Tires. The thing that arouses more conversations and downright passionate feelings than anything else here on Riding Gravel. We see it on our forums, we see it from the hits on our Facebook page, and we see it on post views here when we do reviews. You folks love to check out tires and talk about them too. In fact, I was asked about which tires were my all-time favorites by a Riding Gravel reader. So, I thought that posting that up for you all to see might be, (well, I’m pretty confident it will be), interesting.
When the tires are hitting the road, I am having fun. Here are my favorite tires to do that with.
- These tires are here based upon my personal tastes and may not reflect your ideas of what a good tire is.
- I’m not ranking them. These simply are my five most favorite tires at the moment.
- This list is subject to change over the course of time.
The Terrene Tires Elwood model comes in a 700 X 40 and 650B X 47 size.
Terrene Honali: As long as I am talking about Terrene Tires I may as well add in my favorite “big” tire right now which is the Terrene Honali. You can check out my review here. The Honali is a touring tire, according to Terrene, but the tread, which is inspired by dual sport motorcycle tires, works really well on gravel as well.
In fact, they work on even the gnarliest gravel like what you can find in the Flint Hills of Kansas. I put in a century ride on these tires on the Flint Hills worst gravel and they survived with nary a scratch. Like the Elwoods, the tubeless performance is top notch and the fast roll on pavement is welcome after your gravel ride is over and you are headed home.
These are not the tire for going on single track, and so maybe these wouldn’t be on the list for a 29″er conversion to a gravel bike. They are a great tire for something like my generation one Fargo- A bike which is very well suited to doing pavement and gravel type excursions. That’s why I am drawn to this tire for that bike. It just seems like a perfect fit.
The 42mm Resolute on my Raleigh Tamland. This tire actually measures out to close to 45mm in reality!
The Donnelly 36mm MSO
The Gravel King SK 40mm tire
Gotta add my two cents for the compass Snoqualamie Pass 700×44. I have tasted the supple life and am not sure I can go back. The width handles all but the most miserable road conditions and is lighter than any other tire I own. I was worried about flats but it really has not been a big deal. Started to wear down a rear then swapped it with the front and no flats since.
Kenny if you can fit the Soma 48mm tires you should give them a shot. I did a review in the tire forum.
Having swapped my stock wheels out (shod with Resolutes) for my preferred combo of Cliffhangers and Snoqualmies tubeless… I’m kinda kicking myself for not keeping the Resolutes on.
Three punctures/tears in three weeks. None of which Stan’s managed to seal. All while commuting on pavement. A patch or two later and I can keep going, but what the heck? Ran Barlow pass for years tubed and not a single flat.
I think I’ll be swapping in the Resolutes tubeless for this weekends big ride. The Compass is just too thin to be reliable tubeless on the mean streets on Chicagoland.
When I requested this post I was hoping it would help me justify a 50c Cazadero purchase.
It didn’t, but I’m going to buy them anyway.
I’ve had a lot of great rides with the 42mm Cazaderos! One of my favorites.
What about the maxxis rambler
Okay, just to make it totally clear, these five tires are my favorites right now. If a tire isn’t on the list, it isn’t one of my favorite five tires currently, for whatever reason.
That should clear up any “what about this such-and-such” tire questions.
Yup; looks like I’m just gonna’ go ahead and stick with my Resolutes. They are, indeed, pretty awesome. 🙂
-Ed
I have several hundred miles on a set of 650B/47 Elwood lights with about 13,000′ of climbing in the Cherokee National Forest. They’ve been on pavement, gravel, sand (Dirty Pecan 100), clay, even a bit of mud. The tires roll great, corner great, descend awesome. I’m ~140lb, running them tubeless with 25 frt/ 28 rear.
I have the MSO tires on my Willard, came stock (Clement). They roll nicely but seem to be really flat-prone. I’ve had more flats with this tire than any other I’ve used in recent memory. I’m a luddite who has not yet gone tubeless, for the record. Anyway, in my experience, they aren’t very puncture resistant at all, and I’m not a very demanding rider…mainly riding rail trails like the MO RIT, Katy, Chief Standing Bear Trail, and Prairie Spirit Trail.
Nice list!
Which of the five do you find most cut/puncture resistant?
I have been been using the Panaracers as well, but after 2 cuts (one from glass and the other from a sharp rock), I think it’s time to experiment with another brand.
I was also using the 28c (road) versions of the Gravel Kings, and while they were supply and rolled great, they did cut fairly easily as well, unfortunately.
Thanks!
@JR- If cut resistance on sidewalls is of utmost importance look at the Kenda Flintridge Pro.
Hey Ted-
Thanks for this article…Interesting reading!
Quick question: if pavement and smoother dirt roads are a priority, should I prefer the Elwood or the Resolute? Or no difference on that terrain? Will still have some nasty stuff to ride through, so can’t use a smooth tire.
Thanks!
@Koyote- I’d go with the Elwood then.
Hey Ted – Any chance of an update? So many new tires out there…
Thanks
@Greg Kuchta- Great idea! I’ll put it on my “to do” list.