20 Best Gravel Tires For Pavement (2023 Updated)

I previously ran 35mm Schwalbe G-One Speeds, wanting something a little wider, with more tread and hopefully better puncture protection, I checked out the beautiful tan wall Panracer GravelKing Semi-Slick Plus.

Fitting them was not easy. Whereas the Schwalbe’s I was able to mount tubeless with just a normal track pump, for the Panaracers I huffed and puffed with no luck. To mount them I had to insert tubes, seat the tyre, then take out tube whilst keeping one side seated.

Luckily my Airshot arrived and it was easy from there with a little help of compressed air. Once mounted, they felt a little more slugish than the G-Ones but that’s to be expected. They ride well on tarmac as well as dry gravel, and *touch wood* I’m yet to get a puncture.

All in all, I’m pleased with my first foray into Panaracer tyres, but be warned, fitting them was an absolute nightmare on Hunt 4season gravel disc rims.

I had a problem that developed with a previous 35c SK which caused it to pop off of the rim. This initially occurred when it was setup for tubeless, and pumping up at low PSI of around 20#. I tried the same tire with a tube and had identical results.

I suspected that the problem was in the tire’s bead. The wobble was obvious when the mounted tire was turning. I noticed a similar 3″ section that wobble on the new replacement tire. The new tire’s wobble is not a severe as the previous, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

My wifes hybrid bike came with pseudo road tires that are iffy when it comes to taking mildly sharp turns on concrete or asphalt. After reading many reviews, I settled on the 700x35c Gravelking SKs. Installation was relatively easy and painless.

The GK SKs are fairly light and weigh 150 grams less than the original mounted tires. Even though the tires are tubeless-ready, I decided to mount them in a tubed configuration. Maximum air pressure in a tubed setup is 75psi, but I chose to inflate the tires to just 65psi, hoping this would be a benefit to ride comfort and improved traction.

One item of note: After mounting the tires to the rims and inflating, the tires calipered at just over 37. 5mm, which is 2. 5mm wider than Panaracers stated specs, so be sure to check your clearances before deciding which size to purchase.

With the new tires installed, my wife immediately felt a difference in the way her bike handled when cornering. She said the tires never slipped and quote it was like someone put sticky glue on the tires.

I took the opportunity to ride her bike as well, and I was very impressed with the way the side treads grabbed at the road surface. Handling provided a real sense of confidence and rolling resistance was just as good as the tires that came with her bike.

The more my wife rides on her new tires, the more she likes them. Now, shes actually looking forward to the time when we will start going out and doing some gravel/hard-pack riding at our local state parks.

Panaracers Gravelking SKs are a quality tire at an affordable price. My wife and I highly recommend them!!.

These tires are pricey and I was looking to the established WTB brand for a reliable tire. They have been a major disappointment. As one reviewer already said, they leak sealant through the sidewall like crazy, and are almost impossible to mount tubeless without air loss.

I’ve had these on 3 different rims, retaped those rims several times, had the shop tape rims at great expense, all to no avail. The carcass is thin and prone to side punctures. Finally, after leaving me stranded 12 k from the nearest point of help, I gave up tolerating them and will replace as soon as possible.

They do wear well and handle well, but that is a small consolation when they won’t stay inflated under any circumstance.

A very fast rolling tire for a knobby. Very cush ride quality. They seat of the pants feel is that of an efficient tire to pedal. But… puncture resistance is abysmal. I never had so many flats, so many punctures that sealant wouldn’t seal, or a tire so unwilling to take tubeless plug strips.

I finally took them off because I got tired of dealing with punctures. They ride nicely but it got to the point where it wasn’t worth it. Getting a flat every third ride is unacceptable, and they are impossible to plug.

I even tried a second pair, I liked the other attributes so well, but it ended the same way. Money wasted. Oh well. Lesson learned.

First, the good. Off road, these enabled my drop bar gravel bike to handle up to intermediate mountain bike trails, albeit with stretches of hike a bike due to extreme under biking, not tires. They provide plenty of traction in both dry and wet conditions.

Next, the bad: this tire is slow on pavement. It’s not the tread pattern, it’s probably the casing; it feels like you’re lightly dragging your brakes as you ride. It doesn’t feel this way on dirt. Finally, your mileage may vary: tubeless setup didn’t go well.

