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Mrs_oab has perfectly functional steel bead Giant P-RX tyres.
She's 8st, maybe carries a bar bag and bottles.
Even at low pressure they just don't seem to give much.
Suggest me some affordable but supple gravelly and road tyres, to fit under 45mm mudguards.
Will Schwalbe G-ones fit? They’re the standard answer to the question but you might struggle with the guards.
Depending on what's affordable Panaracer Gravel King in either slick or SK. I've some 28mm slicks and some 35mm SKs and like them both, they roll well and grip well.
+1 on the Panaracer Gravelkings. If you run them tubeless I had them at 40psi (@14st) and the word I would use to describe them is "supple"
How about some cheap Vittoria tyres from planetx?
Not cheap but excellent.
Challenge Strada Bianca or Challenge Gravel Grinder. Very supple, ride beautifully but not cheap.
Been pretty happy with these: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVEEGSPORT/vee-tyre-co-london-road-gravel-commuter-tyre
I like my Bontrager GR1 Team Issue 700x35, have them under 45mm guards. They're not particularly cheap though.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres/700-x-38-40622-schwalbe-marathon-cross-hs470-tyre-700-622/
Bargaintastic at £10, I paid twice that. Run them at higher pressure, they roll surprisingly quick on tarmac, run them softer and they play nicely on mild off-road.
I haven't tried these, but they seem like they're targeted specifically at what the OP wants
https://r2-bike.com/TERAVAIL-Tire-CANNONBALL-28-700-x-35C-Light-and-Supple-black
I haven’t tried these, but they seem like they’re targeted specifically at what the OP wants
A 60tpi carcass is never going to be particularly supple
And as for Marathon Cross, I'd rather ride a tyre made out of bricks 🙂
Keep coming back to Yksion Elite Allroads. Fast on the road, just enough grip off road.
And as for Marathon Cross, I’d rather ride a tyre made out of bricks 🙂
Is that from riding them, or presumption of how they would ride?
Is that from riding them, or presumption of how they would ride?
From riding them 🙂
Thanks all.
We've had marathons before - they are tough and roll well, but they are leaden...
I normally avoid PX, but they're tempting to try.
From riding them 🙂
Compared to what other ~38mm mixed terrain tyres that don't cost a kidney?
Not cheap but excellent.
Challenge Strada Bianca or Challenge Gravel Grinder. Very supple, ride beautifully but not cheap.
True. I had the open tub, handmade Stradas for a while. Utterly gorgeous tyres to ride (and look at, skinwalls being 36.8% better obviously), but not cheap. Also, a little fragile when attacked by flints. Not that any tyre can really survive a flint onslaught, but they did seem more prone than others.
Now on Ritchey Alpine JB WCS, which are almost as supple, but much tougher.
Gravelking slicks are pretty fast rolling - I was riding with my mate yesterday, he was on his race bike with carbon wheels and 25mm tyres. I was riding a Diverge gravel bike with tubeless Gravelkings on carbon wheels. On fast downhills where we were both freewheeling, there was no difference in rolling speed, I could keep up no problem. Today, I've just ridden a mixed route of 110km roads and tracks down to Winchester, SDW and back - quite a few bits of flinty 'chunk' too but tyres were no problem.
Flint I don't need to worry about, being on the edge of the Highlands.
Most of her riding (90%) is on road, partly as the bike is so rough off-road, partly her current tyres are all but slick...
The old foldy Kojak was good, if you can find them.
As mentioned above, if you want supple you’re want Challenge. You’ll not get much nicer than their “Open Tubulars” which are made like tubs but still use normal rims and tubes
I might have a pair of Maxxis Raze 35s kicking around in the garage Matt. You're welcome to them (assuming I can locate them).
I was going to say a Veloflex open tub but the biggest they go is 28. Had 23's many years ago and they were sublime 🙏