Have ridden both, tubeless. The G’s seemed faster on hard packed Midwest gravel roads, however, the rears wore quickly (couldn’t get 1000 miles without bare centers....mid 30’s size, >200 lb rider) AND didn’t have the grip I needed on larger stoned roads or sanded gravel roads. Are fast though.
The gravelkings are a great tire....they wear well, offer great traction on gravel and where the G’s didn’t (for me) are durable and fast enough, and soak up larger stoned stretches. The only thing I didn’t like about the gravelkings (and is the only reason I ride MSO’s instead) is that the front tire picks up a small particle stones and throws them into frame. If it’s a little tacky (like morning rides with dew on roads), it extenuated the issue (for me, ymmv). It annoyed me, ymmv. The issue decreased as they wore. Many ride em, they are a great tire.
I love the G-One tires (700x38) anytime the gravel gets more serious. For mid-Atlantic gravel rides / races they are a great choice -- especially if the ride includes pavement. I've also tried the GK (700x43) briefly, but took them off after a week of use because they roll a lot slower on pavement and I didn't find enough difference in their off-road grip to justify the slog around on the pavement. I do run the G-One with fairly low pressure, though, both for comfort and grip. My gravel pressure on those is 28F/32R or so. No flats yet -- knock on wood. I got a big flat on the GKs the first time I took them out, which also helped put me off those tires, though it must have been something like a nail, so surely was just terrible luck. I gave my set to a friend who has been enjoying them.
Certainly you won't go wrong with either tire, but don't write off the G-One.
For tamer / not-so-sharp gravel (e.g. hardpack dirt roads or the C&O canal), I run Compass/Rene Herse tires.
I think the G-One is about perfect, if you don’t need deep lugs like with mud. They can do anything for me that is not slick mud.
They have a very smooth ride, amazing traction in bad weather, shockingly good snow traction, poor traction in slippery mud (good in grippy mud).
The only thing I don’t like about them is that they don’t look aggressive enough, lol. But Schwalbe do have aggressive treaded alternatives if you like that. I think they are probably more comparable to the GK slick.
The Schwalbe’s have a very, very smooth ride, and insanely low rolling resistance. I have ‘t seen GK-SK rolling resistance measurements, but it seems to put the emphasis on being a little more heavy duty than the G-One.
Not sure how grip would be a problem with the G-One on stoned or sanded roads. Maybe the profile was too round for ya?
I've used the G-One Speed 30c and the GK SK (many sizes). These aren't really comparable, as one is 95/5 road tire and the other is a 50/50 tire. FWIW, the 43c GK SKs seem to roll about 1mph slower on pavement in all sizes than the faster g-one speeds. The 43c GK SKs are fine in soft sand, 38c and 35c are only ok in soft gravel. Neither is OK is wet mud. The GK SK need tubeless goo to hold air, the Schwalbes I accidently ran dry for weeks. G-One Speed 30c seems as fast as my 25c/28c Pro One road tires.
While the GK SK may be more durable than the G-One, it should not be confused with the more heavy duty tires out there. I flatted last Saturday in the Wild Horse Gravel ride (De Beque, CO) due to a rock puncture which the Orange Seal Endurance couldn't completely seal. Fortunately a tire plug (by Genuine Innovations) stopped the leak and I was able to take the short cut to the end. I'm running the 43/38 mm SK's F/R (actual sizes being more like 44/41). Since the rear takes more abuse I'm going to replace that SK with something a bit heavier duty like a 40mm MSO or Flintridge Pro. I really like the supple ride of the SK's so I'll be keeping that in front.
I just bought the GravelKing SK 43 to replace my G1 Allround 40mm. I was hoping rolling resistance would be fairly similar, based on the Gran Fondo test. Note that the G1 Allround they tested was the V-Guard version, which probably explained why the G1Bite rolled better. So we would expect the regular lite skin version of the Allround to be even a bit better. Still that would be somewhere around 95% and the GravelKing somewhere around 91%.
If the G1 was made in a 45mm version I would have gotten that, I have been fine with that tire on the rear, just want something with bigger volume for sand and rocks.