There was leaking through the sidewalls, which usually resolves itself, but they also leaked through the bead to rim interface, which is game over. Note this was on WTB rims. Since you can’t tell whether the rim or tire is at fault, I don’t fault the tire.

Tubeless setup on anything but mountain tires on mountain rims is a gamble. Conclusion: if your bike spends greater than 80% of its time on dirt and gravel, these tires a great choice. If you spend a significant time on pavement you should look elsewhere.

I have 15 years of experience in XC MTB, but have started dabbling in gravel. Supplies were short so I ended up with 35c from my local Trek shop. I’m 185lb and have ridden them at 38f/40r. Most of my road riding is for training purposes and these add so much more grip for seemingly little additional rolling resistance to my 32c tubeless Schwalbe g one road tires.

I raced these cinturatos over a mix of tarmac to loose gravel and they we’re surprisingly bombproof. They’re fine through an occasional section of damp dirt, but I wouldn’t ride them in any sort of slop.

Like other reviews mention, you have to lean them pretty far before you feel the side knobs bite. If you feel comfortable handling a mountain bike you should be able to adapt to the lower profile knobs on this tire, just find a safe place to test the limits before you blindly bomb some back roads.

I have legitimately never been so impressed with a bike tire. Over the past 5 months or so, I have put these tires through hell and have yet to see a puncture. From MTB trails, to loose/chunky gravel, to long rides on pure-gravel roads, to pavement-only rides, and more.

It’s also worth noting that I am a 6’3″, 210lbs and I pride myself in my above-average sprint power. These are lighter and faster on pavement and hard-pack surfaces than most gravel tires. Oh and they also happen to be an absolute BREEZE to set up tubeless.

I have truly found my “goldilocks” tire and I will not go back. Of course, if you are doing loads of riding in thick mud, you these will not be the best option out there. That said, I have put them through lots of mud pits and the loss of traction is really not terrible.

I ran WTB Nano 40s for a long time. That’s a great tread, but the casing is too delicate. How do the Cinturato Gravel H 45s compare? On the road Pirelli’s racing pedigree shows—these are the fastest-rolling gravel tires I’ve owned.

They’re fast on gravel, too, and corner with predictable and progressive grip. Given the low-profile tread they never feel like they’re super dug in, or like they can brake really hard. However the 45 casing gives a lot of contact patch and stability to work with.

A huge plus is how tough and long-lasting they’ve been. They’re not as supple as the Nano, but ride comfortably for how well they’ve resisted pokes and cuts. This is an excellent performing and high-quality hard-surface mixed terrain tire.

I will definitely buy again.

Note: This review is based using inner tubes only! I have not given any opinion about the tyres tubeless performance. I bought these on 28/11/20 and fitted them to my Pinnacle Arkose and have since cycled circa.

945. 4 km. I live in Norfolk so cycle around the country lanes where flint is abundant. I have had about 3 – 4 punctures with these tyres since fitting. I think these tyres are probably best when used with sealant as the punctures I’ve had are tiny therefore may have been sealed if sealant were used.

(I guess that’s why tubeless tyres seem thinner because the sealant will, in theory, plug any gaps?) When I inspect the tyres after a puncture I often pull out tiny pieces of flint/sharp stone/quartz which easily pierced the thin carcass.

Apart from the puncture protection, they feel fast, smooth and supple however the tread is non-existant so I would not recommend for muddy conditions (kinda obvious). They fit onto my wheels fairly easy too! Though maybe a struggle for your wheels.

So my review is aimed at those who are planning to use inner tubes and then maybe move to tubeless later. I’ll probably switch to tubeless in the near future – just haven’t got round to it yet. Also, the tan sidewalls are very easy to clean.

Hope this helps.

Had the 38C version fitted on my bike for a bit over a month. They look great and feel great on the road. Rolls very smoothly and didn’t feel any slower compared to the 28C tyres I had previously. However, these are extremely puncture prone especially more so during the wet season.

Had 5 punctures total so far which is utterly astonishing. Never in my life had so many punctures in such a short period of time. From my trials I have learned that these tyres should not be ran on WET TARMAC and MUST BE UNDER 60 PSI.

