What's a good tyre for a road bike on a gravel road?

cormpat

Can anyone recommend a good tyre for a road bike for a gravel road? Would there be enough clearance for a 700x25mm with ultegra brakes & maybe mud guards as well? Would be putting them on a pair of old ultegra hoops as well.

I was thinking about these;

http://www.rosebikes.com/article/schwalbe-marathon-tyre/aid:488709

Thanks,

Alek

Would there be enough clearance for a 700x25mm

If your bike has only 25-28mm clearance, get a cyclocross bike instead. There are no good skinny tyres for off-roading.

If you can fit 30mm or more, there are some options like:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/schwalbe-cx-comp-cyclocross-bike-tyre/rp-prod24615

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/schwalbe-cx-pro-cyclocross-bike-tyre/rp-prod24614 (very good, quite aggessive thread - the other one would be better if you mostly go on the road)

cormpat

Alek wrote: »

If your bike has only 25-28mm clearance, get a cyclocross bike instead. There are no good skinny tyres for off-roading.

Cheers, but a new pair of tyres is cheaper than a new bike :P

I'll check out the clearance later after work.

Alek

Cheers, but a new pair of tyres is cheaper than a new bike

But nowhere near as satysfying.

nak

I have 26s on my road bike with Ultegra brakes, room for 28s. Don't use mudguards other than a clip on rear guard/ass saver. Depends where you want to ride, but I have been fine on fire roads in Wicklow/Dublin mountains with the 26 Specialized Turbos on. Also used them for the Tour of Flanders sportive without issue.

Also have a CX bike, but use that more for mucky stuff than gravel rides.

ROK ON

There are some gravel roads near where I live that I take regularly enough. No Tarmac or asphalt simply loose stones, gravel and hardpacked dirt.
I do these on either a carbon or Ti road bike. I usually have Vittoria open pave 25 mm clinchers.
Used in wet and dry conditions and absolutely fine.

I wouldn't get a cross bike unless doing regular off road.

Macy0161

Resurrecting this after a fun spin on fire roads on my hardtail today. The hardtail is old, and despite doing a bit myself pre-spin, it needs a bit more work than I originally thought.

Thinking of new tyres on my old carrera commuter road bike to tide me over before I commit to a cross bike (really can't decide if n+1 is cx or race geometry). I've had (and still have) 28mm marathon plus - will check whether I'd fit wider. Would they actually do the job short term?

Mainly on fire roads and stone/ hard cored trails around me, but enough road that (notwithstanding mechanical issues) the hardtail was hard work.

smacl

I've found durano plus 25s OK on fireroads and light offroad road in the dry but the issue for me was a bit of mud when it gets wet. Thin slicks give no traction here and you really need cx tyres. Caliper brakes also get clogged up and either stop working or jam.

Macy0161

smacl wrote:

I've found durano plus 25s OK on fireroads and light offroad road in the dry but the issue for me was a bit of mud when it gets wet. Thin slicks give no traction here and you really need cx tyres. Caliper brakes also get clogged up and either stop working or jam.

Yeah, started having that issue even around a the reservoir trails here with the kids.

Seriously thinking of the Boardman cx comp tbh, as with axa discount... It would be mainly for light off road spins, but would like to give cross ago in the autumn.

smacl

Macy0161 wrote: »

Yeah, started having that issue even around a the reservoir trails here with the kids.

Seriously thinking of the Boardman cx comp tbh, as with axa discount... It would be mainly for light off road spins, but would like to give cross ago in the autumn.

I find the CX bike to be pretty good all round. Having moved from the road bike to a CX bike as my main bike, i find I'm a bit slower on the road and a bit earlier on the brakes descending. On the plus side, I include some off road in most of my longer solo spins which I really enjoy, and find it is a lot more comfortable on crappy roads and gravelly descents. Usual n+1 rules apply if you can hang on to both

Macy0161

Ended up getting these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/schwalbe-cx-comp-cyclocross-bike-tyre/rp-prod24615 in 30mm. May just about have got away with the 35mm as they run narrow, but would've been tight. Obviously only used them in the dry so far, but they gave decent grip out of the saddle on dusty fireroads.

Next question is could I get away the old road bike and CX tyres for actual Cross, or is that nuts?

I'd like to try cross before committing, and even taking on board CX bikes as a general all rounder, I have a disc brake road bike which would become the "Winter" bike if n+1 is a Road Bike...

Alek

You'll be fine, just stick to dryer races (Grange castle from the FIXX series in example). Mud will clog road brakes in no time, especially that there is no clearance at this stage.

And run these boys at 35psi for the race

Macy0161

Haven't ruled it out, but seems like what I have will do the fireroads/ trails locally, for the moment anyway. Really enjoyable - can see why it's a growing aspect of the sport - you get to hit the hills off road without the same gnarliness! And definitely not as much hard work on the roads to and from than the mtb.