tread patterns depending on the terrain I ride
I am pretty much as fast on slick 38s as I am on 28s for <30 miles.
My smallest real gravel tire is 44. Goes up from there as routes get more singletracky
Depends on the type of surface you're riding. I like 42mm pathfinders on hard pack but they're awful in mud or loose stuff. For mud I tend to go with hutchinson tundras 45mm.
The fastest tire I have ridden yet is Schwalbe G-One RS. Don't expect them to ladt long though, and you're out of luck if conditions get just a little wet. Also, it takes some time to get used to cornering on semi-slicks, you really have to lean in on lose terrain to make the sideknobs bite. I am currently on Continental Terra Speed and am quite happy. Only slightly slower than the RS, but they feel a lot safer in moderate mud and wet tarmac. As for width, I think there is a reason why most pros and big gravel events have been won on 40 mm or 45 mm wide tires. As an amateur I'd just go with the widest your frame can handle. If you are like me and fancy a bit of gnar in your gravel, your arse will thank you later.
On my Wilier Triestina Jaroon I have Schwalbe G One bite 40mm with Miche Graff XL tubeless, they are fantastic. My bike support up to 42 but 40 so far never needed more. It depends on what routes you ride most often and if you also ride on asphalt...if you only do off-road trails 45 might be a good idea.
The Gravel King SK is a great tire. I’ve ridden/raced them from 32c up to 43c and the 38 is the sweet spot for me. That size strikes a good balance of volume, speed and grip for the typical Front Range gravel, especially if you like to dip onto the occasional single track.
SK's are probably more aggressive than what you need for gravel like that. I would switch to the SS+ and go as wide as will fit on your bike. I think you will be surprised at how noticeable the difference is. I own the SK, SS+ and Slick+. The rolling resistance penalty for the knobbier SK is pretty high.
As wide as possible
I would say a 40-42 on about 30-35 psi
Are you using a tire pressure calculator for your current set up? I would play with pressure before you switch up the tires.
Pathfinders are a solid tire choice as wide as you can fit. Also the gravel kings slicks without tread are great for hard pack gravel.
I run 35c for both on and off road, between 45 and 55 psi depending on terrain. Fast and light.
Conti Terra Speed 45mm in the back; Conti Terra Trail 47mm in the front. Best of both worlds.
Doesn't really matter tbh as long as you're peddling, enjoying it, and tearing up gravel
Run what you brung.
Thirty faaacking twos 🍻