I have ridden both these tires, both are great, but I prefer them for different uses. I use the GK's more for offroad or dirt use. I use the G-ones when I know there will be more road miles and almost no chance of mud. I have also never had a puncture with the GK's but have had a few in the sidewalls of the G-One. Nothing the tubeless sealant couldn't handle, just something to note.
As mentioned above, this is a timely post for me. Seeing the remarks above, I decided to keep the G1’s on the bike for now, until a ride with more rough road presents itself, thanks people!
A also want to thank this group for a good discussion. I’m going the opposite direction and putting some better rolling and supple road-ish tires on both my gravel bike and my sons bike for some upcoming road rides.
I think I’ll go with the Schwalbe G-One Speed Tubeless 700c Tire In 38mm. Ill try the tubeless setup on my sons bike first and if I like it will put them on my own.
Slim wrote:I just bought the GravelKing SK 43 to replace my G1 Allround 40mm. I was hoping rolling resistance would be fairly similar, based on the Gran Fondo test. Note that the G1 Allround they tested was the V-Guard version, which probably explained why the G1Bite rolled better. So we would expect the regular lite skin version of the Allround to be even a bit better. Still that would be somewhere around 95% and the GravelKing somewhere around 91%.
If the G1 was made in a 45mm version I would have gotten that, I have been fine with that tire on the rear, just want something with bigger volume for sand and rocks.
They should have inlcuded G-one speed. I think rolling that in 35 is a really good opportunity to ride on bad road with an occasional dry off-road part.
I rode the G-Ones, then tried the SKI's. Speed & handling felt similar. SK's DID throw tiny debris at the down tube (ping, ping, ping) but I switched back to the G-One (38mm) because the SK's kept popping off the rim overnight. I'm a heavy guy (250 at that time) and ran the SK's at their rated max (60 lbs). The G-Ones are a tighter fit (Shop will testify to that!) and rated for 70 lbs. (Run them at 58-62 {rear} on pavement) and have no problems keeping them on the rims. Had a puncture that didn't seal until the pressure dropped to 40 (Stan's race formula) but that's hardly surprising.
They should have inlcuded G-one speed. I think rolling that in 35 is a really good opportunity to ride on bad road with an occasional dry off-road part.
I can’t get the image of a friend, who is much stronger than me, really struggling on the GK-SKs on a 3T gravel bike. It was painful to watch. The next week he was on some Conti road tires, easy-peasy, no worries.
I did the ride on my Conti road tires, then on my Ramblers (for some reason). The ramblers did pretty well and it was only getting to the 30mph range where I worried about getting dropped. Personally I can’t tell the speed difference of the G-One vs the Rambler (and the chart above corroborates).
I’m not sure why the GKs were such a struggle. They were fat and heavy (650b x 48) – so that was part of the problem. At the extremes aero is going to make a difference. And they were noisy on pavement – which tells me they are not very efficient. That noise costs power.
My G-One and Ramblers are smooth and quiet.
I've also tried the GK (700x43) briefly, but took them off after a week of use because they roll a lot slower on pavement and I didn't find enough difference in their off-road grip to justify the slog around on the pavement.
same experience with the G-ones...fast and great if you have some pavement to cover. surprisingly durable (ran them tubed in 40's) and great for the basic gravel but if it gets techy look out. Do suprisingly well in the wet especially at shedding mud, Also definitely not getting 1000k miles out of them.
I'm so confused by Schwalbe's ever-evolving model names. I swear that what now shows up under "G-One Speed" is what I bought as a "G-One Allround" a couple years back (in size 700x38 / 40-622).
I like that rolling resistance chart, but I wish there were some actual numbers. I'm not sure how to interpret what 91% means in absolute terms here. It's also too bad they left off the G-One Speed/Allround/whatever-the-hell-the-smoothish-one-is-called; certainly that's going to roll faster than the bite.
The Barlow Pass are indeed pretty sublime tires. I'm struggling to believe that the WTB Resolute is 95% as fast as the Barlow Pass, but again, without the actual numbers I don't know what any of that means.