I played around with the tyre pressure a bit and found out that small flints and road debris get just stuck in the treads at higher pressures. My current setup is with inner tubes and given how thin the casing is I would never run these tubeless.

Buy if you want delicious looks and comfy ride feel but don’t mind a ton of punctures.

I was looking for a more aggressive tread to take a gravel bike on singletrack without compromising efficiency to and from the trailhead. The Sendero doesn’t disappoint! The siped side-knobs are amazing on loose and off-camber terrain, and the ramped center knobs roll like a continuous ridge on pavement.

The 47mm width is perfect for mixed terrain. My only complaint is the bead is super tight on my wheels (using them with Ibis 733 Aluminum wheels). It took two guys, a broken lever, and lot of patience to get them back on there after patching a sidewall tear.

Not a big deal. I love these tires. I’ll definitely get them again!.

I’m running these aboard a good quality gravel bike and these tyres are awesome. Confidence inspiring on fast descents and good grip on loose climbs, even when getting out of the saddle. Fast? I found in group rides my rolling descent speed had me off the front, even over the guys on 700c x 40mm tyres that look faster, as they have less pronounced tread patterns.

The knobs don’t slow the Senderos down at all. I’d happily use these on a MTB too, but all my MTBs are 26”. My rear tyre is showing signs of wear at ~1400kms but the front looks great. I’ll be surprised if I don’t get 4000km out of the front, maybe more, and I’ll be more than happy with 2500-3000km per rear, given the quality of the ride.

The Nano has become my favorite gravel tire on the market. This tire has a rather unconventional tread pattern, but it works very well! It hooks up great in the corners, grips over rocks, and gives plenty of traction on climbs.

SoCal trails vary from hardpack to sandy washes and so far the Nano has not diminished my confidence while riding on the local single track. They also roll surprisingly fast on pavement. Not as quick as a narrower filetread or slick, but much quicker than other more aggressive tires I’ve run.

It does not shed mud very well however. I rode on Nanos during a gravel ride after a heavy rain that made our normally dry, dusty fireroads look more like the Dirty Kanza route. The Nanos did not perform well in these conditions and packed on a heavy layer of mud.

In dryer conditions though, I can’t find any real weaknesses. Nanos do everything I need them to. If you need an excellent all-round tire and aren’t riding in overly wet conditions, then nanos are a perfect choice!.

We bought these to replace Schwalbe Marathon tires with tubes, fitted to Hunt 650b wheels. The terrain we’ve ridden so far has varied from somewhat greasy intermediate singletrack to chunky gravel and a tiny bit of pavement.

We are impressed by the additional traction, durability, ride quality and speed that these tires added compared with the previous touring tires. Between removing the tube and switching to these lighter weight tires, we measured a 1kg reduction in weight – per wheel! – without any apparent tradeoff in durability or (so far) longevity.

That’s a huge performance improvement on its own. Tubeless setup was straightforward. We periodically spun the wheels for the rest of the day as we remembered to in order to distribute sealant around the inside of the tire, then overnight we laid the wheels on their sides so the sealant could fill in the slightly porous sidewalls.

Despite a small amount of sealant bubbling out of the sidewalls, this turned out to be a non-issue – eventually all the porous bits were filled in, and the tires have held air beautifully ever since (as well as any other tubeless tires I’ve tried).

We did not experience a single flat across at least 200mi of mostly gravel, some of which was quite chunky and would happily take a bite out of a too-light tire given the chance. We are both impressed by the versatility and quality of this tire and would highly recommend it for truly mixed terrain.

I ride about 5,000 miles a year and installed the thickslicks on one of my road bike. I typically will get 2,000 miles on a set of tires. The thickslick, however, lasted a couple of hundred miles when a bulge developed in the front tire and actually burst while I was riding.

Luckily I was on flat ground and was able to pull over safely. I chose these tires because they were suppose to be durable but turned out to be opposite. I contacted Schwalbe and sent pictures of the “defect” but have not heard back.

Way to stand by your product.

This is the second set of thick slicks i have installed on my primary bike. They ride very well and are pretty tough and flat free. Because the tread is thick you have to watch the height if your tire clearance is tight.

