Review: WTB Course & Byway Aero Gravel Tires - Update On The Course Tire

 Note: WTB sent over a pair of the 700 x 50mm Byway tires and a pair of the 700 x 52mm Course tires for test and review. Guitar Ted Productions was neither paid or bribed for this review. All thoughts and opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

It is finally time to give a ride update on the WTB Course 700 X 52mm tire set I am testing. Earlier I gave my update on the Byway 700 X 50mm tires and you can check that out HERE. 

In my First Impressions article on the new WTB aero gravel tires, I noted that the Course was being run at 35psi. I did lower the pressure to around 30psi and for my last run I was in the upper 20's psi. I'll get to what this did for the ride quality and performance of this tire shortly. 

I have run this tire on similar roads and terrain as I have the Byway. That being decomposed gravel, dirt, pavement, broken up pavement, and gravel. Something a little different from the Byway test was an addition of some dirt single track and deep, fresh gravel which was ridden with the Course tires. 

Conditions were mostly dry to very dry. I haven't run this tire through any mud to speak of, but I have found that the rounded profile of this tire has a very pronounced effect on handling in looser terrain. So, what little wet ground was ridden over provided me with a hint as to how this tire will handle mud. 

The rounded profile, an integral part of this tire's aero performance, does cause this tire to be predisposed to lack lateral stability. The knobs are there, yes, but in my testing, even at lower pressures, you are only riding on the central strip of tread. Those side knobs?...

Oh! Wait, aren't those "side knobs" actually those aero doohickeys?  Yes, those are the aero features which are supposed to help detach the air flow over the tire. So, in reality, there aren't really any side knobs for cornering here. Besides, the way those are arranged on the casing, you'd have to lean over pretty far to get them engaged in the surface anyway. .

So, these tires are really about volume and aero. The Byway and this Course tire do ride nicely, that much I'll give them. The aero part? Again, I have no way to quantify this aspect of these tires. Maybe there is something to this. 

I need to report on the current width of these tires which is 51.3mm on the WTB CGR i23 rims. Yes, the slightly narrower rim seems to hold back a true 52mm measurement, but not by much. A wider rim internally might prove to be a better fit here, this is true, but these are the wheels I had available at the time for testing. 

Now, as far as ride quality goes on gravel I will say again that the tire is damped well. It is not the best at this quality, but the Course and Byway are near the top of tires I have tried in this regard. The Course is also fast rolling, maybe a tic off the Byway. In my roll down test the Course did not fare as well as the Byway on the paved portion, but it did just as well on the gravel portion of the test. The Course is a better rolling tire than most gravel tires I have tested. 

On really rough, deep, loose gravel this tire tended to want to dance around a bit. Note: The Byway wasn't ridden on gravel this challenging. This would be the kind of gravel conditions which would make most riders not want to ride, for reference. It was tough sledding. Here in Iowa, you can run across a few miles of this type of deep, loose gravel on any given ride. 

This is the kind of road surface where aero has no bearing, but a supple casing and a good design will shine. The Course was above average in these conditions. Again, like the Byway, these tires did not squirt out rocks sideways as many tires will do in these conditions. I feel this speaks to the casing design and construction being above the average for gravel tires. 

On smoother gravel the tire's speed was quite noticeable. Again, whether the aero factor played into this I cannot say. I just know these tires seemed very free to roll and I was able to sustain speed and coasting to a greater degree than I would see with many other gravel tires I have tried. 

Other soft surfaces were simply average on these tires. Dirt is fine, as long as it isn't loamy. loose over hard pack, or sandy. The roundness of the casing just is not going to allow you to put down a very large contact patch given the girth of the casing. Add in how these tires do not do well at the lower end of the pressure range and it all points to a tire which is really about speed over dry, harder gravel and dirt surfaces. 

Okay, the next time I update this review it will be a final look at both the Byway and the Course tires. Stay tuned....

Review: WTB Course & Byway Aero Gravel Tires - First Impressions

 Note: WTB sent over a pair of the 700 x 50mm Byway tires and a pair of the 700 x 52mm Course tires for test and review. Guitar Ted Productions was neither paid or bribed for this review. All thoughts and opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

Singular Peregrine Mk4 with WTB Course tires

The WTB aero gravel tires are being put to the test here - that is when it isn't raining buckets and lightning outside. Whew! It's been a rough September here so far. 

