Category: Tires

I wish that this Gravel RC was just a bit lighter both on the scale and under the keen eye of a caliper set ….

The Gravel RC is a bit of an interesting creature, with very fast looking, minimally low profile center knobs and graduated layers of wider spaced knobs that increase in aggressiveness as you move towards the outside edges.

Pirelli sent out a press release today with news of a new gravel tire in their Cinturato Gravel range called the RC X”

Do yourself a favor and check out Pirelli’s Cinturato Gravel range. The tires are criminally under the radar and should be on more bikes than they are now.

The Cinturato M’s have what Pirelli claims is a “gravel specific” compound for the rubber. Whatever “SpeedGrip” is, it works.

These are good looking tires with big, diagonally placed knobs and a center row which forms a solid ridge, more or less.

So, as it stands now, WTB has a 36mm and a 40mm Vulpine that would make for a fantastic tire for racing, and maybe it would work for adventurous types and everyday gravel riders if the terrain was tamer.

So, looking at this tire as what WTB has described it as – a gravel racing tire – I have to hand it to WTB at this point.

We really liked the speed, ride feel, and grip that this ‘on the skinny side’ gravel tire had. Not surprisingly, we hoped that WTB would opt to offer a wider version of this great tire.

This tire seems to me to be the “mountain biker’s gravel tire”. A tire for rougher adventures, dirt roads, mountains, and even light single track.