Gravel tires vs Road tires (pure speed)

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Hello guys,

anyone who honestly ride a road bike and gravel bike!?

I did notice gravel tires work great for gravel, but they are much more heavy riding pure tarmac.
The resistance seems much higher!?

What tires are actually best suited for raw speed for both tarmac and gravel?
Tubeless please, keep to tubeless!
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

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addict
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by addict

My racing/training bike is Scott Foil10 sram red/Zipp404 cl/Conti's Force/Attack tires. Recently bought Addict Gravel for backcountry/trail riding around the city.
Made some upgrades, tuning and install stock Schwalbe G-One's tubeless) Must say they feels far better on road than I expected. Made some HIIT's @50kph what's really impossible
on my mtb)) With 400gr tires you spent much more energy for accelerations, not pure speed. If you want adequate road performance from gravel/CC bike think you need wide rim medium profile carbon wheels + 622-30 S-Ones tubeless or smth similar ;)

RussellS
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by RussellS

All of the gravel roads in my state have two strips down them. The two strips the cars drive on in both directions. Gravel roads are really one way roads. Everyone drives down the middle of the road. Only move to the edges when another car is coming. So these two strips for the tires are smooth, fine dust. And packed as hard as concrete. When it is dry. Road racing bike tires are the fastest for this surface. You do not need any knobs on the tires for traction.

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Hello Guys,

i also have Schwalbe S-One. But since i noted that wide tires do work very well, i decided to try Hutchinson Black Mamba CX.
Today i have a resting day but tomorrow i will be back at it.

G-One looked alot larger at the rims. I think it was like 38-38.5mm at my No tubes Avion Pro.
I have measured the Black Mamba CX to 35.5-36.0mm.

I am also curious of the (soon to be released) Hutchinson Sector 32.

What amazes me is still how the tires actually reminds me of a suspension.
You can really level the compression/ rebound and softness or more stiff sense.

Addict, i don't really ride in the city more than needed. I go for country side. I really like the more winding roads without cars etc.
I think the active riding is immensely more fun than the typical tarmac riding.
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

Tamu8104
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by Tamu8104

It's hard to say because it kinda depends on what your gravel is like. I have wheels in 3 formats.
1. Schwalbe Pro Ones in 25 or 28 - these are my road tires and good for fast group rides
2. Compass Bon Jon Pass - these are 35s but measure out close to 36 on wide rims. They are fast enough that I can stay with the B group on a group ride but not the A group. They also work well on local mixed gravel/road rides. If I didn't have these, I would look at the Schwalbe G Ones but I think they would roll a little slower.
3. WTB Nano 40s - these are for heavy stuff and light single track but they roll well enough that it's not a pain to get to and from locations with them.
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Miller
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by Miller

Tamu8104 wrote:2. Compass Bon Jon Pass - these are 35s but measure out close to 36 on wide rims. They are fast enough that I can stay with the B group on a group ride but not the A group. They also work well on local mixed gravel/road rides. If I didn't have these, I would look at the Schwalbe G Ones but I think they would roll a little slower.


I don't know the Compass tyres so can't compare but I've been riding the G-Ones lately and have been very impressed with their tarmac speed.

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Many are very much satisfied with G-One. Hm.... i changed to Hutchinson Black Mamba CX.
Sadly i can't ride as i have a muscle bleeding so i am not sure what is the fastest of these two.

I think Maxxis Re-fuse looks like something that may be a contender? Question is how ride feel is on those?
Same time i realize that 35mm are truly nice on the gravel. I wonder if jumping down in size is a bad idea?
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

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MattSoutherden
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by MattSoutherden

wheelsONfire wrote:...but they are much more heavy riding pure tarmac.
The resistance seems much higher!?



Tamu8104 wrote:2. Compass Bon Jon Pass - these are 35s but measure out close to 36 on wide rims. They are fast enough that I can stay with the B group on a group ride but not the A group.


Do your group rides always hammer along at the limit?

According to http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ A decent road tyre would soak up about 12-13 Watts. They tested the 37mm Vittoria Voyager (a light touring tyre) at 18-20 Watts. I would imagine the lighter, more supple Compass would be a bit less than that.

Even a fast 2.2 MTB tyre is only sucking 20 of those glorious Watts.

Bit tyres may _feel_ slow, but most of it is above the collar.
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MikeDee
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by MikeDee

Tires with an inverted tread design roll very well on pavement and work pretty well on dirt too. Knobbies on pavement suck.

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MMMhills
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by MMMhills

It does really depend on the gravel/dirt you are on. I do a lot of mtb, road and gravel riding. I have all 3 bikes and switch them as needed. I also love Gravel races. All that being said when I do a gravel race I either ride my road bike with 25mm Roubaix tubulars, they are a stronger road tire with no tread or I use a bike built for gravel with a 34mm file tread. It takes a very firm route to go to the road bike. Even though it is a little faster on the fast sections the extra power and time lost on loose sections or technical corners outweighs the advantage. I find a good 34mm file tread is the best bet it is very fast on the road almost as fast as a road tire and if you encounter much of any loose stuff or gravel anything less even a 28mm tire gets sketchy. Even in the worste of conditions the 34mm was enough if you can handle the bike and if you cant tires are not what you should worry about.

