Pirelli Gravel RC Tires: At The Finish
I wish that this Gravel RC was just a bit lighter both on the scale and under the keen eye of a caliper set ….
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I wish that this Gravel RC was just a bit lighter both on the scale and under the keen eye of a caliper set ….
The Gravel RC is a bit of an interesting creature, with very fast looking, minimally low profile center knobs and graduated layers of wider spaced knobs that increase in aggressiveness as you move towards the outside edges.
Gravel Grinder News is back with news about tires from American Classic, WTB’s redesigned saddles, and an aero chain guide from Wolf Tooth. Let’s check it out!
Gravel Grinder News comes at you today loaded with news from tires to tools and bikes.
I found the Speedmax to be stable on loose gravel, and capable in a bikepacking situation on deeper gravel as well.
The County is the tire one should look to for mostly paved riding or where the unpaved roads are typically harder, smoother, and not covered in deep crushed rock.
The Ritchey Speedmax WCS 700 X 40mm tires have an iconic look, an aggressive looking tread pattern, and seem pretty stout with their Stronghold casing.
In this post, I want to get to what I found out about the County tires on gravel, how they rolled on pavement, and anything else noteworthy.
The Kimberlite is a tire that American Classic says is meant for pavement and mixed-surface rides. However; here at Riding Gravel’s home, we have found that a minimal amount of tread works fine on deeper, loose gravel.
Okay, so we have a tire from a brand you know well, but not for bicycle tires. It looks a heck of a lot like a competitor’s tire, which we just so happen to have, and so we will be comparing the two.
But I really would like to try these with a good sprinkling of ‘pixie dust’ on them. A dust that would allow the tire to give me a more compliant ride across all conditions.
Oddly, the Vulpine isn’t as fast a rolling tire on gravel which is loose, chunky, and deep as other tires with similar width. However; once you get out of situations where the terrain is loose and deep, the Vulpine begins to show up as a fast, controllable tire.
What we have here is a new tire from WTB with an old name that has a new mission: Be fast on gravel.
Remembering that these are $35.00 tires (each) means that we probably should not be looking at the American Classic offerings as being equal to, or better than tires costing more, despite what “direct-to-consumer” marketing may seem to indicate here.
The most recent news for the gravel and back road rider is here. Sea Otter has come and gone, the first to be held since the pandemic struck in 2020, and a few things came out of that show/festival. We also have a couple of news items from recent press releases. Let’s check it out!
When you hear or read the name “American Classic”, you probably are not thinking about tires. But that’s what we are looking at here.
News on two new products for gravel fanatics comes today with the release of Whisky Parts … Gravel Grinder News: Whisky Spano Drop Bar & American Classic TiresRead more
So who is this tire for…..They are the kind of rider that wants a bullet-proof, easy tubeless set up, a tire that doesn’t require baby-sitting in terms of air pressure retention, and a tire that wears well. That is a tough combination to get right, but I believe that Pirelli did get this right with the Cinturato Gravel H tires.
Okay, so I didn’t know what to expect here, but what I found has been pretty impressive so far. The Pirelli tires roll well, and set up great.
The Challenge Tire Getaway model is a welcomed addition to the range of fast, light, 38-42mm range of tires for gravel. It seems that this type and size range of gravel tires is not seeing a lot of new development lately with many companies focusing on larger tires not really focused on speed.
WTB has some really good non-puncture protected gravel/all road tires in their line, but there was no puncture protected version, until now. The SG2 gravel tires seem to be a good addition to the range as long as you understand that the width indicated on the side wall may not match the width of the tire in reality.
The 700c x 40mm WTB Byway SG2 tires have now been ridden a bit more to bring us to the final mid-term article on the three SG2 tires we have on review here.
This tire isn’t a ‘bad’ tire, but for the MidWest it isn’t a tire that lights a fire underneath me when I ride it. It does the job well enough, sure, but with its slightly harsher ride quality and lack of volume, it isn’t on the same plane as the Resolute or the Byway, both of which we are testing in this series of SG2 reviews.
Basically, I likely would have moved on to another tire by now. But I have not. And that has actually been just fine with me, because although the heat and the smoke from multiple fires around California kept my miles low overall, the times I did ride the Touregs have been just really good to live with.
