Gravel bike on the road: suggestions for tires and pressure?

30 replies · 5,982 views

tvcrider
8 posts
#1Feb 5, 2020, 11:20 AM
I will be taking delivery on a Lynskey GR300 bike in about a month. I will primarily be riding this bike on pavement at least 90% or more of the time. If I venture off pavement it will be onto hard-packed dirt/gravel roads. I go approximately 155 pounds. I am in my mid 60's and a one-time road racer, but those days are long gone in my rear view mirror. I wanted a ride that was more comfortable and lower geared than my old Ti road racing bike, yet lighter than my steel touring/commuter ride, which weights in at 28 pounds including 32mm tubed tires, rear rack, fenders and tool kit.
The GR300 will be equipped with Stans Grail MK3 wheels and a lower grade tubeless-ready Kenda 40c tires, but Lynskey installs tubes when doing the build.
I have done bit of reading both here and on other gravel forums.
Here are my questions and they are all obviously interrelated:
1. Do I continue to run with tubes or go tubeless? I have no practical experience with tubeless tires. One local gravel expert suggests that I stick with tubes, because he believes I will be running with tire pressures north of 50 psi.
2. Recommended tires and tire width for mainly on-pavement use? At the moment I a leaning toward a 700 x 32mm tire simply because it's what I have been using for years on both my touring bike and tandem.
3. Recommended tire pressure for on road use?
Thank you.
tvcrider
0
nublar
65 posts
#2Feb 5, 2020, 3:17 PM
I am 158 lbs and ran 50/60 psi with 32mm and I'm running 40/50 psi with 36mm and it feels more cushier
0
nellborg
142 posts
#3Feb 5, 2020, 8:39 PM
Do a search for the Silca tire pressure calculator. You'll have to enter your name, email, etc, but then you get access to the data where you can plug in your weight, surface, tire size etc and that will give you a good idea of what their data says is optimal.

On my gravel bike, I run latex tubes on my wheels that have 32c's because I'm not yet comfortable with the idea of high psi with tubeless; and I run tubeless on my wheels that have the 40c's and 44c's.

For example, the calculator says that I should run 68 front / 71 rear on my Conti 32c's on pavement and 32 front / 33 rear on light gravel with the 44c's.
2
dangle
465 posts
#4Feb 6, 2020, 1:36 PM
Are you asking about tire pressure and tubeless for the 40 mm tire it comes with or your theoretical 32mm tires that you haven't decided on?
1
tvcrider
8 posts
#5Feb 6, 2020, 3:01 PMedited
dangle wrote:Are you asking about tire pressure and tubeless for the 40 mm tire it comes with or your theoretical 32mm tires that you haven't decided on?
Hi Dangle, fair enough. My inquiry is in regard to using 32mm tires. I will be spending most of my time on pavement. Granted our local roads are not smooth, but most are asphalt or chip-and-seal. When my bike arrives I will try the provided 40mm tires, which Lynskey will setup with tubes, but I suspect I will find them too wide and heavy for road riding. Thank you.
0
chas
1,305 posts
#6Feb 7, 2020, 9:25 AM▲ Top
I love Conti GP5000 tubless tires. They are are super fast, have 1/2 the rolling resistance of the Conti tires I had before (4 season), sticky, surpisingly smooth, and a pleasure to ride on. They are not ultra long lasting (so far I have a couple thousand miles on mine, so they are not dead yet), but do seem to be surprisingly puncture resistant for what is basically a race tire (i.e. a lot better than the Schwalbe pro-1).

Before this I had the 4 seasons, and 40mm maxis ramblers. Not a Huge difference between these tires. I could do a "we'll drop ya" fast road ride on either, but the 32mm were not a whole lot faster. The 32mm GP5000 are a whole lot faster (2-3mph, maybe 5bpm better) and the extremes. Just tooling around on my own they are noticeably faster 1-2mph at 20mph. Plus, they just ride fast. They were a PITA to mount on my wheels.

I don't put them over 60psi as that is about the max for tubless (unless possibly if you have a matched wheel/tire). They are rated higher if you have one of their recommended wheels. But, 60 is plenty for your weight on a 32mm tire. And, they have a traditional tubed version if you choose (with a more light weight construction).

