Gravel tire rolling resistance tested

The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!

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zmjones
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by zmjones

henau212 wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 3:16 pm
New G-One for racing. Curious on how the rolling resistance is..
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/06/schwalb ... vel-tyres/
yea glad they made this but i doubt it will fare well on BRR. they tested some of the super-race mtb tires and they didn't do nearly as well as the old liteskin/pacestar combo. hope that they can make a super fast g-one again though.

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bobrayner
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by bobrayner

Marin wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:15 pm
Strada Biance Pro is fastest tested gravel tire on BRR: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.co ... el-reviews
I wish we had a hard definition of "gravel" tyre. It feels like this tyre was optimised for RR and nothing else. What's the minimum amount of tread required to qualify as an off-road tyre, before we give up and call it a road tyre? I've seen road bikes, tourer and commuter bikes, even toddlers' balance bikes, with 10x more tread. :-)
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emotive
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by emotive

What gravel is varies a lot, so what a gravel tyre is does too.

Most of the gravel I ride is hard packed dirt. I ride sealed tarmac to get to and from the gravel roads. For my riding this tyre is perfect and I hope more brands release large filetread tyres.

Hexsense
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by Hexsense

Well,
slick handle dry loose dirt/stone fine.
slick handle wet hard road fine.
It just suck badly when it come to wet loose dirt (mud).

That Strada Biance Pro is definitely still a gravel tire. It just isn't a mud tire.

BenSiskri
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by BenSiskri

I've got the older clincher version, in 30mm - and I use it in autumn/winter as a road tyre; as the rural roads tend to be covered in gravel, soil, sand, etc dragged out by tractors/ farm vehicles.
Trek Crockett 4
Giant TCR Advanced 3

kervelo
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by kervelo

Hexsense wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:56 pm
Well,
slick handle dry loose dirt/stone fine.
slick handle wet hard road fine.
It just suck badly when it come to wet loose dirt (mud).

That Strada Biance Pro is definitely still a gravel tire. It just isn't a mud tire.
Slick tyres also tend to be more fragile than "real" gravel tyres. At least for me this is important: although I carry tools to fix flats during the ride, I find riding without puntures better.

tritiltheend
Posts: 83
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:42 am

by tritiltheend

youngs_modulus wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 3:13 am
Ah! So you're guessing, then. Thanks for coming clean.

Pro tip: human beings are terrible data acquisition devices.

Even better tip from one Richard Feynman, a physicist of some repute: “The first principle [of science] is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Well, BRR has tested my WTB Resolutes and sorry to say that it appears I'm not "fooled", it confirmed what I've observed and is 8 watts per tire slower than my Conti Terra Speeds. I really like this width tire for riding local trails as it's also about the widest I can fit on my Aspero, which was my reason for choosing them. When it comes time to replace them will see if there's anything else that measures out to the same width but might roll a bit faster on the pavement. Remounted the Terra Speeds for a longer nontechnical gravel ride and they certainly are sweet on the pavement and not too bad on the trails, too bad the Terra Trail is only available in 40C.

Steve Curtis
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by Steve Curtis

Wtb have never ever made a decent tyre in my opinion. Going back to my days riding mtb, everyone said try wtb and I always thought they were slow and heavy or just slow.

Gravel just gives them to opportunity to shov out the old carcas on a narrower profile.

emotive
Posts: 613
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

by emotive

kervelo wrote:
Hexsense wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:56 pm
Well,
slick handle dry loose dirt/stone fine.
slick handle wet hard road fine.
It just suck badly when it come to wet loose dirt (mud).

That Strada Biance Pro is definitely still a gravel tire. It just isn't a mud tire.
Slick tyres also tend to be more fragile than "real" gravel tyres. At least for me this is important: although I carry tools to fix flats during the ride, I find riding without puntures better.
I totally get it that for the gravel around your area you may need a tyre with puncture protection and big knobs for mud traction.

In my area I have had two punctures in 23,000km of riding on fileread tyres. Sealant fixed one of them and I didn’t know I had punctures I until I washed the bike and saw the sealant on the sidewall. We have rocks here but not sharp flint like Kansas, so puncture protection is also not an important criteria here in Melbourne.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

Steve Curtis wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:16 pm
Wtb have never ever made a decent tyre in my opinion. Going back to my days riding mtb, everyone said try wtb and I always thought they were slow and heavy or just slow.

Gravel just gives them to opportunity to shov out the old carcas on a narrower profile.

WTB Velociraptors were legendary in the late 90s.

CampagYOLO
Posts: 706
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by CampagYOLO

Steve Curtis wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:16 pm
Wtb have never ever made a decent tyre in my opinion. Going back to my days riding mtb, everyone said try wtb and I always thought they were slow and heavy or just slow.

