sloar 

I have a 2018 Marin Four Corner, the tires are WTB Resolute 42's. I mainly ride on chip seal country roads and the knobby 42's just seem to slow. I want to keep some width to the tires but something more for long distant road rides and still have my fast days.. Not sure whats out there and also not sure of a good width. I'm coming from a long history of 23's on steel race bikes. thanks

ThermionicScott 

I'm partial to Compass/Rene Herse tires these days. They have file tread options in 38mm or 42mm that roll really nicely. If you're on 700C, you can go skinnier, but I don't see the point below 32mm.

antimonysarah

And if you want cheaper than Compass/Rene Herse, the slick GravelKings in 38mm are nice. (Note: 38mm is the one width where there's both a knobby and a slick GravelKing, make sure if ordering them online that you're getting the right one.)

unterhausen

I run the gravelking slick in 32mm and it's a nice tire.

rhm

I'd get the fattest Compass tire the bike will fit.

hilltowner

+1

unterhausen

I was thinking about getting some Rene Herse EL tires for PBP. But I just bought some new GravelKings, so we'll see.

bwilli88 

I ride Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour 700c x 42mm on my Centurion Pro Tour. They do not go flat.

DrIsotope

Specialized Sawtooth maybe?

AaronWallace

Very partial to Challenge Strada Bianca 36mm 700c tires on my adventure, urban bike. Love the Paris - Roubaix 27mm 700c also by Challenge on my road bike. If I ever end up with wider Clearance Totally going to Compass.

unterhausen

iTrod told me the 600k has long stretches of sometimes soggy gravel, so I'm seriously thinking about putting faster tires on my gravel bike that takes 38mm tires. Might go with tubeless gravelkings.

Richard Cranium

Assuming you have a rim that can handle the stress - go get a 1.5 inch tire with a continuous center-tread pattern, a heavy duty tube, some beefy new rim tape and pump the sucker up to 100psi. (for the back wheel)

Use the same thing up front with a lighter tube and less pressure.

unterhausen

I ended up getting a pair of Maxxis Velocita 700x40mm. The entire country is out of Gravelking slicks in 38mm. Actually, all sizes. They are coming out with GK+, so I guess that's why. But having a product switchover in May is a bad idea.

The Maxxis seem nice, they were floppy enough that it was a pain to set them up tubeless, but I finally got them to seat. They have a tread, but it's very minimal. Got to go put some sealant in them and make a front rack for the gravel bike and I'm set.

On edit: looks like my taping job on the front wheel is leaky, so I'm going to run a tube up front. Turns out I had a rack mostly made for this bike, so I just have to finish it today.

sloar 

I was undecided until today when my favorite bike shop owner sold me some Compass 38’s at a big discount.

unterhausen

that's nice. Talking the LBS into being a Rene Herse dealer is on my todo list

clasher

I've had good luck with the compass/rh 38mm tires.

justinsdrake

I love my gravelking 35s. They are great on gravel and also feel ok on road. On old beat up and patched road I don't think there is anything better.

Gconan

Are people running the compass tires tubeless or tubed?

hilltowner

Tubed. Though tubeless might have been better when I ran into the goat head thorns.

joewein

I had set up Compass Babyshoe Pass tubeless before the latest tubeless-approved version (BSP TC) came out because others had said it worked for them. I was prompted by a puncture less than an hour before the end of a 400 km brevet that almost caused me to DNF.

The tubeless conversion turned out not to be a good idea. Even with sealant the tires were bleeding air though the sidewalls. I eventually went back to BSP EL tires and Schwalbe tubes.

No doubt the latest tubeless-compatible models will work better, but I still will not switch back to tubeless: The hassle of topping up sealant once a month is not worth it considering I went for 22 and then 16 months without punctures after that initial one.

With tubeless I would still have to carry spare tubes in case the sealant doesn't fix a major puncture. I also had issues with sealant clogging the tubeless valves, which made reinflating quickly for a tire change near impossible. I would have needed fresh valves. To me (on the roads I ride on) there was more downside than upside to tubeless. YMMV!

kingston 

On the brevets I ride most people still run tubes for exactly the reasons @joewein describes.

unterhausen

I was a little surprised at how leaky many tubeless mtb tires are. Supple tires like Rene Herse sells must be worse. And Jan Heine has addressed that. My reading was that he doesn't really recommend tubeless.

I have been riding tubeless. I had a couple of slow leaks earlier this year, and it was really annoying. Going from riding with a crowd to DFL is no fun because you pick up a piece of glass or a sliver of wire. I wish I could go tubeless on my other bike, but I haven't had the opportunity yet. I know people that put sealant in their tubes, but that is somewhat less effective. I might start doing that though

atwl77

I'm surprised at this as well. The general consensus (well, at least that of my local cycling scene) is that tubeless still isn't quite as reliable for high pressure road tires, but on lower pressure like mtb tires, they should work well.

unterhausen

Just to be more specific, it's not so much of a problem while riding, but overnight it can be annoying.
There are very few holdouts on mtb, but there are some tires that leak sealant out the sidewalls. I'm pretty sure that a friend had problems with some Schwalbe mtb tires. Pretty much just have to keep feeding sealant until it stops