A typical 28mm fits my bike well, but this fits more like a 29 or 30. just barely. Great tire, but if a reg 28 is tight for you, you might have to settle on a 25.

Heavy but excellent tires. Super thick casing makes them very puncture resistant. Have 1. 95 width on a 27. 5 mountain bike. They ride great and soak up the bumps. You can feel the weight when riding for sure but if you’re looking for a super grippy urban tire to stop having to deal with flats these are great.

I’ve ridden both the 35c and 40c versions. Great grip, excellent rolling resistance on pavement, secure cornering. The casing is supple and offers a great ride. I’ve ridden these on a torture test course in Western Rhode Island.

They excel on pavement, packed dirt, grass, fine gravel, chunky gravel and rocky rough stuff. Not best tire for deep mud. I’ve used them in CX races too.

I prefer wide tires with a non-aggressive tread and this tire is exactly that. It’s also light weight for a plus tire. What’s not so great is how tight the bead is. Mounting these tires on Bontrager Line 40 rims was a chore! Seriously, I was worried I might damage the rim or break a tire lever mounting these.

Other than that they’re great. Very low rolling resistance and are awesome on paved or hard packed dirt surfaces. They look great also. Btw, a regular 27. 5×2. 4 tube works fine in these tires.

Of all the round tyres out there – these by far are the greatest. With superior traction you get good control on the rough stuff – but without loss of speed on the road. The went up tubeless no problems; and the 45 size is just super.

I wish these tyres onto all cyclists so they can see the glory of such good tyres.

We recently swapped out our most excellent Schwalbe 30s for these 38s in anticipation of being on crushed gravel during an upcoming “cross-country” tour with our 2015 Co-Motion Speedster tandem. We carried loaded panniers – front and rear – including electronics (2 laptops and a Nikon DSLR).

Our route took through the metro twin cities, beyond Hutchinson, and then north to the Lake Wobegon Trail. Based in Avon, we made side trips to Albany and Holdingford, finally pedaling to Big Lake to take the Northstar Commuter into downtown Minneapolis – about 300 miles over the course of a week.

The Cannonballs provided the stability, ride, and control you would want when hauling the equivalent of a week’s groceries 50 or more miles a day, day-after-day, on surfaces ranging from rural gravel to new pavement.

The tires proved to be everything we hoped they would be – so much so, we’ve decide to leave them on over the winter (and maybe skip the studs).

This tire has been fine. I was worried by the reviews I had read, only to realize that there are two versions of this tire by the same name, one is ‘heavy duty’ and the other ‘light weight’ or something like that, and the REI site doesn’t distinguish them.

I bought it IN STORE, and it didn’t quite match what was shown online. I realized that all the bad reviews were of the ‘light weight’. I don’t remember the details, but remember having an ‘ah ha’ moment that gave me confidence to go ahead and buy it.

Its been fine. I put it on a rim that other tires were unstable on, but with this tire it was fine. It has been sturdy over sharp gravel and even some patches of broken bottles. knock on wood.

I’ve had the the 700C x 40 version of this tyre for almost 2 months, and have a few comments: – Pros • I love the look of my Tan sidewalls, and the tread pattern is aesthetically pleasing. • They feel secure on all types of terrain, and I’ve rarely lost grip, even on the wetter/muddier stuff -Cons • Puncture resistance doesn’t appear to be any better than my previous WTB tyres.

I’ve had 2 punctures in my front tyre in the space of 2 weeks, both of which were too big for the sealant to work, resulting in the use of plugs. Admittedly, these were picked up on gravel trails, and I suspect were caused by flint shards, but disappointing nonetheless.

• They were a real headache to install on my rims, to the point where I wondered if I’d mistakenly bought the 650B tyres. However, after reading other reviews, it sounds like that may be down to my rims as nobody else seems to have had this issue.

• They feel a bit slow on the road, but not unpleasant to ride – just a little bit sluggish Overall, I enjoy riding with these tyres installed, but there are a few little issues that mean I would like to try something different next time.

Fitted these in 40mm easily to 2 different rims. Inflated with a normal track pump amazingly easy. Held pressure well even without sealant. Added sealant it’s only been 2 days but all good. Nice ride feel.

