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| This bike has 29" X 2.8" tires. Too wide? |
This is in vast contrast to only several years ago when "wide" gravel tires were 45mm and if you wanted wider than this you had to run 650B wheels and then you could get a 2.1" tire in the bike.
Now 650B for gravel is on life support and manufacturers are turning toward 29"er territory with width capabilities up to 29" X 2.1" in some cases. Some even wider. So, this begs the question: "Do you need a new bicycle which can handle wider tires?" Then you may also be thinking, "Why would I want wider tires in the first place? Aren't they heavier? Wouldn't they be less aero? On the other hand, you may think, "Well, aren't wider tires more comfortable, absorbing chatter better, and allowing me more control with less fatigue?"
I'm going to delve into all of this, and maybe more, in a mini-series starting this week. I'm going to go over all the benefits and al the negatives to wider tires. I'll be touching on why, or why not, you may want to not only use wider tires, but whether or not you really need a new bike to do this with. I'll also show you a bicycle I modified, why I did what I did, and how it affected handling and geometry.
So, stay tuned for the next post in this series, which will cover the reasons for wanting to use wider tires in the first place on gravel.
If you have any suggestions or questions about this subject, feel free to hit the comments section and let me know! Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!
9 comments:
Oh baby!
This one is a massive topic which a lot of folks will pick apart.
I went into a search for a bike that could fit wider tires for comfort and control. Ever since I had shoulder surgery from a stupid bike crash in 2016, but comfort level on gravel diminished quite a bit.
ANYHOW - when I started looking for frames I came across Dylan Johnson and some of his excellent testing videos. That convinced me to find a frame that could fit the tires he had tested as they were not only good from a control standpoint but fast and sporty feeling (also important to me).
This last weekend at the Loess Hills Enduro I hit a max speed of 42.5 MPH down hill and NEVER felt out of control. In fact I found myself tucking to try and go faster. MAN its been a long time since I felt this in control on gravel and it has made me love this side of the sport that much more.
@Tyler Loewens - You wrote: "This one is a massive topic which a lot of folks will pick apart. "
I say, "I expect this from anything I have a strong opinion on." But as you hint here, and as I have experienced myself, wider tires for gravel is a thing, and notably - it HAS always been a 'thing' for gravel riding. I think you might think about this and where the twist in my opinion might be for those who read this series. My take is going to be a bit different than you might expect. ;>)
Looking forward to this series. I've spent some time on my Stooge Rambler with 26+ (going all the way up to 3" in the front and 2.8" out back) and given that I was using high quality light casing tires I was pretty impressed with how fast and comfortable it was. And Michigan's "gravel" is so sandy it was nice to have a little insurance. That being said I've settled in at 2.2" on that bike.
I've also done some pretty huge gravel rides on my Stooge MK4 with 29 x 2.6" out back and 29 x 3.25" (Duro Crux) up front and was shocked by how fast it was. It's almost like Jeff Jones is onto something. ;) Wheel aero be damned!
@Peter C [Run What Ya Brung] - Yep! I found similar results with my Gryphon Mk3 (the bike pictured in this post) and on 26" X 4" fat bikes. Lots of ways to come at this with big tires!
You know I attend the church of the big tires… Finished the DK/Unbound XL on a 2.3” in the front and a 2.1” in the rear. It was exactly what I neeeded.
You should check out the work that John Karrasch is doing on testing wide tours for gravel. Here’s his website, https://www.johnkarrasch.com/articles, but he puts out regular updates on new tires on Instagram. He’s tested at race and normal human speeds and mapped out the tradeoffs between tires based on the type of gravel for a given ride.
I came here to say that my Jones LWB (29 x3 - on my last set of Chronicles) is faster and more comfortable on real gravel than my Masi CXGR with 45's. Add in some road miles, though, and the Masi shines. They're both set up as well-fitted big-day bikes.
Oops I put my tire comment on the helmet page, sorry! Maybe you can move it? Please keep up the great work, and Iowa countryside pictures!!
I have been running wide tires on "gravel" bike since 2018, but... it's 650b x 2.2". To me, that's pretty much a sweet spot in terms of width, what I would like to see in a gravel bike. Beyond that, we start to encroaching into a dropbar MTB territory - bikes that are designed to handle anything up to 3.0" wide tires. Present gravel bikes are often already capable of wider than 50mm tires. You just need to go down in wheel size. A difference in radius between 700x45mm tire and 650x57mm is only 6mm. So what that the rim is smaller?! No one claims that 700x45mm wheels are too small, right?
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