CO_Steve

I built my gravel bike ten years ago. Tire selection then wasn't great and I ended up with some WTB Interewolfs in 38. They are about as big as I can fit.
I moved a few years later and didn't have much gravel riding until a recent move opened up some nice gravel rides. My current rides have a lot more pavement and the Interwolfs seem slow.
There are a lot more choices now, would it be worth changing them out? Looking at the Conti Speed Ride. I have mostly hardpack, some washboard.

Metieval

yes!! Do it!!

Hondo Gravel

rosefarts

Everyone here seems to think the Schwalbe G One is as fast as any road tire. They come in about any width.

I ride the Maxxis Rambler EXO. It's remarkably light for the size. Is adequate tubeless. I took the bike out on the road after some dirt the other day and figured it's about 2mph slower than my road bike.

That's not all tires though. It's a little more upright and 4lbs heavier.

I'm not sure if I love them. They're fine to ride but the tubeless seems really finicky. Much more of a pita than my road tubeless setup. It could be the rims or rim strips though, so I won't blame the tires yet.

jono_

Same tire, slightly different experience. It is the only tire I've ever set up tubeless, and despite not really knowing what I was doing, and not having access to a compressor or a pump with a pressure chamber, I managed to get both tires sealed and inflated without major difficulty. Likely I have a more favourable rim/tire bead combo than you do.

As for how the Ramblers ride, I've found the difference in speed on pavement vs my road bike setup (700x40 Ramblers on cross/gravel bike vs 700x28c file tread GravelKings on older road bike) to be pretty negligible. Certainly not more than 1-1.5 km/h, though much of that is surely down to riding position and other variables (bikes are nearly equal in weight). I'm no great rider; on my best day I can hold maybe 32-33 km/h for an hour with either bike. The real test would be to do a road ride with narrow tires on my gravel bike and compare, but I'm not racing and the wider rubber is more comfortable, so I don't really care to do so.

syncro87

I just put some Specialized Pathfinders in 700x38 on my Willard. Holy cow, they improved the bike. I rode a 20 mile rail - trail loop today that I ride regularly, and my average speed was fastest ever on that route. I gained about 1.5 mph from the Clement MSO 700x40 I was running, and 2.5 mph over the (horribly slow and dead feeling) Teravail Cannonballs I briefly had on the bike.

Downside, not very aggressive if you're doing more than rail trail stuff like the Katy. Heavier rock, mud, etc, would warrant a more aggressive tire. But if you're riding the smaller gravel and some pavement, they are the bomb.

Metieval

hmm curious!

paved or crushed gravel on that 20 mile loop?

Metieval

another Tire suggestion is the Hutchison Overide!

syncro87

Gravel. Missouri Rock Island Trail. Similar to the Katy Trail, if you're familiar. Standard rail to trail crushed rock kind of stuff.

I normally ride that route around 14 mph average speed. Maybe mid to upper 14's if I'm having a good day. Absolute great day with no wind, perfect conditions, maybe 15 mph on rare occasion. Today's ride was 16.1 mph for 21 miles, and it was a bit windy, nothing major, but not perfect either. Had a bit of a headwind on the return half. Pretty sure I've never done over 15-ish in the past 3 years of riding it, 2 seasons on the bike I used today.

There are a lot of folks faster than me out there, and I don't ride for speed targets generally since I'm too old and fat for that. But it was interesting to see the impact tires had today.

Devil's advocate viewpoint is that this is only one ride, and maybe I was just having the best day ever. Not enough data to show a trend, but I ride that route all the time, and before I even had the data from GPS, which I did, I knew the bike felt faster than usual and the only thing that changed was tires.

Metieval

I can't find a weight on the Pathfinder. which could play a part in the difference you saw along with the tread and rubber compound etc etc.... As in the MSO is a pretty robust tire. and if it was 60 TPI version very robust. (not supple at all)

I was mostly just curious, to what you actually rode on, because I have always held the opinion that the MSO is fast on gravel and drags on pavement. Yet I also think that the MSO is overkill for the crushed rock trails. Not trying to dog on the MSO here as I actually like it a lot in certain situations. say Gravel roads, that is a mix of dirt/ bigger gravel.

My next tire will probably be a 700x38 tubeless gravelking allroad slick, or the New Maxxis Velocita AIR

Edit: I wish I had unlimited time, Unlimited bikes, and Unlimited tires. I'd love to have personal experience on every single tire sold.

BluesDawg

I have my eye on the Specialized Pathfinders. With their smooth center surrounded by a pattern tread and small knobs around the edges, they should work well on the rides I usually do with about half paved and half fairly well groomed dirt/gravel roads. They should have the 42mm version available by the time I wear out the WTB Resolutes I'm running now.

Wattsup

Curious, which Cannonball version were you running? They make the durable casing version, but they also have the "Light and Supple" model.

syncro87

I'd have to go look at the tire to be sure, but I'm guessing they are the former, since they are anything but supple. 120 tpi. It was like having a 10 mph headwind built into the bike. When I look at their site now, it lists both versions as 60 tpi, and mine were definitely 120. Maybe I unwittingly got some old stock or something.