Road tires and wheels for a gravel bike.
 

Recently purchased a Cervelo Aspero. I was initially interested in upgrading my 15 year old road bike but got a great deal on this bike.

I have only ridden it on the road so far and even with the factory 38mm Gravel Kings it has a great ride.

What I am wondering is if this might be the only bike I need and just use it both on the road and gravel.

I would like recommendations for road tires that would work with the 700C Easton EA70AX wheels that came with the bike.

INTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 24mm
EXTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 27.5mm

Would 28mm or 32 mm Conti 5K tires work on these rims? Anything better?

Next question would be recommendations for a second set of wheels. Would you recommend getting 650C wheels to get bigger (42mm limit with 700C) tires for gravel? Getting the same wheels to avoid issues with swapping out wheels? Or getting a lighter set of road wheels?

Would like to keep the cost under $1K, won’t be racing or bike packing. For a road wheels I’d like something more oriented towards climbing.

Thanks.

Like a lot of folks, I find my gravel bike to be a good asphalt only bike as well. I have a 2nd set of wheels with Conti 28mm tires, that I owned previously. On a wider rim they run about 30-31mm so are comfortable road tires. I also run a 12-25 cassette as I ride a mostly flat area, so do t need the 11-34 cassette on my gravel wheels, which also use 43mm Gravel Kings. Thus an easy swap if I want to go off road.

32mm GP5000 would work fine on your stock wheels, they're a fast-rolling road tire, so a noticeable improvement on the road. I'm running 33mm CX tires on a DT swiss wheelset of the same width.

As far as a set of dedicated gravel wheels, it depends on your gravel type. My gravel bike can take 50mm tires on 700c wheels, but I'm only running 42s...and I sometimes ride some pretty chunky gravel. You might want to check, because some frames don't even offer increased tire width with a 650b configuration, my Canyon is this way. These wheels get a lot of flak, because they're probably just Chinese open-mold wheels with a good warranty, but I'm running Hunt 35 x-wide carbon wheels on my gravel bike. The weight is pretty decent on them and I've had good luck with them. They're on sale for $750 right now, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again if I needed wheels.

1. If you plan to ride on gnarlier terrain and need (or want) the greater tire width enabled by 650b wheels, then get 650b wheels. Just remember that wider tires are generally heavier; there is no free lunch. I know you said < $1k, but the top-of-the line Specialized / Roval Terra CLX EVO 650b wheels are currently half off: Roval Terra CLX EVO Wheelset (specialized.com)

2. If your Easton EA70AX wheelset remains on gravel duty, then you can get a more aero wheelset for road tires. If you are OK with hookless (and its somewhat narrower selection of tires), Zipp's entry-level 303S wheelset is on sale for just over $900: Zipp 303 S Carbon Disc Brake Wheel - Tubeless - Components (competitivecyclist.com)

The interesting thing is that Zipp 303S are wide enough (internal width: 23 mm) to be used for gravel as well, which means if you go with them, you can kick the can down the road on these questions until a subsequent wheelset upgrade.

I would keep your original wheels for gravel and get a second set of road wheels. For climbing and all-round road riding, any good quality 30-40 mm deep carbon aero rims are fine and the likes of Hunt should be in budget. You will likely save around 250-300g on the wheel set, plus the weight saving on road tyres. 28-32mm GP5000S TR would all be good choices. I would choose road rims with internal width around 20-22 mm as that’s what most road tyres are now designed around in terms of profile and true measured width.

Your road setup would then be a little lighter, more aero and faster rolling. It won’t actually make you climb all that much faster in reality, but it will feel nice.

For wheels I’d say pick whatever you want, you can get both 6 bolt and center lock rotor shims to line things up.

my road bike has 25s but I have 34mm tires for my gravel bikes road setup and it doesn’t feel any slower just way more comfortable so I’d recommend bigger tires for road wheels

https://www.lightbicycle.com/700C-tu...vel-bikes.html

Here you go. Under $1000. And only 1,300 gram weight.

I would get a second wheel-set and put 38mm Rene Herse Barlow Pass extralights on them, (or on the original one).

I ride them as my road tires, and find no compelling reason to go narrower.

Thanks for the replies and information. Sounds like it’s realistic to at least go down this road and see if the ride quality is good enough to live with one bike. I’ll still have my old road bike in the short term. I’m really interested in the possibility of being able to go somewhere and being able to go riding on roads and gravel without bringing two bikes for both my wife and me.

We have a fair amount of hills and prefer rides with lots of long steady climbing so I would need to stick with the lower gearing. Don’t want the cassettes to different to cause chain wrap issues.

Definitely think a set of 30ish Conti’s is the first step.

Need to get some rides on gravel to see what tires are best for my needs but suspect I really don’t need much more than a 40mm tire for nontechnical gravel and forest service roads.

Hunt wheels have a good reputation, will keep my eyes out for sales, leaning towards a road wheel and keeping the stock wheels for gravel.

I got Hunt Mason-X wheels for about 300 and put 25mm IRC tyres on them. Ran really nicely. Just changed them to 30mm GP5000S TR. I think the rims are maybe a tiny bit narrow for that but they ride great on road at 70psi and a lot more forgiving. I actually have a rattle in the shifter on that bike (they are moonlighting on my Cube crossrace pro while I fix my Checkpoint) on slightly rough surfaces and on the 30s it’s not noticeable any more!

