Looks like I am doing Hill Country Hundy on Saturday with 32mm tubed tires. Tubes, the horror! My last few gravel events were on 29x2.1 tubeless on a mountain bike. My current bike is a cyclocross bike that will not fit 40mm tires. I MIGHT be able to squeeze 38s in there, but there's no time for tire shopping. Any tips for surviving 100 miles of dirt with "narrow", tubed tires?
My suggestion would be to think like a roadie and go with higher tire pressure than you otherwise would have. "Suffer" through the harsher ride but feel comfortable knowing you won't waste time repairing pinch flats or denting rims. Just my $.02
Don't worry too much about it. I rode 32's for a whole season. The bike I got had them on and I thought before buying new tires I'd just ride them. They were not too bad. Only when the gravel got soft, sandy and deep did I wish for larger tires.
I insist on running the handmade Challenge tires - either 33mm Chicanes or 36mm Gravel Grinders. No tubeless Challenge tires. Occasionally, I use the 38mm Bontrager CX0. They're fast rolling, but the 38 doesn't come tubeless. I also use Challenge's latex tubes. I still run low pressures, about 35psi on the 36s. Besides, my rims are the HED Belgium, so officially not tubeless compatible anyway.