Here are a couple videos from a gravel race last weekend. The first one shows the final miles on pavement with lots of speed (Garmin Virb so you can see the speed) and the second shows a very sandy 2track. I was running my 34mm file tread and it did well on both.

With a good tire I don't see much at all extra rolling resistance. With the gravel bike it does have a little higher bottom bracket and wider frame and wider tires I do feel a little extra wind resistance over 22 MPH but that's it.

https://vimeo.com/163119427

https://vimeo.com/163150411
If you think you can handle 10,000 feet then check out this ride...http://www.michiganmountainmayhem.com

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Looks a bit like some of the roads here. But mostly it's gravel with (stones).
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

bikerector
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by bikerector

wheelsONfire wrote:Many are very much satisfied with G-One. Hm.... i changed to Hutchinson Black Mamba CX.
Sadly i can't ride as i have a muscle bleeding so i am not sure what is the fastest of these two.

I think Maxxis Re-fuse looks like something that may be a contender? Question is how ride feel is on those?
Same time i realize that 35mm are truly nice on the gravel. I wonder if jumping down in size is a bad idea?


I road the 32mm tubeless refuse in a gravel race last weekend and I was pretty impressed with how it handled the loose conditions. The road was recently graded which made the tire choice poor for the conditions and something wider would have been better but I've never been on gravel roads that were so loose outside of driveways with the pebbly stuff that you just sink through. I ran the psi around 45f/55r, I weigh 100kg and I was able to ride everything pretty well. The refuse rolls well on pavement for a heavy tire but it's not a road race tire by any stretch of the imagination. Before the 32mm tubeless on my gravel bike I was riding 28mm on tubed on my road bike for rides that were 60/40 paved/gravel on a regular basis so I was excited when the 32 tubeless came out. I'm waiting for a 28mm tubeless so I can use it on my road bike and never have to worry about a puncture again.

They were a little more work than normal to setup tubeless than my maxxis mtb tires but about the same as any other road tubeless I've tried which seem to setup a little harder.

pushstart
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by pushstart

I have a setup similar to Tamu8104 above: Schwalbe One 28mm tubeless for my commute and rain-bike group rides, a set of 30/32 Specialized Roubaix Pro 2BR for mixed surfaces and a set of 38mm Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss for more significant gravel and light singletrack.

The Roubaix Pro are a good value (at $40 msrp), but aren't as fast as the 28mm Ones and do not seem as durable as the Triggers (and certainly not as confident). I have ridden a fair bit of gravel on the Ones, actually, and they fared really well.

I would like to try the G-Ones; does anyone have any experience with both these and Triggers and could comment on how they compare in speed on pavement?

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

I have been wondering if i should try S-One at 30mm (front wheel) and G-One at 35mm (rear wheel) for better speed.
I am not sure it's a good idea since steering is on the front. Surely it would work on road, but i am unsure if it's a good idea on the pebbles.
To put it clear, most of our roads here (which i deem gravel) are packed dirt full of rather sharp pebbles. It's trails which i don't ride much at all, which is more of dirt, roots, grass aso. Rest is mostly tarmac.
Anyone tried the combo S-One and G-One? Perhaps it gets weird with respect to tire pressure!?
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Rode S-One, very fast, great acceleration. Since they are inflated higher (60psi front/66 rear), they seemed a bit nervous on gravel. Might drop that pressure about 10% on my next ride. G-One was sluggish in comparison, especially on tarmac. But grip and ride feel was better on G-One.
Hutchinson Black Mamba CX was like a mix of both. Pretty darn quick no matter conditions, it all worked no matter if dry or a bit muddy.
It was clearly faster on tarmac than G-One, but S-One was absolutely fastest on tarmac.
I also checked weight of Clement MSO X'plor (36mm) tubeless. A whopping 450 grams!!

Anyone been riding Maxxis Refuse (32mm) tubeless?

Edit:

Rode S-One again. Works incredibly well riding tarmac no matter what condition. But still, even with lowered pressure, they are much more prone to make the bike slide on gravel. Hutchinson Black Mamba CX is my favorite so far. I rode tarmac, gravel, trail and mud and technical and they took on all of this.
They can not beat S-One on pure speed, but if you hit gravel or trail Hutchinson will be faster and maintain control.

So, what tire can actually compete with Black Mamba CX tubeless?

Schwalbe G-One (35mm version tubeless) side to side = 98mm/ 430 grams
Hutchinson Black Mamba CX (34mm version tubeless) side to side = 88mm/ 370 grams
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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