while we’re talking tires…good compromise between gravel and slick?

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

I just got done with a set of Maxxis Ramblers size 40. Almost exactly 4000 miles on em, probably not more than 200 miles of which was on gravel trails (lol sorry)
They are tubeless ready tires but the bike came with tubes installed so I rolled with it that way.
Tread on them still LOOKS fine and I quite liked their feel on and off the street, no problem keeping up with road bikes despite being noisy, but I got a flat every 500 miles or so from pretty rinky-dink road debris like miniscule shards of glass or mystery causes.

I got tired of the regular flats so today I’m moving on to tubeless Donnellys after Bill recommended them. I’ll review them after another 4000 miles or so?

*Edit Just after riding the Donnelly ush tires home on the roads I can feel a big difference in how stayed and comfy these tires are over the ramblers, like getting out of a jeep and into a land rover. I like it.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 179448 wrote:

It’s so odd to me that you guys have had problems with the G-Ones. Still by far my favorite serious gravel tire, though I am gonna try some Donnelly Strada USHs or similar for additional perspective now that they make their tires tubeless in larger sizes.

But I have had zero flats on G-One tires and that includes 4 or 5 gravel races in addition to a fair number of single-track miles. This is the larger (700×38/40-622) size and always tubeless. These tires are super easy to setup tubeless. Anecdotally it does seem that Schwalbe tires can be tricky to snap beads onto rim shoulders when using tubes; they fit pretty snug. You can get a bead seater tool (or probably diy one) or maybe use furniture polish or similar lubricant. I just run them tubeless.

I’m sure now I’ll get a bunch of flats on these, but until then this still my unrivaled havier-duty off-road gravel tire (as opposed to Compass tires that are my favorite lighter-duty and large-volume pavement tire).

I thought I posted this, but I actually ended up sticking with the G-Ones. After I had that series of problems, I was going to go back to my Clements. But this was during that insane cold snap this winter and I had trouble getting the Clements to seat, but after fussing with both pairs, the G-Ones did seat and the last puncture I’d gotten ended up staying sealed, so I decided to just not mess with them anymore. I also had one spare, so I figured I’d just keep them on until I used the spare…but I haven’t had a problem since then, which makes me happy because I really do like them quite a bit better than the Clements.

[Sunyata]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 179474 wrote:

I just got done with a set of Maxxis Ramblers size 40. Almost exactly 4000 miles on em, probably not more than 200 miles of which was on gravel trails (lol sorry)
They are tubeless ready tires but the bike came with tubes installed so I rolled with it that way.
Tread on them still LOOKS fine and I quite liked their feel on and off the street, no problem keeping up with road bikes despite being noisy, but I got a flat every 500 miles or so from pretty rinky-dink road debris like miniscule shards of glass or mystery causes.

I got tired of the regular flats so today I’m moving on to tubeless Donnellys after Bill recommended them. I’ll review them after another 4000 miles or so?

*Edit Just after riding the Donnelly ush tires home on the roads I can feel a big difference in how stayed and comfy these tires are over the ramblers, like getting out of a jeep and into a land rover. I like it.

Interesting. I have been riding Ramblers for the past three-ish years and have only had two flats (three if you could the time that my old sealant gave out and the hole unplugged and would not stay plugged). Both flats were totally my fault, not the tires (remember, Casey, 40mm tires are NOT mountain bike tires…). Granted, I run them tubeless. After DK200 this year, I actually looked closely at the tires and I can actually see a few nicks on the tires from the flint, but the sealant did its job and I never even noticed. (HUGE thanks to Dirt for the suggestion of ditching Stan’s and running Finish Line sealant… Latex free and works like a charm!)

I will probably stick with the Ramblers on my gravel bike since I have had such great luck with them. Plus, the tread is pretty darn perfect for the gravel riding that I do. If I rode that bike more on pavement, I would want something with a lower rolling resistance, though. They do kind of suck the life out of you on pavement, although that might have more to do with the pavement than the tires?

Maxxis has come out with a new file tread type tire that is 40mm: the Re-fuse. I would not mind getting a set of those to try out. If anything they might make riding on pavement a bit more tolerable (but probably not).

[huskerdont]

Only had them about 6 months and don’t ride the gravel bike as often as I’d like so maybe only a coupla hundred miles on them, but I’m really liking the Continental Cyclocross Speed clincher 35s. The file tread just rolls so much better on the pavement than the knobbies that were on before. I may try to leave these on next winter and see how they do in the snow rather than immediately switching back.

[hozn]

The real benefit to the G-One is the pavement performance. If I was riding 100% gravel, I would go for a knobbier tire (probably the Rambler, actually). But I always end up with a fair bit of pavement on gravel rides, and the G-One makes that fun. I wonder how they compare to the Strada USH.

Not as nice as the Compass tires, though. Those are so fast on pavement but don’t have much traction on gravel. Today I climbed a small mountain with Compass that had a few sections of gravel; steep climbs on loose gravel don’t pair well with Compass but it worked out ok. They are still easily my favorite “pavement plus” tire.

The only caveat to the Finish Line stuff is — reportedly — it won’t seal up porous sidewalls. So probably not a good choice for some tires (e.g. Compass). Apparently you can also get it much cheaper when sold as a sealant for auto/motorsport use on (e.g.) Amazon. There are MTBR threads. I am intrigued to try this out on my road tires.

[Sunyata]

@hozn 179493 wrote:

The only caveat to the Finish Line stuff is — reportedly — it won’t seal up porous sidewalls. So probably not a good choice for some tires (e.g. Compass).