Gravel just gives them to opportunity to shov out the old carcas on a narrower profile.
I like the grip of WTB tyres and the SG2 compound seems to have sorted out the puncture problem. I'm using 45mm Riddlers and they're decent, no better than the competition but I'm happy enough with them.
They aren't the fastest but my gravel rides aren't always about balls out speed, I save that for the road.

Marin
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Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

bobrayner wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:40 pm
I wish we had a hard definition of "gravel" tyre. It feels like this tyre was optimised for RR and nothing else. What's the minimum amount of tread required to qualify as an off-road tyre, before we give up and call it a road tyre? I've seen road bikes, tourer and commuter bikes, even toddlers' balance bikes, with 10x more tread. :-)
You do know why it's called the Strada Bianca?

I prefer slicks for most of my mixed surface riding. Does everyone? Probably not. Is the fact that the HTLR Version is blazingly fast an indication on how versions with more tread might perform? Probably yes.

Spurdo
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:33 am

by Spurdo

Marin wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:10 am
bobrayner wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:40 pm
I wish we had a hard definition of "gravel" tyre. It feels like this tyre was optimised for RR and nothing else. What's the minimum amount of tread required to qualify as an off-road tyre, before we give up and call it a road tyre? I've seen road bikes, tourer and commuter bikes, even toddlers' balance bikes, with 10x more tread. :-)
You do know why it's called the Strada Bianca?

I prefer slicks for most of my mixed surface riding. Does everyone? Probably not. Is the fact that the HTLR Version is blazingly fast an indication on how versions with more tread might perform? Probably yes.
40 mm Strada Bianca sounds just about perfect for my mixed terrain riding, currently using 32 mm GP 5000, comfort could be better and lacking traction on steep hills. Waiting for a few longer term reviews.

youngs_modulus
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Location: Portland, OR USA

by youngs_modulus

tritiltheend wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:12 am
youngs_modulus wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 3:13 am
Ah! So you're guessing, then. Thanks for coming clean.

Pro tip: human beings are terrible data acquisition devices.

Even better tip from one Richard Feynman, a physicist of some repute: “The first principle [of science] is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Well, BRR has tested my WTB Resolutes and sorry to say that it appears I'm not "fooled", it confirmed what I've observed and is 8 watts per tire slower than my Conti Terra Speeds.
Yes; this is called "confirmation bias," and it's exactly why double-blind controls are so valuable. People who think they can time the stock market fall victim to a closely related fallacy.

tritiltheend wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:12 am
I really like this width tire for riding local trails as it's also about the widest I can fit on my Aspero, which was my reason for choosing them. When it comes time to replace them will see if there's anything else that measures out to the same width but might roll a bit faster on the pavement. Remounted the Terra Speeds for a longer nontechnical gravel ride and they certainly are sweet on the pavement and not too bad on the trails, too bad the Terra Trail is only available in 40C.
Sorry--I don't follow. The Resolutes are 42mm wide, but the Terra Trails won't work because they're a paltry 40mm wide? I kinda get having a preferred width, but that's a tiny difference. Am I missing something about the widths?

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tritiltheend
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by tritiltheend

youngs_modulus wrote:
Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:33 pm
tritiltheend wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:12 am
youngs_modulus wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 3:13 am
Ah! So you're guessing, then. Thanks for coming clean.

Pro tip: human beings are terrible data acquisition devices.

Even better tip from one Richard Feynman, a physicist of some repute: “The first principle [of science] is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Well, BRR has tested my WTB Resolutes and sorry to say that it appears I'm not "fooled", it confirmed what I've observed and is 8 watts per tire slower than my Conti Terra Speeds.
Yes; this is called "confirmation bias," and it's exactly why double-blind controls are so valuable. People who think they can time the stock market fall victim to a closely related fallacy.

tritiltheend wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:12 am
I really like this width tire for riding local trails as it's also about the widest I can fit on my Aspero, which was my reason for choosing them. When it comes time to replace them will see if there's anything else that measures out to the same width but might roll a bit faster on the pavement. Remounted the Terra Speeds for a longer nontechnical gravel ride and they certainly are sweet on the pavement and not too bad on the trails, too bad the Terra Trail is only available in 40C.
Sorry--I don't follow. The Resolutes are 42mm wide, but the Terra Trails won't work because they're a paltry 40mm wide? I kinda get having a preferred width, but that's a tiny difference. Am I missing something about the widths?
Not much point in arguing with you about confirmation bias and so forth. We're not talking a few watts, 16 watts total difference in rolling resistance is a very substantial difference for a set of tires but you think any field observation of such a large difference is completely invalid.

My research indicated the 42C Resolutes are very wide for their labeled width compared with most other tires. And as it turned this was correct, they measure 45mm wide on my rims with an internal width of 25mm, as compared with the 40C Terra Speeds which measure just under 41mm on the same rims. The 45mm measured width is about the widest that my frame can handle.

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