You would be fine on some racy 40mm tires, but might like the responsiveness and aero look of some 32mm tires.
4
dangle
465 posts
#7Feb 7, 2020, 12:29 PM
I was just making sure. Those rims aren't supposed to go much beyond 50 psi with a 40 mm tire, so when you mentioned being well north of 50 psi I was concerned.

There's a LOT of good tires, so everything is a trade-off between speed and flat protection. No reason to use tubes for anything in the sizes you're thinking about. If you're almost entirely on pavement, it would be hard not to go after a fast road tire like a Continental GP5000 or a Schwalbe Pro One TLE. You can knock the pressures down to ~40 psi and be perfectly comfortable on short stretches of gravel as long as you're not leaning the bike over or fly through corners. The thin sidewalls make them a poor choice for loose or chunky gravel.

A 700 x 34 WTB Byway or 700 x 32 GravelKing is a very popular tire for people doing a bit more gravel/loose conditions, but still mostly paved. The Specialized Roubaix Pro 2Bliss Ready in 700 x 32 would also be similar (slightly more road focused), but have a bit more tread puncture protection.

Tire pressure at that width is one of the weirdest things to figure out. I can ride 33's in CX and not hit the rim until going under 25 psi, but that's pure off-road. 50ish is a good middle ground for my lazy riding to work on the 32 mm Roubaix Pro tires. I can't imagine riding them at 70 psi. They would be rock hard. There's zero benefit to riding with wider tires if you're not going to lower the pressures enough to grip more and roll over small things like cracks in the road without absorbing the impact entirely.
1
tvcrider
8 posts
#8Feb 7, 2020, 1:22 PM
Dangle, Thank you for your input.
I mentioned the north of 50 psi, because that is what a local gravel enthusiast mentioned to me after I described to him what sort of rider I was (e.g. almost exclusively on the road). Up until now I have always ridden tubbed tires with corresponding pressures: 80-90 psi for my touring bike, 100 psi on my road racer and 110-140 psi on our road tandem. The only time I have ridden with lower pressures was the roughly 40 psi I put in the mountain bike I no longer own. Yes, that too had tubes.
With the incoming new bike and accompanying Stans tubeless ready rims I do have the option of going tubeless, but at the moment that is a coin-toss.
Fwiw, I have been looking at the following two models both in 700 x 32mm: Gravelking Plus and the Maxxis Re-Fuse MaxShield, but again I have no practical experience with any tubeless ready tire.
I'm not married to the 32mm width, but it's what I run on touring bike and tandem.
0
dangle
465 posts
#9Feb 7, 2020, 4:03 PMedited
I think you're on the right track. It's kind of hard to make a wrong choice right now. The options for tires in that size range has gotten incredible the last few years. Sounds like you're mostly talking about road bike tires on a gravel forum, so you're probably going to get a lot of gravel specific recommendations here. Can a good 40 mm tire ride fast and do what you want on pavement? Yes. But the same thing in a 32 would be a little lighter and faster.
1
Jeb
113 posts
#10Feb 8, 2020, 7:10 AM
chas wrote:I love Conti GP5000 tubless tires. They are are super fast, have 1/2 the rolling resistance of the Conti tires I had before (4 season), sticky, surpisingly smooth, and a pleasure to ride on. They are not ultra long lasting (so far I have a couple thousand miles on mine, so they are not dead yet), but do seem to be surprisingly puncture resistant for what is basically a race tire (i.e. a lot better than the Schwalbe pro-1).

Before this I had the 4 seasons, and 40mm maxis ramblers. Not a Huge difference between these tires. I could do a "we'll drop ya" fast road ride on either, but the 32mm were not a whole lot faster. The 32mm GP5000 are a whole lot faster (2-3mph, maybe 5bpm better) and the extremes. Just tooling around on my own they are noticeably faster 1-2mph at 20mph. Plus, they just ride fast. They were a PITA to mount on my wheels.

I don't put them over 60psi as that is about the max for tubless (unless possibly if you have a matched wheel/tire). They are rated higher if you have one of their recommended wheels. But, 60 is plenty for your weight on a 32mm tire. And, they have a traditional tubed version if you choose (with a more light weight construction).

You would be fine on some racy 40mm tires, but might like the responsiveness and aero look of some 32mm tires.

