IrrelevantD wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:00 amI’d be mindful of mud with the 43s. I have GravelKing SK 38s on my ‘16 (measure 40), I wore about a 2sq in bare spot in the paint on my drive side chain stay from mud that got caked on the tire. Mind you, it was thick North Texas clay, but I don’t use the wheels with the 38s anymore unless I know it’s going to be dry.jfranci3 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:07 pm43c gravel king SKs tires are officially the largest I can fit. Despite the clearance, it is pretty tough wiggling it into the dropout while getting the chain on. The drive side rear seat stay is the constraint. Everywhere else has loads of clearance, so no mud concerns. These are at 50psi for the sealant goo to do it's work and to set the bead.
34.9mm
You were right about the bare spot. I got a 1mm wide scrape on non-clinging dirt/gravel roads with a few sand climbs. 40mm measured is the widest you want to go if you care about your paint. My bike is black and had dings, so no biggie. I cleaned it and put some charcoal touch up paint on it.
It was interesting riding in a true gravel race. I’m not athletic, so I was surprised by the near 100% competitiveness of the ride I was on. With the mix of equipment, it was a bit scary to be in a paceline-peloton-mob, you’d find a bit of softer surface, and the 28c road bikes would come flying backward while the wider tire 29” bikes would come flying forward at the same time!
The 43mm GK SKs were barely decent enough to climb the 7deg ish 4-6” deep fluffy sand hills. Unfortunately, those with CX tires would instantly sink and fat bikes wouldn’t notice the difference. I’d climb OK and the dude in front of me would fall over. I’d either catch his groove or wouldn’t have enough speed to run him over. The guys on CX tire knew they couldn’t do it, so they uncoupled and ran over me.