Tyre is stiff enough to not squirm about or be too bouncy over bumps at lower pressure. But rides well. Still experimenting but 30 psi with a light rider is good. Also have Hutchinson sectors which are equally as good.

Bought the Hutchinson Overide 35mm after using the Fusion for winter road riding. Never had any punctures all winter and running tubeless set up. Easy to fit,and roll well on road as well as on compacted gravel.

Didn’t want anything larger,if I need that I’ll get the MTB out. Would recommend these tyres and I would definitely buy again if needed.

Bought these in 700 x 40 First thing to say is that these were incredibly easy to set up tubeless. Inflated with just a track pump and stayed inflated for days before I put sealant in. Very impressive.

I will note however that upon deflating approx 30% of each bead unseated itself, both initially and a week or so later when I deflated to add sealant. Will see to what extent this is an issue, if any, moving forward but I’m not particularly concerned.

Ride quality seems great so far. Way better grip in the forest than the GravelKing SK’s they replace. These are a fair bit stiffer than the GKs, particularly at the sidewall, so appear to want to be run at lower relative pressure.

I’ve settled for now on 35 / 30 psi f /r (I’m 65kg) which seems to be a great all round compromise for off road grip, comfort, and speed. I’d usually run the GKs at about 5psi higher than this but much higher with these goodyears did indeed produce quite a tough, unforgiving ride.

They are significantly heavier than the GKs but in my opinion a far better tyre so this is a tradeoff I’m more than happy to accept. Speed on tarmac does feel perhaps a little slower than the GKs but again, I am happy to accept this, as a tradeoff for increased robustness, cornering grip, and versatility over a wider range of conditions (i.

e. mud where the GKs are useless).

This is the snappiest rope I have ever used. The balance is great, the weight of the tip feels perfect and the hondo always stays straight. Never like a brand new rope but these are good to go right out of the box!.

I bought 4 of these tires. 2 from Competitive Cyclist and 2 from Backcountry. 700×35. Both times when they were $30 on sale. The 2 from CC went on friend’s Trek Checkpoint and mounted on Bontrager wheels.

One of the wheels required a bontrager strip but otherwise the tubeless hold and my friend seems to be happy. The second set, however, has had some issues. They mounted just fine on Stan’s grails with stans tape and tubeless valve.

Once seated, they seemed to seal, however, the rear tire just won’t hold air for more than a day. Sometime front loses it too, but seems more stable. The rear will go completely flat within a day or 2.

I have put the tire into bathtub and there are bubbles all along both sidewalls, lots of bubbles. I have added more sealant and even had tire on it’s side, then on another one, and that held for few rides, then it started losing it again.

So 1 out of 4 tires seems to be defective. I don’t like making warranty claims so I may play with different sealant or just tube it and call it good until it’s done. But for my new set, I will go back to Panaracer which has proven it’s mettle when it comes to tubeless.

Been running these for a couple of months and overall they are a good tire for tarmac and hard pack gravel. Very easy to set up I set mine up with tubes. My only concern when buying them was how slick the centre is but I’ve ridden them on some pretty rough gravel and they grip well.

The only downside is the weight. As always sigma have been flawless, now the only site I use.

Bought as an alternative to WTB Byways that were a pig to mount tubeless and horrific to remove from WTB KoM i25 rims. These appear as equally difficult, unfortunately. I have just purchased some better levers to save be breaking my thumbs again.

But on the road they roll well and probably better and quieter than the Byways. They also probably blow up bigger than the claimed 47mm on i25 rims. Oh, and one tyre was heavier than the other by 20g or so.

Certainly better priced than much of the 650b x 47mm competition so I’ll certainly look at Vittorias again.

Great mix terrain tires. Relatively low rolling resistance on tarmac and surprisingly grippy on (dry) gravel and forest roads. I use these tires on a road bike (Canyon Endurace CF SL) for rides on mixed terrain.

When mounted on 22mm internal diameter rims the tires measure exactly 32mm wide. I run them tubeless, however setting them up tubeless was quite a hassle. Even with an air compressor the tire beads did not pop onto the rim.

What worked for me was leaving the tires sit overnight with tubes in them inflated to max pressure. When taking the tubes out, I left one side of the tires untouched leaving the bead in sit in the rim.

