Gravel friendly 29” tyres

[Bub Marley]

Any recommendations for gravel friendly mtb tyres? I don’t have space for an additional bike so trying to make do with what i have. A

 

Currently using Pirelli Scorpion 2.4 RC Lite. Any particular tyre you can recommend that would have better rolling resistance for gravel type events? 

 

Any other tips to make the bike roll a bit faster would be appreciated.

[Cardio Goth]

I've been investigating this and have decided to swap out my current 2.4s for Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge 2.2s. I don't think that they're particularly good MTB tyres, but they're apparently very fast rolling - see Bikepacking.com's review and road.cc's review 

[devvydoesdonuts]

17 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

Any recommendations for gravel friendly mtb tyres? I don’t have space for an additional bike so trying to make do with what i have. A

 

Currently using Pirelli Scorpion 2.4 RC Lite. Any particular tyre you can recommend that would have better rolling resistance for gravel type events? 

 

Any other tips to make the bike roll a bit faster would be appreciated.

I am currently using Maxxis Aspen 2.4 and they really roll well on gravel roads, I have my pressures at 1.2bar front and 1.4bar rear, sometimes I will go just that bit harder if I know that I am going to do more tar than usual, but generally happy with my pressures. Do you not find the Pirelli's to be efficient enough?

[TheoG]

2 minutes ago, devvydoesdonuts said:

I am currently using Maxxis Aspen 2.4 and they really roll well on gravel roads, I have my pressures at 1.2bar front and 1.4bar rear, sometimes I will go just that bit harder if I know that I am going to do more tar than usual, but generally happy with my pressures. Do you not find the Pirelli's to be efficient enough?

I concur, Aspens is 100%.

[Bub Marley]

32 minutes ago, devvydoesdonuts said:

I am currently using Maxxis Aspen 2.4 and they really roll well on gravel roads, I have my pressures at 1.2bar front and 1.4bar rear, sometimes I will go just that bit harder if I know that I am going to do more tar than usual, but generally happy with my pressures. Do you not find the Pirelli's to be efficient enough?

Pirelli’s are great. They’re pretty fast rolling as well but they’re still essentially an XC tyre. Had a look at the aspens. They also seem very XC based. Not really sure if it’s worthwhile upgrading. I’m looking for something less aggressive.

 

The Boland Gravel monster is an event im looking at doing. It’s got 65km of tar though so I’m definitely looking for something that can help me a bit on the smoother sections.

 

 

[Jewbacca]

9 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

Pirelli’s are great. They’re pretty fast rolling as well but they’re still essentially an XC tyre. Had a look at the aspens. They also seem very XC based. Not really sure if it’s worthwhile upgrading. I’m looking for something less aggressive.

 

The Boland Gravel monster is an event im looking at doing. It’s got 65km of tar though so I’m definitely looking for something that can help me a bit on the smoother sections.

 

 

Are you racing to win?

Do your current tires need replacing?

I'm just asking as a new set of tires at minimum R2000 will likely only save you a handful of minutes. You'll be looking at like R100 a minute ish?

I don't have that sort of cash lying around for such minimal gains if I'm riding solid mid pack.

If it's a simple case of upgradealitis that is different, but fishing for midpack gains at pretty big expense is helluva exorbitant for me.

If you are trying to win/podium then yeah, I get it, but if you're out of the top 50, I'd rather buy some cake and have change

I have a set of 1.5 Chaoyang slicks. They run tubeless and are SUPER fast rolling. You can have them for R400. One was fitted but never used, one is still rolled up in it's packaging.

Disclaimer, I will need to find them

Edited May 24, 2023 by Jewbacca

[Vishal72]

recently switched from Maxxis Rekon Race to Continental RaceKing Protection, can definitely say they're faster and feel more supple.

https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Vishal72

[Bub Marley]

4 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Are you racing to win?

Do your current tires need replacing?

I'm just asking as a new set of tires at minimum R2000 will likely only save you a handful of minutes. You'll be looking at like R100 a minute ish?

I don't have that sort of cash lying around for such minimal gains if I'm riding solid mid pack.

