So I did my first small group ride in almost two years since the “bug” and since I have been riding my bike casually I was definitely ill-prepared. I have 3 bikes - a 650b Gravel bike, a drop bar XC Hardtail, and a Trail Hardtail. Obviously I took the gravel bike which was running 27.5 x 2.1 Vittoria Mezcals on 30mm internal rims and promptly did ~28 miles of road riding. I was suffering at the end, to be expected.

I decided that I wanted to optimize my gravel bike for road riding. So that said as much as I didn’t like running slick tires, I had to suck it up if I wanted to make road riding less painful. I did however want to work within the fact that I would only run 650b on this bike - not worth it ATM to just buy a road wheelset. I just got some of the lighter and faster tires for 650b - which would have been Rene Herse but since I had to have some sort of budget I went with Panaracer Gravelking Slicks.





Will I still be disadvantaged compared to those running 700x28c? Probably. Gotta make do with what I can though, and maybe I can prove to myself that I can hang. I’m motivated at least.

I expect you will be happy with the Gravelking slicks. I've used them in 28 and 32, nice tires.