I will let you know shortly. Once I actually buy that El Mar from Jan, I will need to swap out the tires (since the are 2.2’s and I want 2.4’s) and will use Finish Line on them. They are Nobby Nics, so notorious for their porous sidewalls.

[Tania]

@Sunyata 179552 wrote:

They are Nobby Nics, so notorious for their porous sidewalls.

Did someone say porous?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18132[/ATTACH]

[josh]

Still haven’t actually ridden them, but hozn’s old wheels with Compass tires are finally on the bike. Can’t say much other than that they look good right now, and I’ve learned how to do a little bit more bike maintenance type stuff. I did cause a leak dropping a wrench adjusting the front brake, but pumped it up, plugged the leak with my thumb like a little Dutch boy, and ten seconds later it seemed to have fixed itself. Definitely a little worried what that says about the sidewalls.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18133[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18134[/ATTACH]

[hozn]

@josh 179573 wrote:

Still haven’t actually ridden them, but hozn’s old wheels with Compass tires are finally on the bike. Can’t say much other than that they look good right now, and I’ve learned how to do a little bit more bike maintenance type stuff. I did cause a leak dropping a wrench adjusting the front brake, but pumped it up, plugged the leak with my thumb like a little Dutch boy, and ten seconds later it seemed to have fixed itself. Definitely a little worried what that says about the sidewalls.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18133[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18134[/ATTACH]

Yeah, they aren’t very thick, though that hasn’t been a problem for me in practice riding. (Similarly, I had a thorn that punctured the sidewall but then sealed up and was no further problem.).

Those tires work well tubeless on those rims (which are a bit tight with other tires). I’m having a real struggle getting Compass tires to re-seat tubeless on my carbon rims, so I am slumming with tubes in those same tires right now. I’ll try another couple tricks to get my Snoqualmie Pass tires to seat. They are just crazy loose ony rims.

I am resisting getting a compressor. I feel strongly that it shouldn’t be needed. But I like the Compass tires enough to consider it.

[huskerdont]

Admittedly this is tangentially related to original post, but tubeless has been discussed. When I built up my current mountain bike, money was tighter and I put Mavic Crossrides on it b/c I could get them for a steal. They are narrow (21 mm), which I believe contributes to excess bounciness that varying air pressure doesn’t seem to help. So, I’m ready to replace them, and I’m thinking about going tubeless. I’ve read so many comments about tubeless being great for mountain biking since you rarely get flats, but making the jump does make me nervous. Should I do it? Any thoughts on a bombproof, disc-compatible 27.5 wheel/tire combo for a Soma B-side? I have Panaracer Fires on it that I’m pretty sure aren’t tubeless compatible (from 2013), but they sell them tubeless now so would likely lean toward those.

[Tania]

I’m a tubeless fan. My mountain bikes are all tubeless and my cx bike is tubeless.

Downside – and this is a bit of a big one for me – it’s messy so that means I’m more reticent to swap tires based on need and I need (want) to swap tires pretty often on my gravel bike and cx bikes. I’m learning to live with it – my cx bike has megabites on them right now and I refuse to race cx in the mud so these are fine I guess. I just don’t like not being able to swap out on a whim. My tire pile calls to me.

I could set up my commuter tubeless once it comes off the trainer. But I’ve never (yet) had a flat on it and I don’t need to run it at lower pressures so the mess-to-benefit ratio for me currently is low. So maybe. My gravel bike should be tubeless too I guess but again I’ve never flatted, my Rock and Roads (favorite tire of all time) aren’t technically tubeless compatible and I’m slowly finding that I don’t need lower pressure to feel comfortable on gravel or singletrack.

I guess it’s worth if you flat a lot. I don’t (I’m not very big).

OK, so maybe I’m not really a tubeless fan. It has its application but I don’t feel it’s required in all situations. My $0.02.

[bentbike33]

@Tania 182525 wrote:

Downside – and this is a bit of a big one for me – it’s messy so that means I’m more reticent to swap tires based on need and I need (want) to swap tires pretty often on my gravel bike and cx bikes. I’m learning to live with it – my cx bike has megabites on them right now and I refuse to race cx in the mud so these are fine I guess. I just don’t like not being able to swap out on a whim. My tire pile calls to me.

Sounds like you don’t have enough wheel sets. Is there an equation for the optimum number of wheel sets one should have as a function of the number of bikes one has?

[Tania]

@bentbike33 182526 wrote:

Sounds like you don’t have enough wheel sets. Is there an equation for the optimum number of wheel sets one should have as a function of the number of bikes one has?

Generally, my wheel builds cost almost as much as my frames…:cool:

But I see your point. 😮

[huskerdont]

Do you happen to remember the model of those bomber crabon wheels that came stock on your trail bike and the mech said a mere 4 spokes breaking wouldn’t be an issue for those wheels at all? Because I like the sound of that.

The mess of tubeless is one of the issues, but I think for MTB might be worth it, and of course I’ll still have my old wheels so will have two sets.

[Tania]

@huskerdont 182528 wrote:

Do you happen to remember the model of those bomber crabon wheels that came stock on your trail bike and the mech said a mere 4 spokes breaking wouldn’t be an issue for those wheels at all? Because I like the sound of that.

The mess of tubeless is one of the issues, but I think for MTB might be worth it, and of course I’ll still have my old wheels so will have two sets.

https://www.wtb.com/products/ci31-carbon-rims – sold out now but they seem to have been $599/rim? Which for carbon I guess isn’t too bad.

My spoke is still bent from that big stick I caught. Wheel still seems fine!

[Author]

Posts