When remounted, I managed to “pop” the other bead on the rim with a track pump (valve cores removed from the tubeless valves).

Tubeless or with Tube, this tire is excellent. Described as a cyclocross tire, it works very well on fire roads and for gravel riding. The tread design allows for low rolling resistance and road noise when riding on pavement.

I’m using these tires on a hybrid gravel/fitness bike. 700c-38mm. Max pressure is 70 psi (street), 45-60 psi (off-road).

Tire is supple amd measures almost exactly 45mm on my WTB 23mm rim. Setup was pedestrian and aside from an off camber bunny hop on pavement, which burped enough air to be audible, they appear to hold air well (<5# drop in 7days) Traction amd rolling resistance on rear is a great combination, but I don't think I would ever want to use this as a front tire, as the tread pattern looks like it would wash out in hard cornering.

The tread pattern is similar to the X-one but the knobs are much larger. Very good grip in all conditions, but haven’t ridden them in mud yet. These would be good tires for a bigger more powerful rider.

One tire (of three) was weird – the bead seemed oversized (loose) and blew off the rim at about 40 psi, a problem I’ve never seen with Vittoria, other Schwalbe or WTB tires. Also the tire mounted with a small, difficult for Stan’s to seal hole.

At the edge of the tread.

I used the 700×42 as a rear on my Pinarello gravel bike and rode the White Rim trail and had no issues with the tire. It rolled fast, gripped well, and has not suffered any damage despite being subject to many rocky, ledgy drops and some rockier mountain bike trails.

It was pretty easy to mount on a FSA Vision Trimax 30 rim with a compressor to seat the bead. I don’t know what this other person was talking about as far as sandy jeep roads go the White Rim consists largely of sandy jeep roads and this tire worked great in areas other than super deep sand and climbs too steep and sandy to ride anyway.

I did not notice any issues with grip on the climbs. The center tread is pretty “slick” but I wouldn’t say they slip on climbs anymore than any other knobby mountain bike tire would slip on a steeper climb.

The Challenge Gravel Grinder Pro is not a tire for everyone. At an MSRP of over $80 it is not cheap. The lower priced vulcanized Gravel Grinder Race 38mm is a good value for most rough terrain riders.

However, the Pro version with its 260TPI open tubular casing has some advantages. It’s a bit lighter and more conducive to tubeless running. For those not familiar with “open tubular” tires, they are actually “clinchers” that can be mounted with tubes on normal clincher rims.

They differ in that they are hand-laid and come looking “flat” instead of “U-shaped” as delivered. They can be challenging to mount initially, but they do stretch a bit after a bit of use. Challenge recommends initial mounting and use with inexpensive butyl tubes before attempting to mount with more expensive latex tubes.

From experience, I can say that it’s very easy to pinch a tube during initial mounting. The bead on these tires is very stiff when new. Once mounted you will find that these tires roll fast and are very comfortable.

In addition to the high TPI count casing, the Pro version also comes with Challenge’s double puncture protection strips beneath the tread. The tread itself follows the popular pattern of a fast file tread in the center with corner gripping nubs at the edge of the sidewalls.

As mounted on a pair of Easton EA90XD rims the tire width measures exactly 36mm. Running with inner tubes the tires seem bombproof at 50-60 PSI. I’ve not tried them tubeless yet, but they should be capable of low pressure running for extra compliance and comfort on rough gravel courses.

I had used it few years back with a inner tube in it and i didn’t had a puncture in the whole trip in New Zealand i was very happy back then however this time i had to spend a whole morning trying to get it on my rims fitted as tubeless , really really hard to put it on.

I end up trying to get it into shape with a inner tube as it wouldn’t go up in pressure. Another couple of days and try take them off and put sealant in and try again, i don’t have a compressor but my state of the art floor pump always worked on tubeless, in this occasion i failed.

keep in mind its an absolute stubborn tyre to put on otherwise its just perfect and frankly it looks like a stunner with tan sidewalls.

I bought these tyres on the recommendation of the guys at Sigma. I have a gravel bike with 38mm tyres and wanted something for road/summer use. The tyres look very nice and, having ridden on them a few times now they ride very nicely, certainly a lot different to the ones I had on in the winter! They are very well made and seem very high quality but fitting is the issue.

