Old 04-23-15 | 01:19 PM
  #16  
Tim_Iowa's Avatar
Tim_Iowa
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 1,642
Likes: 6
From: Cedar Rapids, IA

Bikes: 1997 Rivendell Road Standard 650b conversion (tourer), 1988 Schwinn Project KOM-10 (gravel/tour), 2013 Foundry Auger disc (CX/gravel), 2016 Cannondale Fat CAAD 2 (MTB/winter), 2011 Cannondale Flash 29er Lefty (trail MTB)

Originally Posted by soloist_huaxin
Could you elaborate on the tread part? I thought slicker tread will slip more on gravel? I was thinking along the "knobbier/MTB-ish" side if there is such a thing on road tires...
The only time you need real knobs is in muddy conditions. For dry gravel, semi-slick is fine so long as it's wide enough for you to float on the surface instead of cutting through.

A semi-slick will roll much faster on pavement than a knobby. For example, compare the Clement LAS to the Clement PDX or MXP. The file tread on the LAS is great for hard surface, whereas the others are more knobby for mud. Clements are excellent tires, btw.

You are light enough, so a 28 mm tire may be wide enough for occasional, small gravel (like a crushed limestone trail). If you can fit a 33 mm tire (I believe you can) then that opens up the wide selection of cyclocross tires, which should all be competent on gravel.

Personally, I'm much heavier (#225) and the gravel around here is quite rough (crushed lime rock, .5-1"), so I prefer at least a 38 mm tire to stay floating on top. My main gravel bike rocks with 60 mm Super Moto tires!
Tim_Iowa is offline  
Reply