If it's a simple case of upgradealitis that is different, but fishing for midpack gains at pretty big expense is helluva exorbitant for me.

If you are trying to win/podium then yeah, I get it, but if you're out of the top 50, I'd rather buy some cake and have change

I have a set of 1.5 Chaoyang slicks. They run tubeless and are SUPER fast rolling. You can have them for R400. One was fitted but never used, one is still rolled up in it's packaging.

Disclaimer, I will need to find them

Not really racing to win tbh. Definitely midpack as well. Do I need to upgrade? No. But i just thought not why not? I have a bit of blowing money on unnecessary cycling stuff 😂

 

 

[El Duderino]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

Any recommendations for gravel friendly mtb tyres? I don’t have space for an additional bike so trying to make do with what i have. A

 

Currently using Pirelli Scorpion 2.4 RC Lite. Any particular tyre you can recommend that would have better rolling resistance for gravel type events? 

 

Any other tips to make the bike roll a bit faster would be appreciated.

I just did the Ronde von Riebeek gravel race on my full suspension MTB. I don't have space, or a compliant wife for a third bike, so it had to do. I fitted a Panaracer GravelKing SK+ 700 x 50mm (2.0) on my 30mm ID 29er rim on the rear and a Maxxis Ikon 2.4 on the front. It was comfortable I found the combination rolled pretty nicely.  I will put the Panaracer on front and back for my next gravel outing. Great tyres...not cheap though. Go for between R890 and R1000.

 

would recommend them as gravel specific tyres on a 29er MTB.

Edited May 24, 2023 by El Duderino
grammar

[devvydoesdonuts]

41 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

Pirelli’s are great. They’re pretty fast rolling as well but they’re still essentially an XC tyre. Had a look at the aspens. They also seem very XC based. Not really sure if it’s worthwhile upgrading. I’m looking for something less aggressive.

 

The Boland Gravel monster is an event im looking at doing. It’s got 65km of tar though so I’m definitely looking for something that can help me a bit on the smoother sections.

 

 

I am looking at trying the Pirelli’s out, my Aspens are just really not dying, I thought they would but they just won’t die, I think you would need to go for a more gravel specific tyre if you want something even less xc like, I like the Aspens and they have really served me well. 

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

Race Kings or Thunder Burts. Will save a few watts on each side over Aspens

[Jewbacca]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

Not really racing to win tbh. Definitely midpack as well. Do I need to upgrade? No. But i just thought not why not? I have a bit of blowing money on unnecessary cycling stuff 😂

 

 

Upgradealitis I fully understand, but if you already have fast rolling tires, very little other than a proper slick tire will be noticeably faster. Maybe less noisy, but nothing is going to buy you an hour for free.

I'm also lazy and changing tires is a mission, so in my world the ultimate win is setting the bike up for what it does 90% of the time and just dealing with being under/over equipped for 10% of the time.

Good luck making choices, these sorts of things always come with compromises and caveats 

[dasilvarsa]

If you want Long Life, Low Rolling Resistance and They Accept Plugs Without a problem.

Maxxis IKON 2.35 front and back. (Trident Tested)

Some of the modern compounds don't accept plugs too easily. They pop out after a while.

[TheoG]

I'm keen to try Continental Speed King.  I have one waiting to be fitted but simply cant find another, they are extremely rare ...  

Would be awesome if I can find one before 94.7, I think they will run very nicely on tar on a MTB.

Edited May 25, 2023 by TheoG

[dasilvarsa]

1 minute ago, TheoG said:

I'm keen to try Continental Speed King.  I have one waiting to be fitted but simply cant find another, they are extremely rare ...  

I got Sealant Leak on those @ the bead . Maybe you lucky.

[Jewbacca]

7 hours ago, dasilvarsa said:

If you want Long Life, Low Rolling Resistance and They Accept Plugs Without a problem.

Maxxis IKON 2.35 front and back. (Trident Tested)

Some of the modern compounds don't accept plugs too easily. They pop out after a while.

Who are Trident and how did they test them?