Gravel tyre selection

paul_stelling

Trying to decide what tyre to fit to my planet x london road. The bike has fulcrum racing 7 wheels and tyre clearance up to 37 c nobbly. I have narrowed down to wtb riddler 37 or gravel king sk. Due to wheel s only accepting schwalbe tubeless i am happy to run tubes in a either of the other 2 tyres mentioned. The gravel kings are available in tubed version so i was thinking 35c in these. I love the riddler but i am a little concerned that with the weight of the tyre and tube together it will be considerably heavier than the gravel king. Has anyone used these tyres and could recommend either way . I have read that the 37 should roll better than a 35 not sure if this is true. My type of riding is 50 /50 road gravel . English weather not when too muddy mainly old railways canal paths plus riding through woods etc . Not trail riding . Many thanks.

whyamihere

A London Road will fit larger than a 37. I ran mine with 40c Maxxis Ramblers, which would be my recommendation.

neilkav1

I use the gravelkings on my Orbea Terra on exactky the terrain you describe can’t fault them. I’m on 40’s as I have huge clearance.

imafatman

Seems like you'll be completely missing the point of running tubeless on gravel bike and that's so you can lower pressures to maximise grip and comfort. As for rolling resistance, tubeless is the way to go. I'd strongly suggest thinking again and going tubeless. They might cost a little more but imo well worth the improvements.

paul_stelling

imafatman wrote:

Seems like you'll be completely missing the point of running tubeless on gravel bike and that's so you can lower pressures to maximise grip and comfort. As for rolling resistance, tubeless is the way to go. I'd strongly suggest thinking again and going tubeless. They might cost a little more but imo well worth the improvements.

Thanks for all the advice after alot of research i have decided to go tubeless instead of original plan. I now have some stans no tube wheels. Please can anyone recommend a suitable tyre. Will 40c fit london road frame ? I like the wtb nano and riddler . The nano is 40c but can get the riddler in 37c. How do these compare to the gravel king sk. Many thanks.

whyamihere

40c will fit the London Road, as I said previously. Ramblers would still be my recommendation for the riding you're doing.

paul_stelling

whyamihere wrote:

40c will fit the London Road, as I said previously. Ramblers would still be my recommendation for the riding you're doing.

Thanks i will check them out . How do they roll on tarmac ?

pedropete

Gravel King SKs are excellent, surprisingly quick on road and reasonably priced in comparison with some other alternatives. I ran the 43s on my last bike and loved them. Currently got Riddler 45s which I like and they have more straight line traction in softer stuff and corner better off road than the GKSKs, but, they don’t corner as well on road as the GKSKs. GKSKs, Riddlers and Ramblers are all superb but would suggest that GKSKs or Riddlers would be faster on road than the Ramblers, with the GKSKs being the faster of the two.

paul_stelling

pedropete wrote:

Gravel King SKs are excellent, surprisingly quick on road and reasonably priced in comparison with some other alternatives. I ran the 43s on my last bike and loved them. Currently got Riddler 45s which I like and they have more straight line traction in softer stuff and corner better off road than the GKSKs, but, they don’t corner as well on road as the GKSKs. GKSKs, Riddlers and Ramblers are all superb but would suggest that GKSKs or Riddlers would be faster on road than the Ramblers, with the GKSKs being the faster of the two.

Thanks pedropete . Thats really good information. I must admit i really like the gravel kings . I prefer the look of riddler but if slower on road i think i will go with the gravel king sk. There is one other tyre i have come accross and thats the michelin power gravel. How do these compare to the gravel king sk . Its going to be between these 2 now . Thanks for all the other information so far its been a great help all of you .

pedropete

You’re welcome, Paul. No idea about the Michelins I’m afraid as not ridden them, but, looking at the tread pattern I’d guess they’re closer to the Riddlers, with maybe a little less straight line traction and cornering performance in looser stuff due to the less aggressive shoulder tread. That said, it’s hard to anticipate how a tyre will ride without actually trying it as carcass flexibility (suppleness), compound stickiness{?] and other factors all play a part.

For my own use I’m less concerned about all round performance as I now run two wheelsets; one with Riddler 45s for mainly off-road rides and another identical set with GravelKing 38s (slicks) for general road and light offroad/bridleway duties.

Worth noting that you will wear the tread down fairly quickly on a small-block tread pattern (like the SKs and Riddlers) if you do a lot of road miles. Let us know how you get on if you try the Michelins.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Do Gravel Kings (not the SK version) size true these days, after they re-jigged their models sizes in the last year or so?

I've provisionally "binned" one of my 28mm GP4000S IIs after finding a sidewall tear and the other rear wheel one is starting to look quite worn after ~2500 miles, thinking about getting around to trying of 28mm Gravel Kings as I swear the South Downs lanes are getting rougher.

If they size true, I may be able to grab 32mm variants instead, but IIRC they were approx 2mm+ wider than spec a couple of years ago.

graeme_s-2

As others have said, the London Road definitely has more clearance than 37C. I'm running 38C slicks and full mudguards on mine. There's acres of room under the guards as well. I did see someone claim that PX were selling it with 50C slicks at one point!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

PX were offering the choice of 50mm Schwalbe Century at one point, I just presumed it was an error.

pedropete

NitrousOxide wrote:

Do Gravel Kings (not the SK version) size true these days, after they re-jigged their models sizes in the last year or so?

I've provisionally "binned" one of my 28mm GP4000S IIs after finding a sidewall tear and the other rear wheel one is starting to look quite worn after ~2500 miles, thinking about getting around to trying of 28mm Gravel Kings as I swear the South Downs lanes are getting rougher.

If they size true, I may be able to grab 32mm variants instead, but IIRC they were approx 2mm+ wider than spec a couple of years ago.

My 38s measure up at 39.5mm on Hunt Four Seasons Gravel wheels, at around 40Psi. They're relatively wide rims so may slim down a bit on something narrower.

graeme_s-2

NitrousOxide wrote:

PX were offering the choice of 50mm Schwalbe Century at one point, I just presumed it was an error.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Cheshire Cat

If you want a fast rolling tyre that still preforms off the tarmac you can't go far wrong with a Teravail Cannonball...