Where did you find the list of recommended wheels? Thanks for the info.
0
tvcrider
8 posts
#11Feb 8, 2020, 11:06 AMedited
chas wrote:I love Conti GP5000 tubless tires. They are are super fast, have 1/2 the rolling resistance of the Conti tires I had before (4 season), sticky, surpisingly smooth, and a pleasure to ride on. They are not ultra long lasting (so far I have a couple thousand miles on mine, so they are not dead yet), but do seem to be surprisingly puncture resistant for what is basically a race tire (i.e. a lot better than the Schwalbe pro-1).

Before this I had the 4 seasons, and 40mm maxis ramblers. Not a Huge difference between these tires. I could do a "we'll drop ya" fast road ride on either, but the 32mm were not a whole lot faster. The 32mm GP5000 are a whole lot faster (2-3mph, maybe 5bpm better) and the extremes. Just tooling around on my own they are noticeably faster 1-2mph at 20mph. Plus, they just ride fast. They were a PITA to mount on my wheels.

Chas, the Conti GP5000 tubeless tires in 32mm were original at the top of my list. This tire gets high marks for speed, weight and durability. You mention what a PITA they are to mount. I came across several reviewers that said the same. In two instances riders had to take their bikes to local shops and have the tires mounted. In those cases it took two shop employees to get the tire on the rim! That sort of effort well above my tolerance level. This apparently due to the thickness of the bead/sidewall on the GP5000 tubeless.
0
Jeb
113 posts
#12Feb 8, 2020, 12:12 PM
tvcrider wrote:

Chas, the Conti GP5000 tubeless tires in 32mm were original at the top of my list. This tire gets high marks for speed, weight and durability. You mention what a PITA they are to mount. I came across several reviewers that said the same. In two instances riders had to take their bikes to local shops and have the tires mounted. In those cases it took two shop employees to get the tire on the rim! That sort of effort well above my tolerance level. This apparently due to the thickness of the bead/sidewall on the GP5000 tubeless.

I have a set of Conti 25mm GP5000 TL mounted tubeless on Velocity A23 rims. Yes they were tight but not impossible. I may have used a set of Schwalbe tire levers, https://www.schwalbetires.com/node/15,
to mount them. The plus side is that I was able to seat them with a 30 year old floor pump with no effort at all. Also the ride and speed are worth the extra effort over other tubeless tires. FWIW I'm running 70/75 psi and I weigh 145#.
1
LewisQC
150 posts
#13Feb 8, 2020, 5:00 PMedited
1+ for Conti GP5000 tubeless. I have experience with 38c (GK) and 40c (Refuse) slick tires. I bought contis for a week of road riding with two friends. We ended up doing maybe 20% of gravel riding (really hard and fast rolling though) and I was really impressed in general by gp5000. Really a smooth rolling tire. It was not harsh or uncomfortable even on gravel compared to my GK. I rode as low as 38psi at 200lbs. I have Dtswiss wheels and I don't remember having any special difficulty to mount them... To me, I won't use tubes on any of my bikes (fat bike, mountain bike, road bike even my kids bikes!!) I just hate flats too much...
1
Mudge
60 posts
#14Feb 9, 2020, 9:31 AM
The concern over pressures over 50 is unfounded. It might apply if you’re running 38s or 40s, but you probably won’t, and if you did you wouldn’t run them that high anyway. As others have mentioned, 32s would be a good choice, though you could go wider.
I run 32mm Conti 5000TL for my ‘mostly pavement’ gravel bike tires. I’m a good 20+ lbs heavier than you an I run them at 50 psi in the front, 55 in the rear, and there’s no noticeable rolling resistance difference compared to the same tire in 28mm width on my road bike.
1
Mudge
60 posts
#15Feb 9, 2020, 9:47 AM
nellborg wrote:Do a search for the Silca tire pressure calculator. You'll have to enter your name, email, etc, but then you get access to the data where you can plug in your weight, surface, tire size etc and that will give you a good idea of what their data says is optimal.

On my gravel bike, I run latex tubes on my wheels that have 32c's because I'm not yet comfortable with the idea of high psi with tubeless; and I run tubeless on my wheels that have the 40c's and 44c's.

