Living in the UK we get a lot of rainfall, so very often conditions are muddy when venturing off-road. I'm struggling to find a good compromise between bomproofness for rocks and a bit of grip in mud & wet grass. I'm running Panaracer Gravel King SKs in 32mm at the moment and I'm more than pleased with them for everything apart from soft muddy conditions. I know they're not designed for them, but mud is unavoidable most of the time here. I don't want a CX tyre because they seem too fragile for rocks & road miles and don't generally have puncture protection, but something that doesn't spin out on the back and slide out on the front at the first sign of grassy mud / clay would be awesome! (The Gravel Kings are ok, as long as there is a hard bottom underneath the mud.) A recent ride in the Peak District highlighted the tires' limits both front & rear. I'm not after a mud tire as a ride will take in a variety of terrain, but an all-rounder that will as least give me a fighting chance...
I guess I'm asking for the moon on a stick, but there must be something better suited. Can only sensibly fit a 35mm tire in my frame & fork - GT Grade Alloy 105. There seems to be a lack of decent tires in this size, but loads more in 32mm or 40mm.
I'm running Clements MSO tubeless 36mm tires, they are working out very well on my Diverge and were very easy to setup on the Axis 4.0 wheels with an electric air pump. Guitar Ted reviewed these tires late last year and thought they did quite well in mud. Good luck
The Masher wrote:I'm running Clements MSO tubeless 36mm tires, they are working out very well on my Diverge and were very easy to setup on the Axis 4.0 wheels with another UK 6 li ill 9-5 electric air pump. Guitar Ted reviewed these tires late last year and thought they did quite well in mud. Good luck
Continental Cyclo XKing 35. Even though they are a CX tire, they wear very well (even with pavement) and do an excellent job with mud, but all surfaces in general. Great tire, I wish they made it in a 38 tubeless version...
I've had surprisingly good luck with the Kenda Happy Medium in muddy conditions. The low knobs in the center aren't close together enough for the mud to grab hold and clog up, and when it get soft it sinks in and the larger outer knobs grab and hold quite well.
I've also used the CycloXKing and found it excellent in mud, but just a bit too slow elsewhere. Plus it constantly threw gravel.
Both of these were the 40mm (42mm in the Conti's case) sized tyres, but I would expect similar performance out of the smaller sizes.
