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15 years ago I used to do a lot of long distance cycle touring in places like Central Asia - it used to be called bike touring and it was the pursuit of mainly dorky Europeans wearing SPD sandals.
The gold standard tires were Schwable Marathons - i found them a little like riding through melting tar and favored Continental Travel Contacts. They seemed to be a good compromise and never really failed me.
I'm preparing for a longer mission back in the boonies and have been testing various new tubeless gravel tyres. So far have tried a pair of tubeless Panaracer Gravel Kings and a pair or Challenge Gravel grinders and whilst they feel quite nice and role nicely - they both have appalling puncture protection. I get more punctures than i do on my road race tyres, and google suggests i am not alone.
What actually are these tyres useful for?
Following. I had planned on Gravel Kings for my next tyres, as they seemed well regarded, so interesting to hear a not so favourable review.
So what sealant are you using?
I've been riding gravel tubeless for 3+ years never had a problem, also MTB tubeless for 8 years the same.
Ridden with Gravel King SKs and Gravel Kings, and not found them any worse for punctures than anything else.
Both those tyres are distinctly at the lightweight end of the spectrum are they not?
Gravel kings have a reputation for punctures, my boss uses them and has had more punctures in 6 months than I've had in 6 years...
I looked at the Gravel Grinders but worried about puncture protection, they're approx 150g lighter per tyre than the Vittorias I eventually fitted.
Maybe look at something in the 500-550g range for a 40mm tyre?
done about a year on some Challenge Gravel Grinders over some decidedly inappropriate terrain with one puncture and one tyre burp
Gravel King SK tubeless. Not had a single puncture in almost 2 years since fitting them.
Useful for day rides unloaded or bikepacking carrying under 6-7kg and often used with tubes when the tubeless system can't handle a tyre cut, ime. I've not been to Central Asia but have used tubeless for bikepacking a fair variety of places, however if I hadn't either been racing or packing light there's no way I'd be using tubeless, esp not for anywhere I thought of as the boonies.
Why don't you just use Continental Travel Contacts again?
it used to be called bike touring and it was the pursuit of mainly dorky Europeans wearing SPD sandals.
It still is
I am on my fourth set of tyres on my Gravel bike since I got it in July last year. They have been way too puncture prone- sometimes pinch flats but a lot of cuts too. No one seems to offer a proper Gravel tyre (rather than a commuter or touring tyre) with any puncture protection.
I tried Clement Xplors, which I liked in the past, then Contis which were by far the worst for puncture protection and didn't set up tubeless, then some Schwalbes which were OK but very heavy.
I run 60psi and have found that cheaper tyres with lower thread counts, therefore thicker and tougher threads, are much better and cheaper. The ones I've settled on are Bontrager GR1 Comps with a wire bead in 40c size. Seem decently puncture resistant, set up tubeless well and are just over £15 a tyre.
Ran slick gravelkings for a couple of months. Probably had 15 punctures/cuts that wouldn't seal without some sort of worm/anchovy. I ride in a very tyre unfriendly place, the tracks and trails are mainly surfaced with flint!
Gave up on them and replaced them with vittoria terreno dry about 2 months ago. They are 25% heavier, but I stopped noticing on the first ride. I haven't had to fix a puncture since....
Thats probably jinxed me for tomorrows ride.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-travel-contact-road-tyre
The Travel Contact is the best choice for touring riders or commuters who ride on and off road and who's priority requirement is puncture protection.
stick with what you know, if they are that good you don't need to be tubeless anyway
I hadn’t either been racing or packing light there’s no way I’d be using tubeless, esp not for anywhere I thought of as the boonies.
I would. Having ridden tubeless for what, 14 years ish, and only had two tubeless specific incidents* I'd be more than happy to go with it and then take tubes just in case. I wouldn't be wanting to re-inflate tubeless in the boonies, but I'd be putting in a tube. Sure, it's a bit messy, but it's such an infrequent occurrence I'd not be worried. Having said that, there's not much fresh volcanic rock and ash in the UK. But I don't see how you've lost out if you start with tubeless or if you start with tubes. End result is the same.
* one burp on my first ride when using ridiculous skinny non tubeless tyres, and one when the second glass shard in my tyre didn't seal because the first one had leaked the sealant out
I'm looking for pair of tyres for my new bike, I'm all a bit confused by all the tyres that are recommended as a lot of the makes I've never heard of. With road bikes I like Hutchinson and Vittoria on my mountain bikes I like Specialized and Maxxis. With the in between I have no idea.
About 600k in on my 35mm gravel king SK’s, running tubeless. No flats. About 250k gravel the rest country lanes. Can’t fault them. Started off the year at 90kg so expecting the odd flat or two.
Munrobiker - similar experience.
I've no idea who these condom tires are designed for. I can't think of a single use for them. Who wants that amount of punctures on any ride, and most of these products are designed for the "adventure market"?
Which Gravel Kings? I have the SK version and have found it to be excellent, with only one puncture so far. Prior to that I used the file-tread Gravel Kings and they were indeed terribly puncture prone.
I would. Having ridden tubeless for what, 14 years ish, and only had two tubeless specific incidents* I’d be more than happy to go with it and then take tubes just in case. I wouldn’t be wanting to re-inflate tubeless in the boonies, but I’d be putting in a tube
Totally valid way to do it, I just think if you're using a tube to fix a tubeless issue (ie as a longer-term fix like the rest of the ride, rather than get-me-home day ride fix) you may as well just start with tubes anyway, and tyres that are up to the job.