For example, the calculator says that I should run 68 front / 71 rear on my Conti 32c's on pavement and 32 front / 33 rear on light gravel with the 44c's.

the Silca calculator looks at optimal pressure for rolling resistance. Unless you’re about 240 lbs, 68/71 is grossly overinflated when looking at other considerations such as comfort, traction, etc. i weigh 175 and don’t even run my 25mm 5000TLs that high for everyday riding. For road racing, when comfort is far less important, 70/75 would be my go-to.
0
nellborg
142 posts
#16Feb 9, 2020, 12:31 PM
Yes, good point. I run gravel tires a little bit lower for comfort. And, from my recollection, it's better to be a bit below optimal pressure than above for rolling resistance anyway.
0
ccand51997
265 posts
#17Feb 9, 2020, 6:07 PM
First off, tubes vs. tubeless. The only way I will ever run tubes again is if I have a bike I don't ride that often that spends a lot of time sitting. That is not a bike to run tubeless. Otherwise, tubeless is a just about the greatest innovation to come along to bikes since, well, I don't know what. Why? For me it comes down to flat protection and ride comfort. What things can really ruin a ride? Having to fix a flat on the side of the road or having the wrong tire for the ride conditions. My favorite tires right now are the WTB Byway and the Grand Prix 5000 TL. The Byway is a 650x47mm tire that some might think is not a tire to consider for the road. However, I've been riding a Byway or similar (Horizon) as pretty much my only front tire for road and gravel for the past year (that includes a trip to France through the Alpes on the Pyrennees). I can run 20 psi up front and it just smooths the road and is pretty capable off-road. And it is not slow. If I was making a choice based off ride comfort, it would be the Byway/Horizon. If I was more concerned about speed, I would go with the 32mm version of the GP5000tl. I liked to run mine about 45-50 psi. It delivered a smooth ride that sort of matched the Horizon I had on the front.
All this comes from a guy who was running 23mm tires at 100 psi about 18 months ago. When someone first suggested running a tire at 30 psi, I thought they were crazy. Then I tried it and decided it was awesome. Then a couple of times I went riding with my tires when they had dropped to 20 psi and it was even better. I had to ask myself why I have been beating myself up on high pressure tires for the last 30 years.
I looked up your bike out of curiosity and it will take either 700x45 or 650x52mm tires, but comes with 700c wheels. If I had that bike I would put the 700x40 or 45mm version of the Byway on it and run it at about 30-35 psi. If I wanted a bit more speed then Conti 5000tl in 32mm.
0
chas
1,305 posts
#18Feb 10, 2020, 8:43 AM
tvcrider wrote:

Chas, the Conti GP5000 tubeless tires in 32mm were original at the top of my list. This tire gets high marks for speed, weight and durability. You mention what a PITA they are to mount. I came across several reviewers that said the same. In two instances riders had to take their bikes to local shops and have the tires mounted. In those cases it took two shop employees to get the tire on the rim! That sort of effort well above my tolerance level. This apparently due to the thickness of the bead/sidewall on the GP5000 tubeless.

Yeah, that was me that wrote that review. I’ve never given up and taken a tire to a shop to have them install it before. But, that problem is highly rim dependent. I was using it on a hookless (carbon) rim – and I have to guess the wheels have extra tight tolerances (or a little higher rim bed) to hold on to a tire tubeless and hookless). My maxis tires were easy to put on, my Schwalbe’s tight but doable, these were a bad match. Your mileage may vary.
Conti says not to use this on a hookless rim – I expect because I obviously can’t go near the tire’s rated PSI on a hookless rim. It could be that hookless rims tend to have a slightly larger diameter that just makes it a bad combo.
0
chas
1,305 posts
#19Feb 10, 2020, 8:46 AM
Jeb wrote:

Where did you find the list of recommended wheels? Thanks for the info.

Actually, I think I had it backwards. ENVE listed compatible tires (for their hookless rims) and the GP5000 was on the do not use list.

A year ago, Conti said they (with European bike industry) were close to publishing an ETRO (European) standard for Tubeless wheels, and that their new tires met the standard. There was to be a list of wheels that met this standard too. Its over due, and I haven't seen anything about it in a while...
0
Zurichman
1,526 posts
#20Feb 10, 2020, 8:51 PM
I have run Conti tires a lot at the roadie end. They always had hard to put on no matter what rim you have. I use to always stand on them and try stretching them out some. You could also trying heating them with a hair dryer or as I saw somebody else post soapy water.

Zman
0

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