Originally Posted by
Jseis
Right on Toad. I'm mapping a gravel/logging road route from Olympia to the coast and by linking Capitol Forest with the old Oakville Highway/Willapa Hills Trail, South Bend-Palix road and a few others I think I can put together a 120-150? mile route with a few asphalt links. I'm going to have upgrade tires to a super tough knobby as our logging roads are nasty. Wicked sharp big crushed rock (3" minus) interspersed with mud. Got tires suggestions? Not unusual for logging roads to have 15%+ grades for 200-300 feet.
I just bought the
Panaracer Fat B Nimble (26x4"), they were great on the Almanzo course. The road surfaces are mostly limestone gravel (like the picture), but we have some very loose sections with deep gravel, some minimum maintenance roads, and
one creek crossing. I was very happy with the grip and the rolling effort. For the hills, the course has a number of 10+% descents/climbs (and one climb that gets up to nearly 20%). As somebody that hates descending, I was over 35 mph on very soft/deep gravel without any issues (for reference, I max out road bikes on blacktop around 38 mph). Over the weekend I rode the Pugsley to Theo (tight, technical single track trails). On the way home, I ended up on riding an active railroad on the track ballast - no problems. I think the one area that would cause you issue is muddy. These are not mudders. They'll be OK for short sections.
Depending on the mix of conditions, if most of it is dirt and gravel, you'll save weight and rolling effort with the Fat B Nimble. But if you don't mind the extra effort, and want the max grip, the
Surly Nates have grip ALL DAY! The Nates were stock on my Pug and I've used them on some very low maintenance trails. And the Nates offer great grip on snow.
I look forward to seeing pictures and posts about this ride, it sounds fun!