Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

Appreciate that some other peoples gravel riding experience extends beyond Epping Forest, but for me ‘Gravel’ conditions only extends to what, 3 months a year?

I don’t like high volume tyres in the mud

There's a failure in thinking any of this matter considering these are made to be sold to 50 yr old men who will ride them thrice a month around richmond park

Acceleration is the situation in which they don’t excel, assuming that the MTB tyre is heavier than the gravel tyre (not always the case). But this is not specific to the surface.

Casing stiffness is not necessarily higher on MTB tyres. See Race King, Thunder Burt, etc.

You could say that more volume is actually slower at speed, as aerodynamics are the limiting factor in increasing tyre size. But the other benefits offset aerodynamics for gravel speeds and surfaces. On the road it seems that 32c is going to be the upper threshold for racing at higher speeds on smooth surfaces. Pog rides 30c tyres, measuring 32mm, in almost every road race now. But this may still increase as wheels and frame clearances get wider and we better understand the impact of vibration on fatigue.

The consensus in racing and tyre testing seems to be converging: larger volume is universally faster until aerodynamics limit speed. It’s fair to mention that heavier tyres will accelerate less quickly, but that would only be slower if you measure speed over a very short duration. Over the duration of a multi-hour ride, you would make up for marginally slower acceleration in other areas, unless it was a bad route!

Thread rename required:

" - just get golf clubs"

Pog rides 30c tyres measuring 32 in almost every road race now.

This is the second time I've read this statement and I didn't think it was right based on what I've seen. Where did you read this? Almost everything I've seen has him on 28s

ie.
https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/bike-check-tadej-pogacar-colnago-v4rs-giro-winning-bike/

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/a-55-carbon-chainring-and-165mm-cranks-tadej-pogacars-2024-marginal-gains/

So far as I can tell the Conti 5k TT tyre doesn't come in 30c size.

and "The exception is that of UAE Team Emirates and Team Total Energies, which use a 28 mm tire mounted to Enve’s rims. There, the tire measures at roughly 30 mm.

The seeming exception to the 28 mm Conti tire choice has to be Movistar, as they use a 30 mm tire across the board. Why’s that? It’s the narrowest tire recommended for use by Zipp with its wheels."
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-france/every-tire-teams-using-tour-de-france-2024/

Ah, it does look like the 28c he's using measure up to 31mm and 32mm (F/R) on the massive Enve rims so maybe that's why you thought he was on wider tyres:

https://www.bikeradar.com/features/pro-bike/tour-de-france-tyre-tech

If we’re forced to bring objectivity into it then surface is going to be the biggest consideration. From highest to lowest prevalence;

Essex Roads: 30c GP5000’s
Wet mud: 33c cross tyres “just cut through the mud”. If your route curator (read: Gio) has put lots of sections with wet roots in then maybe have a think about 35’s or 38’s
Dry mud: higher volume slicks with some knobs on the shoulder for dusty corners
Gravel: no available data

Yeah the new standard 25mm internal rims are blowing tyres up +2mm at least.

Maybe he has come down a size this season then. He definitely rode 30c in 2023, not just in the classics. Perhaps dropped to 28c for same width on wider rims. Not sure, I’ll ask Mou.

But I’d be very surprised if road cycling is not on even wider tyres in a couple of years.

Yeah, I'm hoping to put a set of the massively wide Spesh wheels on my Crux for the road.

https://road.cc/content/review/roval-rapide-clx-276947

35mm external width!

Pog has Pog’s legs though.

What tyres?

These are firmly on my radar: https://www.lightbicycle.com/700c-tubeless-gravel-aero-wheels-40mm-wide-44mm-deep-disc-brake.html

Pog doesn't ride here though. He'd be no match for UK premium gravel...

Probably just burn through what I have (Pro Endurance 28s, Conti GP4000s, GP5000s) and then, if they still exist by the time I've killed all my existing tyres, try those wider Pirelli Cinturato road tyres out (coz they have 32mm and 35mm versions)

Roadies who don't know how to corner off road?

Tru dat. My main gravel riding buddy came from rowing to road cycling via a bit of MTB to gravel. He still pumps his 2.2 MTB tyres up to 60 PSI 'so I can go faster on the road' and wonders why he gets bounced all over the place off road.

Whenever I'm riding behind him on the gravel bike I often shout 'outside foot down' and he replies angrily 'I know' whilst doing the complete opposite as he wobbles around the simplest of corners.

I've got a pair of those rims, although I haven't got round to building them up into wheels yet. They are mahooosive. I've got MTB rims that are a lot narrower. I've probably got MTB tyres with less volume than those rims.

I've got to go on the roads to get to and from the gravel, so that is also a reason I might stick with something like 40mm instead of 2.2".

I'm still going to hold onto my 23mm Gatorskins

Even my missus got the hang of outside foot down after a couple of rides on the road with me yelling at her. She's pretty damn capable on her gravel bike too. I was often surprised when I'd stop to wait for her in the Pyrenees on my hardtail and she'd basically already be on me.

That's only because you can't sell them now :)

I have so many 23mm tyres...

I still need it the winter tbh, as it's on the front of my turbo bike

Conti Race King 50mm has much lower rolling resistance and more grip than 45–47c gravel tyres. Plus the reduced fatigue of higher volume. That’s the way it’s going.

100%, the worst thing you can take on a gravel ride is a gravel bike.

I managed to kill a few when I still had the wheel-on Computrainer but now both turbos are DD so I can't even wear them out that way.

Ah, I never had that, but then I'm one of those suckers who bought 'turbo specific' tyres

I also had turbo specific tyres. But I took them off so I could kill normal tyres instead :)

This is a formula I can subscribe to. I seem to have the '33s are better in British mud' conversation every winter.

Was thinking about wider tyre sizes these days on a ride where I was getting bounced around still on 30mm one (70PSI).Think the road surfaces around here have got worse over the last few years at a rate which has negated the benefits of the them.

Edit: oops, roadposting in the gravel thread. As an aside, my grav bike takes 38mm max so I'm stuck in the dark ages.