I ride and love the Gravel King Slick. They are super light and super fast. I was thinking that the spring races will most like be wet and so I bought a set of GK SS just to get a bit more traction.
After a test ride, they felt sluggish (38/40 psi). Maybe because I'm used to the slicks. Anyway, I took them off and bought a set of Terra Speeds. Haven't ridden them yet (due to weather) but will soon be able to.
If the Terra Speeds feel similar to the slicks, then I'll report back and you can assume that the bicycle rolling resistance results correspond to real world results.
Editorque wrote:I'm using GK SS 700 x 43s now. They definitely softened up after 200 miles or so. I suspect based on past use of Gravel King slicks (38s) that the SS are beefy enough to maintain the same supple ride over a majority of the tires's lifespan, which should get to around 4000 miles.
Seriously - did you get 4000 miles on the GK slicks!? I got 800 miles out of mine (700 x 38) - until I wore through the casing on the tread. That's at 30-40psi and 150lbs riding weight.
I would go back to the GK again, if I could get 1500-2000 miles out of them.
Right now I find the WTB Byways 700 (normal casing) to be the best trade off between treadlife, grip, RR, protection, and costs - 2000 miles and still going strong.
4000 miles was my estimate for my current SS 43s because they are beefier than the slicks. I got 2500 out of my RH Snoqualmie endurance. I expect the slicks to run somewhere between those two: 3000? 3500? That's how much I ride in a year. I try to work in at least 25% gravel, so maybe less than you? Same pressure as you but I weigh 200lbs. Not sure what to attribute the difference to, but it sounds like you're riding gravel as it should be ridden!
smoothmoose wrote: Seriously - did you get 4000 miles on the GK slicks!? I got 800 miles out of mine (700 x 38) - until I wore through the casing on the tread. That's at 30-40psi and 150lbs riding weight.
Well, report back in 3-6 months on the SS. The tread on the GK slicks is super thin, like 1.7mm and the compound is pretty soft, so it wears fast. I ride my 700x38 setup on about 25% gravel as well. My 650b setup is 90% gravel/singletrack.
Also curious how the cornering knobs perform on the SS, to me they seem too thin edge to really provide much support on gravel and will likely squirm on the road. The Byways have supported side knobs and they corner well and actually rideable on decently packed mud. The slicks, I had a few washouts...mostly me pushing them too far...but I like the extra confidence with some side knobs.
smoothmoose wrote: Also curious how the cornering knobs perform on the SS, to me they seem too thin edge to really provide much support on gravel and will likely squirm on the road.
I too wondered going in about the cornering knobs, or ridges more like, but in practice they work without my being aware of them. When hard cornering I can't tell when they kick in, it just feels like a rounded solid grip, no squirm that I could tell. But they definitely track better in light gravel where slicks tend to spin out and fishtail, and where they shine is in off-camber sections, so the messier the (dry) surface, the faster they feel to me.
Will let the forum know how long they last. They are about at 600-700 mi right now and they look brand new (or would, if they were clean; the ridges do hold on to gravel dust). I tried them all the way down to 25 psi, where they started to feel sluggish, and now I have them back up at 40, where they still have a little spring at my weight. Pretty sure the 38s would be the best of both worlds for me but I do love the volume of the 43s, and it does seem that holding on to volume is the moral thing to do.