But be that as it may, I have some impressions of these tires to share so far, So, this post will be about sharing those thoughts. If you missed the technical stats and measurement articles, please go back and read those articles HERE and HERE. 

As a reminder, the two tire sets I received to be reviewed are the 700 X 50mm Byway and the 700 X 52mm Course tires. While getting "real gravel riding" in has been next to impossible, I do have rides on many surfaces including decomposed gravel, dirt, broken pavement, and regular paved streets and bike paths. 

700 x 50mm WTB Byway tires on the BMC MCD

Impressions:

Visually the two models of WTB aero gravel tires look very rounded. I don't think I've run a tire with such a round casing since I had the Challenge Tire Getaway model  on for review back in 2020. 

Rounded off tires seem to be a good idea if you are trying to make things more aero, I would guess. But however this was decided upon at WTB, it does do certain things to handling. Things like less tire hitting the surface you are riding on. There is one other trait here which I will touch upon when I speak to the Byway specifically. For now, I want to focus in on the speed aspect. 

Less tire hitting paved surfaces means a fast roll, and that is great. However; I remember looking at that Challenge Getaway and thinking it was going to act like a prow of a boat and try to push its way through loose gravel instead of rolling up and over the loose rocks. I'm not sure how the WTB tires will hndle this yet. With the 120TPI casings the hope is the tire will be supple enough that it will be like the Getaway and absorb the rocks, go over them, and not plow through them. We shall see. 

The Byway essentially is a slick

Now, getting to the Byway. This tire is essentially a road slick. Sure, there are some tread blocks....kind of, but I'm not leaning over that far to find out whether they will work or not. 

You might think, "Well, air it down and see if you can get tread block engagement that way>" Okay, I did this. First of all, it did not help with traction. The tire is sketchy on anything slick, muddy, or wet. It acts like it looks. I'm not surprised by this at all. 

What I was surprised by was the self-steer in the front and how much drag I was feeling compared to when the tire was at 35psi - 40psi. I was running a little above 20psi, and well, this tire doesn't work well down that low. Not for myself. I'll try something closer to 30psi next time and see if I can find a sweet spot. The point was that the Byway doesn't gain much, if any, traction at lower psi settings. It is just going to act like a slick tire, in my opinion. 

The Course is very happy at 35 psi and rolls fast. The tread on this tire does lend traction and I found going through corners on decomposed gravel, dirt, and even on pavement was fun. 

This tire is also very fast feeling. I've not run the pressures down on this tire yet, and given how the Byway responded to very low pressure, I'll likely stick to something around 30psi for that test. 

I think both tires have a nice, damped ride quality. It isn't super impressive in this regard, but it is very good, I think. 

Both have held air well enough and I see no concerns with that. There has been no signs of casing weep, nothing negative at all in this regard, and I think the short term outlook is great with these tires. Whatever WTB did with materials and construction has been proven to be good....so far. 

In the next post I will have some "real gravel rides" logged in and then we will learn even more about these new tires from WTB. 

Review: WTB Course & Byway Aero Gravel Tires

Note: WTB sent over a pair of the 700 x 50mm Byway tires and a pair of the 700 x 52mm Course tires for test and review. Guitar Ted Productions was neither paid or bribed for this review. All thoughts and opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

The new aerodynamic, wide gravel tires from WTB were introduced last week. If you missed the introduction, you can go back and find it HERE. 

In this article I will break down the Byway and Course tires with impressions, how they mounted up, and I will give weights and measurements as well. 

Side Note: I did not request the widest tire introduced, the Macro, as I did not believe it would fit any of my gravel bikes. (Maybe I should have though. I'll explain later)

Why Aero?

Okay, so "aero gravel tires". What is up with that? In some ways it may seem silly. However; we are seeing wider road tires which take aero into consideration, and gravel tires are even wider. Aerodynamics do come into play and can be leveraged to benefit faster paced gravel riders. Wheels are starting to catch up with all the aero focus as well, so we may well see systemic approaches with tires and wheels mated for best performance attributes soon enough. All this to say that, while you may not care, aero matters. Best get used to it. 