Maybe contrarian, but probably(?) a pain moving back n'forth between tubeless tires on the same rim. If you use the same rim for road, I would start by trying tubed setup -- at least you wouldn't have to redo sealant both directions when changing tires. Pirelli PZero Race 4S have been well reviewed, eg.

https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...e/138898363/p?

As well, you don’t need carbon if wanting to save some money. You can get good quality hand built aluminum wheels for less then $500 from Universal Cycles, or Bicycle Wheel Warehouse. Plus the cost of a cassette and rotors. It’s worth it as it only takes a minute to swap wheels.

40 or 42mm is a really common sweetspot for gravel tires. Unless you ride really soft/sand surfaces, a fast rolling minimal tread gravel tire will likely be plenty for gravel road riding.


As for a second set of wheels, look into btlos. There are a ton of rim profiles- get something in the 34-40mm deep variety for a good mix of weight and aero.
Bitex straight pull hubs, pillar aero spokes, and no spoke holes in the rim bead will make for a really good wheelset.
$650 and 1487g.
Below is the 40mm deep asymmetric spoke wheelset as an example. It comes in hook and hook less options. Get the hooked type because it is obviously the better style.
The lack of spkeholes makes tubeless setup simpler and cleaner.
You can also request drain holes at checkout.
More customized wheels compared to Zipp, enve, etc and countless users that show extensive trust.

WGX40A
price: 647.00 USD
Current configuration wheelset weight: 1487.8+/-25g

• Series: Standard
• Finish: Matte
• Weave: UD
• Hub Type: BITEX 312
• Spoke Count: 24H/24H
• Ratchet: Default
• Axle Size ( Front/Rear ): Thru Axle 12*100mm / 12*142mm ( Disc )
• Freehub: Shimano Road 11S
• Brake Interface: Center Lock ( Disc )
• Spoke System: Straight pull
• Spoke: Pillar Aero X-TRA 1420
• Nipple: Brass Black
• Rim Type: No Access Holes

I don’t think anyone would argue with that. But swapping tyres often on the same rims would be a pita even with tubes. That would soon get very old, which is why a second wheel set is the answer for anyone who wants to change up their ride on a daily basis.

I bought a gravel bike in 2018, then bought a pair of November RCG36 wheels to use for road riding. The bike came with some aluminum Stan’s OEMs that I keep gravel tires on. For road tires I started out using 30mm, and I’ve since moved to 32mm. I’ve used Schwalbe Pro Ones, Conti 5000 and Michelin, all tubeless, based on what’s been available. November also included some 1/4mm center lock brake Disc shims, with these I was able to get discs between the two wheelsets to line up so I don’t have to mess with caliper alignment when changing wheels. I run the same 11-34 11s cassette on both wheelsets.

it’s been a great setup for the last 5+ year. The only thing now is that I find myself needing lower gearing for some of the gravel routes around Boise. There are some pretty steep, albeit short, hills where I just cannot keep pedaling with a 1:1 low gear. Standing up doesn’t work, it shifts weight forward and the rear tire will just spin out. I’m probably going to buy another bike and optimize it or my current bike for gravel and the other for road.

TL;DR version, road/gravel wheelsets for a gravel bike works great, but do consider the gearing needed based on the trails/gravel you intend to ride.

What is the drive train on your gravel bike? Have you considered smaller (e.g., 46|30) chain rings? A 2x GRX drive train may be able to run a 11-40 cassette: Expanded Range GRX - Bike Forums

Yes, you are absolutely on point regarding road vs. gearing; one may need a different chain per wheelset.

I have a 50/34 compact up front and 11-34 in back. Yes, I’m looking into exactly what you’re suggesting for gearing, a 30-42 low gear should fit the bill for me. This does lead me to consider another bike so I’ll have different gearing for road vs gravel. And my old road bike has been pretty much relegated to the trainer, its components are tired, the wheels don’t support tubeless and the max tire it will run is 25mm. So I’ve really just got the one gravel/road bike and the two wheelsets in active duty right now. But if my local trails never exceeded 10% grade, the one bike and road style gearing would suffice.

Really one of the main reasons besides age for replacing my road bike is the limitation of 25mm tires when most of the roads I ride are rough and often chip seal. That and I weigh more than I used too means rougher ride. Hoping some bigger tires with lower pressure will help that.

Definitely leaning this route if I like the ride on the road. Plan on regular tubes and tires at least until I decide on whether to have two wheelsets. Don’t see myself running tubeless on road tires, I seem to average one flat a year at most given that I rarely ride more than 1K miles a year outside. For gravel wheels tubeless seems to have enough upside to figure this out for me since I am new to it.

My inclination would be to go this route. I’ve been riding Ksyrium Elites for years without any issues, I’m not strong enough to probably notice any speed difference with carbon.

When I first started following pro cycling back in the previous century I wondered why all the riders rode sitting down on the steep climbs in Belgium, then at some point realized that your rear wheel spins on smooth surfaces on steep inclines especially when wet. Same on anything loose.

This bike comes with a 2x 48/31 with 11-34, hopefully that’s adequate but it looks like the derailleur will handle a 40 tooth cog if needed. Obviously the gearing is a bit of a compromise for the road with bigger jumps and lower top end.

Nice looking wheels!

I love my Ksyrium Elite wheels too but they are a bit narrow (17 mm internal width) by contemporary standards. They are on my "vintage" CAAD4.