thehammerdog

my love of the do everything bike is limited by tire size.
i have a cx bike that only can handle the max of 35mm tires.
​thus far works well but compared to a modern gravel bike running 45-50 dare i call it a graveler.....

shelbyfv

Kudos if you can do it! I'd have to pick my off pavement routes very carefully. I'm risk averse and lack handling skills.

daverup 

I think you can have a gravel bike with only 35mm tires without being a poser.
I've been building up a "gravel" bike and mine will only have 35mm tires. I think the uses of my bike will be covered with 35's. I don't want to ride singletrack trails on any bike and definitely not my new gravel bike. I've got many miles of crushed limestone and smooth dirt road surfaces to explore.
Most of my bikes are old road bikes with 25mm tires and I really don't want to drag around wide tires during the warm season. In winter I ride a fatbike on snow and ice, so by spring I've had enough of wide slow tires.
If the 35's work for your planned uses, who cares how others look at your bike.

xroadcharlie

It depends on the gravel. I ride a comfort bike now, But when I was young my road bikes 27 x 1.25" (32 mm) tires had no problem with many gravel roads. Even dry trails of firm gravel or dirt.

Today I ride my Sedona with its 50 mm tires up a fairly steep hill with soft gravel and loose stone and even they are sometimes not enough. I'm guessing many gravel roads are quite doable with a 35 mm tire with a little tread, Like gravel tires. I would be careful descending steep grades though, especially on unfamiliar terrain.

Consider Giant's Revolt gravel bikes only uses 38mm tires. I'd be confident on most gravel roads with this fine bike. It looks like a perfect all rounder if you're travels include gravel and paved roads.

Russ Roth

A poser is just anyone who talks the talk without walking the walk, if you're out there riding the gravel then you're a gravel rider, doesn't matter how on point the bike is, as if there's any such bike. Just go ride and have fun. Like someone above, long before the advent of gravel bikes I used my road bike on the local "seasonal highways" which meant they were poorly maintained dirt roads often closed half the year and not always passable after a major storm in the summer. My summer job as a teen involved riding the old unpaved farm roads that had been abandoned a decade earlier between my parent's house and the ren fest 4 miles away on 700x25 tires, didn't consider it gravel riding, just getting there faster then going the long way around, now I would be a gravel rider and my bike wouldn't have been good enough. If you're happy, just go ride.

Inusuit

Russ Roth has the best advice. I rode a lot of gravel miles on 26x1.5 tires on my Rock Combo. Never felt as though I needed a different set up. And I don't care what anyone thinks about my rides.

GrainBrain

I thought the 35mm to 48mm tire width was gravel. "Only 38mm!?" is what my go to has been (well 40mm). Soon I'll be up to a 48mm in 650b.

I'll take my 55mm xc bike out and it reminds me of why I bought a gravel bike - that 38mm is the sweet spot for me.

mstateglfr 

It's kinda lame to worry if you are a poser.
If your tires work for the style if riding you enjoy, then what more is there to care about?

Chilepines

I don't feel like a poser and I run a 38 from and 35 rear (nothing bigger would fit). I ride pretty rough terrain including rocky single track and the bike works fine. So no, you are not a poser! Ride what you have and have fun!

ThermionicScott 

This. If you're riding all the same gravel as everyone else, and keeping up, on skinnier tires, that's more impressive in my book. The opposite of a poser, unless you start bragging about it.

scottfsmith

I also run 35c tires as that is the max my bike can take. So far there have been very few cases when I was unhappy on it .. one time I got on some muddy rooty single track and wished for a bit more then. I have had some other times when the ride got a bit rough when the rocks got big, and I recently got some tire inserts so I could run really low pressures the next time I am on stuff like that. For pretty much everything else 35c is great, and you will have a bit more speed on the easy stuff so there is an upside.

Currently I have no plans for a dedicated gravel bike but who knows where I will be in a few years.

Rolla

I can't for the life of me imagine why on earth it matters what you call it.

zen_

Sorry, you're not a real gravel cyclist unless you run 45c+ tires, wear flannel, have a mustache, run at least two bags that are empty, take a huge backpack on a 1 hour ride, and have a bottle opener mounted to your bike. Thems the rules!

I'm j/k of course, people ran 32-35c tires for years on CX bikes as standard, and you still see that frequently. More volume @ lower pressure = more comfort is a fact, and there is quite a bit of science that more comfort = more speed from less oscillation, but it's hard to say where the sweet spot is. If you're comfortable and happy with the bike, that's probably all that really matters. Also, let's not kid ourselves, there are people out there putting huge, knobby tires on gravel bikes for the same reason you see mud tires and lift kits on trucks that have never been off-road.

Fentuz

If you fit something like michelin CX power jet at the back and CX power mud on the front (both in 33), you will look more like a off road warrior than most graveler running GOne all arround or gravel king in 42mm


thing about CX bike is that the geometry is more aggressive so for son long ride, it can be uncomfortable but, if you like it, why not?
then, CX tends to use racing close ratio cassettes even when set up in 1X. If your bike can take a wider range, you will be pretty much with what most gravel people would do…

Ghazmh

You have a gravel-cross bike. No big deal.

Russ Roth

My poser 54 tires, really full on 29x2.2 tires, none of this namby-pamby 700c nonsense . At mile 50 when I discovered a section of the trail didn't have a old rail road ties removed, just 80% buried and mile 65 when the small gravel was fist sized, the wife and I decided on switching to 27.5 and going 2.3. Keeping the 700c wheels with 38c tires for the easy gravel but we are looking at starting unsupported endurance races so wider is better.

Fentuz

is it a poseidon redwood? Kona sutra ultd?

sloppy12

I mean if you already riding it, should be fine.

Russ Roth

Poseidon Redwood. Bought just the frameset, had to get a complete for the wife for size availability but neither are close to stock which is extremely heavy. Both have 3T ergoterra carbon bars for comfort, sram XO cranks for the 26/42 crankset, GRX front der with tiagra rear der, shifters, and brakes, XT hubset with lighter Sun mtb rims, carbon seatpost also for comfort. Wife's has WI hubs with Velocity Aileron hubs. The aluminum fork is extremely heavy and rigid, so we might be getting Sporks or going suspension based on the next endurance ride.

unterhausen

Yes, you're a poser. satsq
Welcome to the club

Paul Barnard

The gravel pictured there is ideal for 700x35 gravel tires. Everyone has different gravel opportunities and different combinations of paved and gravel. What I have nearest to me is hardpack like that. 35's do great, save for the sections where I can't avoid what I call "chatter bumps" or "washboard." As it stands right now, where my 35's won't serve me well, it's time to switch to the MTB.

Russ Roth

the gravel there is a dead end street that used to serve the station and the house near it. Would agree, 35-38c with a solid center tread would fly on that. The double track that went by there that we were riding would have been best with 38-45c. 2.2 was really only useful for about 7 of the total miles but those 7 miles would have been really rough with smaller. When we toured the Erie Canal later the same bikes were rocking 35c and 90% of the time even that wasn't needed.

Cal398

Definitely depends on what you're riding on, but I've found that in any case, I've never regretted going wider. More cush going up, and more grip going down.

mechanicmatt

I have ridden 11 miles on essentially a hiking/MTB trail on 35c's with really no ride issues on a dry day, however my rims needed a true when I got back. I would say 35c is the low end of the cush, but still pretty good starting place.

thehammerdog

Agreed
thank you.