Symox

I bought a set of Panaracer Gravelking SKs on my fixie/single speed to convert it to a psuedo gravel/road beater bike. I didn't know what to expect but these are fantastic tires on gravel and road. I cannot speak to longevity or puncture resistance as I haven't put many miles (maybe 50) but the grip of the compound is fantastic. Also the tread is made in such a way that I don't notice a slowdown on tarmac (and they are quiet). The SK has tread and I think it would be a great touring tire.

The Gravelking also comes in a slick version and from what I'm reading of the reviews online it may be a rival to my Continental Gatorskins.

Check them out, I'm quite impressed with the quality of these tires, and Panaracer as a brand.

Nobody paid me to write this, but Panaracer if you are listening...

znomit

Hi

This is the road forum.

Our bikes might get dirty if we venture onto gravel.

Nope.

WhyFi

Whoa, whoa, whoa - let's pump the brakes with this lofty praise.

Branko D

There's GP5000s for that, all around tire which has a puncture protection layer which works well, rolls well and grip is good in all sorts of conditions.

If it's not good enough, I'd try that in tubeless, and if that wasn't good enough, either, I would try to move out of Mogadishu.
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I'm currently trying out Vittoria Corsa Speed tubeless tires which are slightly more on the "fast but impractical" side of the spectrum (still planning to use them for IM Barcelona if it happens and a few ultraendurance rides I have planned, but a bit fragile and wet grip isn't up to the task of all around all weather use - I got a bit of road rash today pushing them on the wet) , but Gatorskins and Gravelkings are excessive for road use.
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A puncture isn't the end of the world anyway, but I would be highly surprised that you would get them with any regularity at all using one of the top shelf "all around" road tires, especially if ran tubeless.

WhyFi

So, exactly the sort of thing that tubeless excels at preventing? Got it.

czero8

Anybody tried the Goodyear Eagle?, How is it?, they say that its quite slippery.

WhyFi

The tubeless Eagle F1 hasn't fared very well in terms of rolling resistance (both real-world and drum testing) vs direct competition, so I took them off of my short list of tires to try. Too bad - I dig the brand/labeling and the tan sidewalls.

WhyFi

Well, if a performance-oriented guy like yourself couldn't appreciate the difference between a top-tier tubeless and a puncture-resistant tire, no one would.

There's mixed opinion among actual tubeless users that want high performance tires and who regularly got flats caused by small punctures? That's news to me.

Walkerportis

looks interesting

ls01

He did say gator skinsso.....🤷

bargo68 

Nope, sorry. I've used both and they couldn't be more different. Panaracer GK slicks do ride wonderfully, but wear out very quickly. I was getting about 1000-1200 mile a tire (on 700 x 38's) until they were worn through. That's rotating front to back over 4 tires. That is with tubes, BTW.
I have a set of Gatorskin 700 x 28's that have been on a couple different wheelsets on a couple different bikes and they must have at least 4000 miles on them.
Also, the ride feel is night and day.
I would not buy the Gravel King slicks expecting them to be a long-wearing road tire. And do not expect them to have adequate puncture protection for roads with a lot od debris.
My 2 cents.

jaxgtr

you could use concrete tires and get a more comfortable ride than Gatorskins

WhyFi

HTFU - if you're high-mileage, you're still spending less than 10 minutes on it every 4-6 weeks.

Dollars to doughnuts, 50% of those people were using Stan's and 40% never tried tubeless themselves. But hey, if you want listen to people that don't know what they're doing rather than those that a) understand the cases in which it would be beneficial and b) how to properly get it done, have fun and enjoy riding horrible armored tires.

Symox

Great insight, thanks! I've been amazed at the longevity of Gatorskins but had no idea they could last 4000 miles!

Too bad about the Panaracer's not lasting. I'll take that under consideration when it comes time to replace the Gatorskins - in a few years

BTW, Panaracer keeps releasing new versions of the GravelKing. I think some are specifically for more flat protection.

Koyote

This.

A lot of posters who've had bad experiences with tubeless (or who have refused to even try it) seem to not understand how to do it...Which is amazing, given the million webpages and blogs and videos with titles like "Tubeless Tire Tutorial."

