Picking the right Tubless tire for FX 3
 

Who knew tubeless tire shopping for your bike would be this convoluted. None of tire companies make any effort to clarify or simply their sites to find a tire according to the riders requirements. You’d think they’d have a tire selector if some kind.

I’ve come up with two possible Tubeless tire tire upgrades for my FX 3.

- Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL
- Hutchinson Override Gravel (which is more of a hybrid road tire with some gravel handling)

Most of my riding with be done on the pavement with occasional rides over grass, dry packed gravel and maintained tree/branch free dirt paths in Edmonton’s River Valley.

I’m trying to find a compromise between fast rolling road tire, traction over lose gravel on the road and some occasional dry gravel and dirt riding on dry warm summer days. The majority if time will be spent on paved surfaces.

Other than the two tubeless tires I’ve selected, what other tires/brands should I consider for my needs? I’m looking to stay between 32c - 35c for the tire.

I’m leaning towards the Hutchinson Override as a best comprise of a fast rolling tire with some gravel handling. It’s little bit of a joke for Hutchinson to call it a gravel tire when it has no where near a deep enough treads to be considers a true gravel bike tire.

I like Panaracer Gravelkings. You can get slick or semi knobby. Are your rims tubeless compatible?

The FX3 come with Bontrager’s TL tubeless rims.

GP5000 seems like total overkill for an FX3 given your use case. That is not a cheap tire to beat up on gravel nor will it have any performance whatsoever on non-paved surfaces.

It’s great tire mainly targeted at higher end road bikes. Too many of the European review sites have tire reviews focused on road bike and performance bike users.

The FX3 is a commuter bike. I’ve looked at some Schwalbe as well.

The Hutchinson’s are easy to come by in Canada, the Gravel Kings in 35c sizers have to ship out of the US with a premium.

Well aware on all counts. I have an FX3 myself. :) That's what I'm saying, though - a GP5000 is a pure fast road tire and won't do squat in even mild off-road situations, plus it's fairly spendy. That is the far end of the road-gravel spectrum.

I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus on my FX3 for 95+% road riding commute. Not much of a gravel tire, but definitely better than a GP5000 (they're also 38s which helps).

I’ve already eliminated the GP5000. They’re not a fit for the city riding I’ll be doing.

The Marathons are great tires; they’re not Tubeless with exception of the high end models that cost more than the GP5000’s.

So far the Hutchinson Override seems to be the best all around hybrid tire that’s easy to come by in Canada during the pandemic.

Tubeless Gravel Tires
 

I've ridden and toured for the past few years on Rene Herse Bon Jons. They are a 700 x 35 tire, that expands a bit on wider internal rims. Very light, roll fast on pavement, and I've done a lot of gravel riding on them without issue. I haven't Tried the GP5000's yet, but they top out a little narrow for the gravel I tend to ride. I have ridden the GP4000's that are supposed to be 700 x 28, that measure out at 30 wide on a rim with internal width of 19. Haven't taken them "off road" but very nice rolling tire. I'd probably take a look at the Continental Terra Speed for a decent price point, fast on pavement,light weight, and some micro knobs for gravel.

I might also give the Schwalbe Marathons a second look. They’re not Tubeless but they have better puncture protection than many Tubeless tires for general city exploring that most people will do on an FX3.