Who wants that amount of punctures on any ride, and most of these products are designed for the “adventure market”?
Are you using these new tyres with tubes in, rather than set up tubeless? Makes a big difference ime.
Those Bontrager GR1 Comps are cheap and lighter than expected especially as they have a wire bead. Do they go tubeless ok? Might get a pair as I think I'm going to do a few miles when my new bike is built.
Jameso - which is better...tubed or tubeless? And why?
I've run tubeless for a long time on the MTB, but had much less luck on the road and touring. Always ending up with holes that don't seem to want to seal.
FWIW Michelin Power Gravels seem a good bit tougher than the WTB Nanos they've replaced. Stiff enough that I've dropped pressures a bit (and they weren't high to start with) and managed to ding a rim without puncturing
I think the reason that road tyres don't seal as well when ran as tubeless is because of the higher pressures compared mountain bikes. My experience of tubeless is that for the most part they work way better than tubes (roll better, more comfortable, less punctures etc). But there will be a time when they won't seal and you will have to put a tube in them, that could be after hundreds or even thousands of miles or could be after 2 miles, it's just the luck of the draw. The thing that would put me off tubeless more than the mess and extra hassle and that is if I swapped tyres regularly as it is just a s$$t show, if however you have a tyre you like and don't change much then they are worth the occasional explosive spray of elephant spunk.
What's the nature of the punctures you're having? I've got 2100km on a set of 27.5x2.25" Schwalbe Hurricanes run at 40-50psi with tubes in; roll well on tarmac, surprisingly good off-road; no pinch flats but a couple of thorn punctures has me considering tubeless.
TBH it definitely seems like some gravel tyres are designed mostly for the expanding market of people who bought a gravel bike butwill almost never ride it offroad.
@didnthurt - the wire bead GR1s went up fine for me tubeless but they are quite a loose fit so you may need a couple of extra wraps of tape to make them seal nicely. Once they went up they've stayed up.
Northwind's probably right - they're designed for people bimbling about on them, or grinding along US style flat gravel roads, not any excursions onto anything mildly rough or even steep, rough gravel roads with sharp rocks on them.
Montgomery - they do a Hurricane with puncture protection and they seemed OK to me, if you can live with a reflective strip round the side. Only canned mine after a huge glass cut.
Simplistically the lighter the tyre the less rubber, the less rubber the more likelihood of something getting through the rubber. How many punctures would you get if the tyre was 1 inch thick?
Tubeless is good but it is not a miracle so running a flimsy tyre like a GravelKing is asking for trouble where I ride.
Tubeless is good but it is not a miracle so running a flimsy tyre like a GravelKing is asking for trouble where I ride.
Given the number of punctures my boss and other workmate are having with tubeless, especially small glass type punctures, I'm wondering if tubeless is almost MORE vulnerable to that type of puncture, e.g. the bit of glass that penetrates a tyre but loses the impetus to puncture the tube as well, has still punctured the tyre, so you're relying on sealant which as we all know is not fail-safe.
My boss still marvels at hearing his sealant catch another small puncture, or how 'easy' it is to fix a puncture with his Stan's darts (at £4 a Dart). Meanwhile those of us with tubes just aren't puncturing (and I roll 20psi less than him and am 5kg heavier).
Didnthurt - Vittoria Terrenos roll well, grip well (enough) and feel pretty robust. I haven't actually gone tubeless but did experiment with the tape and valves, the tyres went up straight away with just a track pump. They have a reputation for being an easy tubeless install. I just baulked at the price of sealant and decided I couldn't be arsed so stuck the latex tubes back in and haven't looked back 😀
I love conti travel contacts. Really impressed with them on the tandem in 2" flavour. We have 3 sets between us. Grippy and fast on tarmac good on gravel but easily overwhelmed in mud. virtually puncture proof.
IMO much better than marathons
@Joe, not sure either is better but a lot of TLR tyres used with tubes do flat easily, they don't have the protection layers as they're expected to be used with sealant.
You might be having less luck because of the higher pressures in the road/touring tyres, as others mention. Tubeless works great at low pressure, often won't seal and hold as easily as the pressure goes up, as it would on a loaded bike with thinner tyres.
I used Travel Contacts for a few years when I had a frame that they fitted in and agree they are very puncture resistant (I had one puncture in over a year). I would still use them now if they made a narrower size.
Interesting, the folding version of those travel contacts (520g, 700x37) could stand on it's own as a bona-fide gravel tyre, in fact that's exactly what I was looking for before I got the Vittoria Terrenos, e.g. smooth centre for tarmac, tall edge knobs for gravel corners.
I guess most would write it off as not being tubeless compatible though.
They have a very thick centre tread though (which makes them so puncture resitant so don't need to go tubeless). Because of that they are not supple and don't compare to Terrano's for comfort of I guess rolling resistance. I have used Terrano's tubeless and also found them hardy probably due to the higher weight for given size than some of the more fragile gravel tyres.
I would happily use Terrano's tubeless or Travel Contact tubed but if touring in the middle of nowhere would probably stick to the tubed Travel contact