Old 01-06-20, 11:04 PM
  #7  
KC8QVO
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

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I rode a couple thousand miles on Continental Tour Ride tries, 700cx42mm's. They have a 26" version also.

Those couple thousand miles were on about 50-66% crushed gravel trail. I upgraded to those from 38mm Continental tires, I forget what model they are - were stock on my Disk Trucker.

What I ran in to was in the in-between seasons around Fall and Spring where it was freezing at night and sunny above freezing during the day is with moisture in the gravel the surface would start out frozen in the morning then as the day progressed the surface would thaw creating a soft mush on top. My tires would sink in to that and I would drastically slow down because of the "rolling resistance" (I quote that because rolling resistance isn't accurate - displacing the mush was force away from keeping moving, but not really resistance because the tires weren't rolling over it they were pushing through it). The wider tires had a bigger foot print lowering the ground pressure.

However, in practice there was only a slight improvement from the 38mm's to 42mm's. To really gain an advantage I would need to get to the 2"+ wide range I'd say. The 42mm tires were about as wide as I could go on the bike with fenders. They did have a 45mm wide version, if I recall correctly, but I was ordering them and didn't want to run in to the 45's rubbing so I opted for the 42's.

I don't have the 42's on now as I drove over the front wheel in the garage squeezing my truck in too close to the bike. When I rebuilt the wheel I put the stock tires back on and have rode them ever since.

I will say - I like the ride of the 42mm's better. I could run them at lower pressure and it was a more comfortable ride for me. So that alone makes the size worth it, then the extra bonus of the flotation (very small improvement) is good.

The OP mentioned "knobby" tires. When I got the Cont Tour Ride's I thought the same - I wanted a more aggressive tread than road tires for the gravel. The Cont Tour Ride's performed very well in that department - very well. The solid center tread made the ride on pavement very smooth, kept the rolling resistance down (higher pressure = lower resistance, but harsher ride) and the tread did not wear as fast as knobbys or any other broken up/more aggressive tread pattern.

My thoughts are to gauge the tire width for the floatation you desire and stick to an overall less aggressive tread (IE - stay away from knobbys and keep to the trekking/touring style treads, but not totally street treads). For hard packed gravel I wouldn't go any narrower than 1.75" (44-45mm), you can get by with less but this would be even more versatile than the 42mm's I referenced. 2" (~51mm) would be better. The wider you go the softer the ride and the more floatation you can get - just tune the pressure accordingly and don't go too low on pressure (you risk damaging the rim and tire).
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