WTB went to Sromm Cycles for research and development on these new gravel tires. They came up with what is called "trip strips" and "vortex generators". These are characteristics molded into the tire casing which break up the air flowing over the tire and which help reduce drag. Drag is bad. Less drag, less work to maintain a speed. (Again- See my introduction piece for details.)  

So, that is one big deal with these new tires, certainly. However; it will be something I will have a hard time demonstrating. It is my belief that this is something you can do only in a wind tunnel where drag and aerodynamic characteristics can be verified. Guitar Ted Productions does not have access to one of these facilities. So...  I'll just be taking Stromm's word on that, and I will focus on ride quality and other aspects of these tires. 

The Course:

This model is the 'all - arounder' in the three tire range. It has a compact pattern of low knobs concentrated on the central portion of the casing. These tread blocks become more sparse and wider spaced as you move to the casings shoulders. The outermost feature on the casing which looks like little "v" shaped tread blocks are actually the vortex generators. 

This tire and the Byway also feature the SG2 bead-to-bead puncture protection belt. Not only does this help prevent punctures and tears, but because the weave of the material is tighter, it also enhances air retention. 

The Byway:

You might recall "Byway" as a model name used by WTB before in its Road Plus line up. This new Byway is only similar in its name. The tread pattern is completely different. Add in the aero features and there is really no comparison to the old Byway. 

This new Byway is the all-out speed tire with minimal tread and a slick center section which would lead one to believe it also has the lowest rolling resistance of the trio of new tires. Like the other tires, the Byway has a 120TPI casing, Dual DNA rubber, and the SG2 belt discussed above. 

The Byway is the narrowest tire at 50mm claimed while the Course is claimed to be a 52mm tire. WTB recommends these be mounted on rims with inner rim widths of 25mm - 30mm. Recommended air pressures range from 25psi to 45psi. Both tires I received have the tan sidewalls, but black sidewalls are also an option. Of course, these are tubeless ready tires and they require sealant to be used tubeless, but you could also run tubes if you so desire. (But this more than likely would not be optimal from a benefit/performance aspect)

It is notable that - for now - there are no other widths available than the ones introduced and there are no 650B sizes available. Also notable: I searched the WTB site to see if these tires are recommended for hookless rims, but I could find no such recommendation on the pages for these models, in the Tire User manuals, or in the Rim User manuals. So....if you have hookless rims, you may want to contact WTB directly to clear this with them. 

Weights, Mounting, First Impressions:

WTB claims the Byway weighs approximately 620 grams. The Course is claimed to weigh approximately 635 grams. My samples weighed as follows: Byway - 592gm/598gm and Course - 634gm/625gm. 

The mounting procedure was a bit of a mixed bag experience. I used the Course on my WTB CGR i23 wheels. Yes.....2mm narrower than recommended. But my reasoning was these are matching brands. So, I went with those. It is a system with both rims and tires coming from WTB. The Byway tires went on a set of Irwin carbon rimmed wheels with an inner rim width of 25mm.  

One of the Course tires went on with no tools, fit snugly, and aired up with my SILCA floor pump without removing the valve core. Nice! However; the next Course tire required much more work. I had to lever the tire on, first of all. There was no way it was going on without a lever. In fact, both Byway tires fit this way as well. Very tight! I did have to use an air compressor on the second Course to seat the tire, but I chalked this up to an older valve stem with average air flow. The Byway tires were set up with Clik Valves and their high-flow stems proved to work great with my Clik Valve converted Topeak Joe Blow floor pump. No need to remove cores or use a compressor there. 

The Course model here.

 I was a bit disappointed in the Course after initial mounting as it only measured out at barely under 50mm at 49.8mm. This was at 40psi. However, after only a few hours it was measuring a little over 51mm and by the next day it was close to 52mm, but not quite there. Okay....I chalk that up to the narrower rims then. But I would not be at all surprised to see the Course stretch that little bit more to reach 52mm after break-in. So far, after a couple of days and some riding, the Course sits a 51.2mm @ 35psi. 

The Byways were very close to 50mm right away and were there by the following day. I'll monitor the widths as things move along during this review. 

Both sets held air very well besides one of the Byway tires.  I am pretty sure I did not get the new Clik Valve tight enough, and since correcting that, the tire pressure retention hasn't been an issue. My past experiences with SG2 equipped WTB tires has shown me that I should expect these to hold air very well.  