I was away of this before I bought them as I had read a lot of reviews so I suppose I shouldn’t complain but, after several hours of trying to fit one tyre, I gave up and took them to my local bike shop.

After a couple of days the shop called me to say that they were ready but that they had scratched the rims trying to get them on and they bill would be £60 due to how long they had taken to get on! So all in all quite an expensive exercise! They do look and feel fantastic though, lets hoop they last!.

Look great, love the concept but they are way way way too tight. I’ve spent years mounting tubeless tyres on my mountain and gravel bike and this is the first tyre that’s almost brought me to tears. Plan was to run them on my campag sirocco with tubes and then put them onto my new hunt carbons when they arrive.

Took me a week of swearing and broken tyre assets to stretch them onto the rims, but they never quite settled. Taking them on and off always left one part of the bead not seating correctly and the net result was a pronounced wobble that was quite un-nerving.

Maybe they would have been better tubeless on the hunts – but to be honest i didn’t want to risk it and the thought of being stuck at the side of the road unable to get the tyre off to stick a tube in.

Now replaced by goodyear f1s which went on by hand and went up on a trackpump.

It just shouldn’t be this difficult. I managed it but it took me two attempts. Using soap to lube up that’s at bit of tyre did it. Making sure the bead is in the shallowest part of the rim helped a lot too.

Once seated and filled with sealant they held nicely and ride well. Not sure what all the hype is about, they ride fine. I’ll ride them another few weeks before my final decision.

but they are slow as molasses. They shine on dirt, hard pack sand, and pea gravel, but they’re not very stable on heavier gravel or off the beaten path. Don’t even think of taking these on pavement. You’d be faster walking.

Lifespan is terrible, and as the other reviewer said, I got to about 600 miles before the inner tread was gone and 1000 miles before they needed replacing entirely. The thing that drops this from a three star product to a two star is the shape of the knobbies.

The little holes are the perfect size to pick up sand and small rocks. If you don’t have fenders, expect a face full of dirt.

I was looking for a winter road/trail/commuting tire that would fit under my P45 Longboard fenders. The actual width of these tires came to 38. 5mm on my rims, so they just do. Mounted them with inner tubes, inflated to 40 (front)/45 (rear) PSI and took them for a spin on a wet day in the city.

On pavement they rolled well with a tacky buzz – not as smooth and quiet as the Vittoria Randonneurs they replaced, but much more cushy and capable. They shone on loose gravel, providing excellent flotation and confident grip.

I could see riding smooth single track with these, even through light mud. The 120 TPI casing makes these tires supple as all get out while the puncture resistant liner is much appreciated insurance.

Before I chose these tires I was looking at the Schwalbe G-One Allround and the Donnelly Sports X’Plor MSO, both well regarded gravel tires in their own right. I’m very satisfied with these.

I easily set up these tires tubeless on my H+Son rims, and they held air nicely. Roll well on pavement and dirt/gravel, good traction, reliable performance. No complaints at all, except that, on the rear tire, the knobs on the center strip were completely worn down in only about 600-700 miles, and the tire became unreliable at a bit over 1,000 miles.

For such expensive tires, that’s a pretty short lifespan.

I bought these tires on sale for $74/ tire. I put them on my Kona Rove ST as we had a really icy winter here in Edmonton. I normally am a Continental tire guy as I never had a problem with any Continental Product and the made in Germany quality seems to be evident in the lower price products.

This tire did not have that quality at all. Right from when I was installing the tire, you could see the the tire coming apart to get over the rim. I feel this tire is like a Walmart bike tire with studs.

Once I did have them both on I took my bike out for a ride. The grip is good on ice. Tire does handle the know okay. I took the tires out for a 30 km slow ride with no hard braking or accelerating. When I got back home I noticed I was missing a few studs.

I have previously owned Schwalbe marathon studded tires before in a 700c and they were great and never lost a stud after a year of winter commuting. I did remove the tires (same poor quality noticed on the process).

I bought a set of Continental Top Contact Winter II (no studs) and put on my bike. This was a much better tire IMO. Summary I wouldn’t buy this tire, get a good quality tire and just slow down a glare ice.