Symox

I was under the impression that the GP5000 was a race tire. I do NOT race but can appreciate performance
If the price is right I may look into this

Symox

Not picking on you but I don't understand the hate for Gatorskins on this board. I wonder if people have tried them at reduced pressures as it made a HUGE difference for the better in terms of ride quality for me.

I am not a racer but for weekend warrior riding I'm quite happy with 700x28 Gatorskins at about 70psi (I'm 150lbs). I'm sure there are better tires out there, but for training and just enjoying the weekend on non pristine roads I am very impressed with them for the money.

Flats aren't the end of the world, but given a choice I will pick puncture protection in a tire every time.

Pizzaiolo Americano 

I blame Stans sealant for the majority of road tubeless issues...Everyone I know that has tried it in that application has had issues...I am primarily an MTBer so when I converted my road bike to tubeless, I went with Stans cause it is what I used on my MTB. It was absolute garbage at road pressures...I switched to Orange Seal and have had great luck since...In fact, I just built up a new set of tubeless wheels today with Orange Seal and GP5000TLs. It was as easy as setting up a MTB...

Branko D

It is, but one with a puncture protection layer. Generally race tires without a puncture protection layer are marked or marketed as timetrial tires (examples; Continental Supersonic, Vittoria Corsa Speed, Schwalbe Pro One TT, Michelin Power TT), while road race tires (such as the GP5000, Schwalbe Pro One, Vittoria Corsa, etc) do have a puncture protection layer underneath the thread; this makes them a slight bit heavier and often the rolling resistance is slightly higher, but not by much while the puncture protection is much improved.

If you take one of those in tubeless, it's exceedingly unlikely to flat.

czero8

Goodyear probably baited car racing fans with this tire, shouldve stayed as a car racing tire I guess.

WhyFi

Uh, okay. The non-tubeless, regular clinchers are supposed to be pretty good, so I would simply suspect that their first effort in a high performance tubeless tire fell a short.

Psimet2001 

Panaracer Gravel King SK is a tire I bother stocking in house.

• Great tire for mixed use. It is the most popular tire in this area.
• Fabulous price to performance. Few can approach it on that level... for gravel.
• The slick version is almost even better. Is used around here for road use and light mixed use on gravel bikes.
• As a road use tire - no.
• Longevity sucks. If you're putting on a lot of miles they don't last. Good thing they don't cost that much at all so no worries. This is also part of why they feel so good riding them. They're soft.

GP-5000

• Still like a normal Continental - a bit like taking an SUV on to a race track.
• Regardless of feel - it's still a top tier performance tire designed for road use.
• It's a conti..... *shrug*
• Have I mentioned it's a conti?

Goodyear

• GTFO

Rides4Beer

I use them as my everyday tire, they wear well, handle and ride great, and I haven't had a puncture in almost two years (and my last flat was from a hole that didn't get called out on a fast group ride). I run clinchers with latex tubes tho, not tubeless. I run tubeless on the gravel bike so I can run low pressure offroad, love it. But for me personally, don't see the need for it on the road, if I had more punctures then definitely.

guadzilla

Maybe it is my luck with Schwalbe, but they have been the worst effing tires I have used of late. In the past 2 years, I have had 1 flat on my Turbo Cottons, 1 flat on my GP5ks, 0 flats on my Gravelking slicks, 2 tubeless flats on my RapidAirs (both sealed). In the meantime, I have had to toss 2 Pro Ones due to side wall cuts, and a third Pro One due to the casing getting damaged - all within less than 1000km of riding. So i decided to try the regular Ones (a little more puncture protection and tan side walls): 3 flats in 500km and they feel noticeably sluggish on the ride. They sealed each time, but this experience has put me off Schwalbe for a while now..

Back to the original post - the Gravelking SKs most definitely do NOT ride too well on the road. I got a pair and sold them after 2 rides, as they were noticeably slower on tarmac. The Gravelking slicks, on the other hand, are a fantastic all-road tire. After I use up the above-mentioned POS Schwalbe Ones, i am going to use them [icksEdit - Gravelking Slicks] as my training tire.

Psimet2001 

Schwalbe has worked its way into the "never" column for me.