As of this writing I have only done a quick, short test loop on each set of tires. I feel a free-rolling characteristic immediately. The Byway test was on a windy day, so I had to throw those results out. However, on my roll-down test with the Course, it was a windless day, and this tire was at the top tier of results, even before the tires have broken in. Impressive! 

The Byway tires side blocks are so far down the shoulders as to be ineffective here. 

I will say both models are very rounded tires. I suppose the Course would be a little more rounded due to the 23mm inner rim width, but even the Byway looks very rounded. Almost a tubular tire look to both of these models. In fact, the way the Byway looks on the rim it is readily apparent the side knobs, what there is of them, are going to be ineffective.  This could be said of the Course model, but again, a wider inner rim width might mitigate what I am seeing with my examples. 

The Course tires are on my Singular Peregrine Mk4, and they fit with room to spare there. The Byways were tried on my Noble GX5, and while they did clear the stays, it was only by a millimeter or maybe less. I did not feel comfortable with running these tires with that little clearance, so I swapped over to the pink Black Mountain Cycles MCD for those tires. I think the Macro, at 700 x 54, might have barely fit the Peregrine, but I won't worry about that now. All this to say that the very rounded profile of these tires on rims widths at the narrower end of the spectrum seem to allow for fit on bikes you might not think these tires would fit. With little tread blocks to worry about, as long as the casing will slide in your bike, these should work out, in dry conditions. I would not peg these tires as wet/mud tires anyway. 

After I get some "real riding" done on both sets I will return with an update. 

Friday News And Views

New WTB Course and Byway aero gravel tires

WTB Course And Byway Review Coming Soon:

The announcement on Wednesday concerning the first ever aero designed gravel tires from WTB leads me into the news that I have a couple sets of these tires to test now. 

I requested the Byway and the Course models because they should both fit bikes I have. At least the appropriate bikes for reviewing such tires. The Macro is a 54mm wide tire, and while I have bikes which will accept such a wide gravel tire, (Fargo, Singular Gryphon), I deemed these bikes not really in the target market for use case. That would probably work if I had a bike capable of handling a tire this wide and was more of a modern take on a gravel bike, such as the one I suggested last weekend here. 

Unfortunately, I do not have 'that bike', so I did not request 'that tire'. 

I should have both tires set up now and the review will commence with a post going up Monday. Look for that to come, if you are curious as to what these tires are all about. 

Thanks to WTB for sending these over for test/review.  

Wheel Building To Commence:

Thanks to my good friend, Ari, I have hand-cut and threaded spokes to get my current wheel build project underway this weekend, (hopefully). I've had the old wheels apart for a while now, but I had to find new spokes and nipples for the switch to Chris King Hubs. 

Searching my stash showed me I had no appropriate spokes. I searched online and wow.... It is hard to find spokes online without paying an arm and a leg. So, I reached out to my friend Ari. He's a mechanic at a shop in the Chicago area. He hand cut and threaded this bundle of spokes and supplied me with nipples to build up the wheels I will eventually put on the Fargo Gen I. 

This project is not a front burner issue for me right now. I have a lot of riding I need to be doing. So, the building of this wheel set may not happen right away. That or I'll get excited about it and build them up this weekend! 

Stay tuned!  

Register For The Last Rodeo!

If you missed the announcement by Iowa Wind and Rock earlier this week, you can catch that HERE. But essentially the event is going to be put on one more time, and then that will be it. 

Well, since that announcement I have had a few communications with the race directors and they wanted me to let you all know that registration for the event will open on November 1st. Registering is free. How this will be accomplished will be disseminated by Iowa Wind and Rock on their website. 

Check there for details on this last chance at the most unique gravel event in the world. 
 

25 Year Anniversary of 9 - 11:

Twenty five years ago you had never heard of me and I was wrenching on cars in an independent car repair shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa. On the morning of September 11th, 2001, our receptionist came in the shop where I was doing an oil change on a car and said something about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. 

The rest of that day was awful. 

No need to recap the repercussions of that day, but I did want to mark this anniversary of an important US history event and say that my prayers today will include those who were most affected by this tragedy and are still grieving. 

Also I want to give my thanks to all the first responders who serve us today. Thank you for what you do. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions. Have a great weekend and get out and ride those bicycles.