If you need studs maybe get this tire but use it as a one season and done tire. Reg price should be like 79 tops and on sale for 40 (maybe then I would have kept it). If you buy them Please review as maybe I got a set of lemons or it is just me LOL.

Full disclosure, these are the only winter tires that I have ever rode and 2019-20 was my first attempt at winter cycling. The options for my frame and tires are very limited – so it was between these 45NRTH and Schwalbe Marathon Winter.

Unfortunately, MEC didn’t have the Schwalbe’s in my size. I was quite disappointed in these 45NRTH tires. I’ve tried them with a variety of different tire pressures to see if that made a difference, but the bottom line is that when they are on ice, I slip even riding at the lowest pressure.

I ended up on the ground a bunch of times this winter. I think it may be the lack of studs in the centre or something about the way the tire is designed. The only thing I have found them to perform well on is either bare pavement or hard packed snow with no ice (if there is any ice, or a thin layer of snow on ice, or slush then I found that I went down with these tires no matter how carefully I rode or took corners).

The reviewer here describes my experience as well: https://www. bikeforums. net/winter-cycling/1045544-ok-s-official-45nrth-xerxes-tires-terrible. html I emailed 45NRTH about my experience and heard back from them – this is what they said: “Thanks for the message and I’m sorry to hear our Xerxes tires did not meet your expectations.

That tire is definitely the least aggressive, narrowest, fastest rolling tire in our line up and may not be the best option for sheer ice conditions. We made this tire in order to give riders a bit more traction on bikes with limited clearances and the narrow width will make them less ideal that something larger and more aggressively treaded.

Running them at their minimum psi of 35 in icy conditions will be ideal, but no studded tire can guarantee complete traction in very icy conditions other than perhaps our Wrathlorde or Wrathchilde with the lowest psi’s possible.

If your frame can fit it, the 700c x 38mm Gravdal at the minimum listed psi will give you much more traction and control than the Xerxes. I have heard reviews negative and positive come out of these tires, as will happen with any product.

Speaking from personal experience, these were my go-to tires for the 6 year I was a bike messenger here in Minneapolis where you’re riding fast on ice for 8-10 hours a day and I thought they performed wonderfully.

When the ice melts pump them up to 70 psi and you’re off to the races. ” I appreciated 45NRTH’s quick response and the candor of the employee and if I knew this when I was shopping for winter tires, I never would have bought these ones due to the freeze-thaw cycle in Edmonton.

Here’s the thing though – 45NRTH advertises these tires for icy conditions – this is pulled from their website: https://45nrth. com/products/xerxes “Commuting to work or school on black ice just got faster and easier with the Xerxes.

140 studs provide unrivalled control on those morning rides where ice patches threaten your commute. When a layer of snow conceals black ice, the ultra-narrow profile easily slices through the fluff and gets straight to business providing extreme traction in these extreme conditions.

Run the Xerxes at minimum pressure for traction performance, and maximum pressure for a quieter and faster ride on clean roads. ” I appreciated MEC’s rock solid guarantee on these tires, I just wished they had worked out for me.

Got these at the beginning of November and have just over 200 km on them. Alberta urban winter riding on asphalt trails, gravel trails and some sidewalk – hard pack snow, bumpy ice, smooth ice and soft pack snow (my least favourite).

Studs are all still in place, no loose or missing. Just noticed the last few rides that I started skidding on smooth ice – downhill mostly and ended up on my side. Also a few times powering uphill but stayed upright.

I go slow in these conditions and am familiar with my route, maybe just a bit too complacent? In all other conditions these tire are great except for the aforementioned soft pack snow in which case I clearly have the wrong tires.

Overall a good tire for my route.

I absolutely love these tires. They grip so well in corners and do well on technical single tracks here in BC, Canada. I was looking for high volume tires for my 4 days gravel stage race and they definitely are a perfect choice, measuring 42mm for 700×40.

I have been riding everything from smooth gravel, super rough gravel to single track and Alluvium has proven to be excellent.

I got a pair of 700×40 tires, mounted them on 22 mm internal width rims and at 40 psi the casing measures 43 mm wide. That was a bit too wide for my frame to clear. So I got a 700×35 tire and mounted it on the same rim and at 40 psi the casing measures to 33 mm wide, too small!.