Selecting the Perfect Gravel Tire

The cycling industry has seen a large shift in the last couple of years towards the focus on how tires affect the success in an event. This is largely thanks to the sport of gravel racing, and specifically figures like Dylan Johnson, and the website bicyclerollingresistance.com. And for good reasons too. Tires can have the biggest affect on the feel, performance, and enjoyment you get from your bike. Here at Defender bikes, we believe tires are just like clothing, not one tire is bad, its about picking the right product for the day. We broke down how we choose tires for racing and general training below.

1. Define the purpose of the tire.

This should be your guiding light. Decide what matter the most to you when picking a tire. Are you picking a tire for training? If so, then maybe weight, suppleness and speed do not matter as much as puncture protection, grip and reliability. As a rule of thumb, break it down into three categories, performance, durability, cost. You can usually only have two, cost being the limiting factor to having all three.

2. Where will you be riding?

This is just as important as the purpose of the tire. A durable tire to one person may be a sliced sidewall waiting to happen to another person. For example, here in Pennsylvania we have some pretty sharp coal-like gravel roads. These roads are pretty chunky, so I mainly worry about the casing protection, and the width of the tire. I currently would not recommend anything less than a 43mm tire for where I live due to the level of chunkiness in our gravel. However, in the southeast where gravel can be red clay or dirt, you could get away with a 40mm tire or a little less depending on the course. I would personally always run a tire of at least 42mm, because I like the added grip and comfort.

3. What do you want to optimize for?

If you are racing, this is down to the strategy of how you want to tackle the race. If you are naturally a more gifted rider aerobically, but struggle with technical features, you may opt for a little more of an aggressive tread pattern at the risk of higher weights. Conversely you may want to go all in for speed, go for the early break or drop everyone on the climb, and try and make it through the technical sections and not lose any time.

If you are not racing, and just wanting to enjoy the ride, it matters more about where you like to ride. Are you always climbing, and never trying to beat a downhill KOM on Strava? Well, a lighter faster rolling tire may feel better to you. The opposite is of course also true. If you love finding the gnarliest gravel-passable roads, reaching for a burlier tire like a Trek Betasso 50mm or mountain bike tire may suit you best. A good way to gauge this is to look back on your past rides on Strava. Are you always riding in a specific national forest or sections of roads? Think about this when selecting a tire.

Ultimately cost comes into effect as well, however if there is one place you really should not skimp out on, it is your tires and sealant. No one likes to flat or constantly hesitating on descents due to not trusting your equipment. You can easily save upwards of 10 watts per tire just from tire choice, so it also is a great bang for buck performance enhancement.

Feel free to reach out if you are stuck on what tires to choose for your next gravel event!