thehammerdog

can i call my bike a gravel grinder while riding 32's Ritchey tires? Entering my 1st gravel event on 23 of may here in NJ.

chaadster

When I was running 30c, I called mine a “dirt dancer” rather than a “gravel grinder,” hoping to evoke a sense of the grace and elegance required to successfully hustle a relatively narrow tire at speed down a rough, dirt road. 😄

Personally, I think 32s are more dancers than grinders.

Maybe we can call bikes with 32, 35, and 38c “rubble rounders,” and leave the grinding to the +40c fatties…

Ghazmh

I’d call that cyclocross bike.

Rolla

No, I’m sorry. If they were Gravel King 32s you’d be cleared, but the committee has made it pretty clear that Ritcheys won’t cut it. Please correct this and resubmit your request.

shelbyfv

^^^Haha- I ride some GK slicks in 32. Nice tires but with my mediocre handling skills, I can only ride smooth, hard packed dirt. Kudos, OP if you are able to enjoy a gravel event using 32s. Full report after, please.

chaadster

How can you be cyclocross if you don’t do cyclocross?

mstateglfr 

Everyone was going to laughat you behind your back at the race. But now that you have 32mm tires, they will openly laugh at you.


All seriousness, ride what works for you and call the bike whatever you want.
I am not sure if I have ever called my bikes 'gravel grinders'. That term is...just not for me.

unterhausen

It grates on my nerves just to type "gravel gr----" -- okay, I couldn't do it.

I have no idea what the gravel is like in NJ. Around here, I am not sure 32mm tires would work. Now I'm curious how many people do Keystone Gravel on tires that size. I hear about people riding D2R2 with smaller tires, more power to them.

I rode for a year with 30mm cx tires. They were pretty nice at low pressures, but I got 20 flats that year. At high pressure they were too skittish.
I really don't remember what pressure I rode them at. I never measured them, they always seemed bigger than 30mm

Badger6

Are you riding it on gravel?

msu2001la

I ride 32mm GP 5000's on gravel sometimes. It's cool. They're super fast on hard pack dirt and dry gravel roads. Gets a little sketchy when things are loose.

thehammerdog

I assume so. not sure of the course may 23 nj gravel ride.
i do ride on rail trails with out issues.

Badger6

Then I'd say you can call it a grinder...I rode slick 32s for years on the gravel forest roads in Germany, it's not the size of the tire, it's how you use it. (Though bigger is comfier, for sure!)

Snotrub

My Domane came with 32mm Bontrager slicks and I rode them on everything until I got a second set of wheels. With the 32's, I would keep the pressure around 40 psi if I was going to ride a lot of gravel roads and 60+ if I was riding mostly road. At 60+ psi, it was a handful on gravel.

chas58

God, how I love biking on those forest roads.

Yah, back in the day, Gravel grinding was done on 28x1-1/4" tires.

Badger6

Just to make you jealous... 😉

Since I live in Belgium, it's a just a short trip back to Stuttgart...so after visiting my dad in Northern Michigan (with my gravel machine, of course) next week, upon my return to the continent in June, I will work for one week then go visit some friends and ride several hundred Kms in the forests above and around the Kessel then ride in the Schwarzwald. I've got a big summer planned, now that I'm vaxxed! Denmark and Sweden are on the agenda too.

#grinduro

thehammerdog

i completed the 28 mile version Never knew we had so many dirt roads....it was a blast

used 32 tires worked well but got beat up .

chas58

Bow down and pray to the god of gravel that we have a good race and don't get flats. ;-)
Glad you had fun!

Fentuz

I ride/rode on Kojak 35-406 on the Fosse way (Roman Road in it the UK) and ex-railway track. As these are "hard pack" even a slick works. I used to do 17miles of gravel commute to that often lead to longer commute on nice summer evenings.

Kanon25

Are you using the tubed version, or the tubeless?

Andrey

I use 32 Gravel King tires on my cyclocross bike to ride gravel events in NY.
Farmer's Daughter Gravel Grinder in Chadam, NY coming up in a week. I rode it before with 32-35 mm tires and it was fine. I did not ride the NJ gravel grinder but I assume the roads are similar. I also have a road bike with 32 mm GP5000 slick tires. That bike will also be fine on the NY, NJ "gravel" roads, the only difference is the gearing, road gearing may not be enough to climb some dirt roads with 15 % grade. Had to modify my cross bike gearing to climb some steep and long dirt roads in NY.

msu2001la

Tubeless. I don't want to oversell it here. 32mm GP5K's are fine for smooth/hardpack dirt, small gravel and crushed limestone. If your route involves tree roots, larger/sharp gravel or anything loose it probably isn't enough tire.

I frequently do gravel and tame singletrack on 33mm CX tires, so my comfort level might be a bit different than someone who straps on 45s anytime they touch dirt.

Kanon25

I've done the same with Maxxis Speed Terrane in 33C a couple years ago and that was fine. Gravel for me means packed and limestone paths and logging roads, with the occasional short connecting trail. However I have to ride on roads a lot to get to the gravel and those type of tires were less fun on the roads. Was wondering if tubeless 32C might be a compromise.

I might just play around with some GP5000 TL 32C for a while and see how it goes.

Riveting

On 32's I've done the D2R2 180k with ~13k' of dirt descent, and I wish I had a bit more width due to the consistent braking needed to control myself on the loooong and winding dirt downhills. 32's were doable, but wider would have been easier on my forearm braking muscles for sure. Unfortunately my frame at the time didn't support wider than 32. I now have a gravel bike that supports up to 44mm, just so I don't get caught under-biked in the future.

tdilf

I have Conti GP5000s in 32c on my road wheelset

veloz

When conditions were hard packed I raced on 32mm Paselas. They were the original gravel tires in my book. Still ride 35’s.