pbass

Currently running ByWays and have been wanting a bit more bite for where I ride in SoCal, about 70/30 dirt/road (crappy roads too mostly. It's all dry, loose over hard, steep, rocky, rutted out, just plain gnarly here. At first I was really wowed by the ByWays but now I want to go with more tread. The Ventures look really cool, but I just wonder--would it be that big of a difference from the ByWays? That center tread looks really low-profile and tight. I know with the Senderos I'd pay the price on the road for all those big knobs, but considering my ratio of dirt to road, I'm contemplating it. Plus, speed is not a big concern of mine. I'm so slow wherever I ride it's just not really a factor for me.
Any 2 cents welcome!

FlashBazbo

I don't have much to contribute except to say that the Venture 47's are actually manufactured to be 44mm wide. That's what's embossed on the sidewall and that's what they measure on a 21mm inside width wheel. So, if your wheels aren't wider than 21mm and you want/need 47mm, the "47mm" Ventures won't work for you. I'm curious, what size does the embossing on the sidewall of the Byways indicate?

gravelED

I ran the Byways for a while, but also wanted more traction. I went with the Panaracer Gravel King SK 650bx48. I also run the same tire in 700x43. The 700's feel a lot faster on both road and dirt. Both have way more traction than the Byways.

tayguer

I went through a similar dilemma when switching out my Horizons. So-Cal trails are a mess. Senderos were too knobby for me, and I couldn't find much first hand information on the Ventures (seems they run smaller?). I wish the Resolute or Riddler was available in true road plus size, as I loved my Riddlers in 700x45. I just ended up going with Byways, which coming from Horizons, offered some improvement. Unfortunately not much help for you though hah.

Elvo

Gravelking 48s

trailangel

If you were riding 70 asphalt and 30 dirt, Byways would be good.
But you say you are 30 asphalt and 70 dirt... GK or Ventures.
I gotta agree about our roads..... hard packed adobe clay with loose sand, then some ruts filled with sand, then some fist sized crushed rocks, then you hit some complete sand for a few feet.
We don't have groomed gravel roads here.... just messed up fire roads.

XC MTB tires work good.

pbass

Interesting. The ByWays say "47/43" on them. I'm a noob, not sure what that actually means. My wheels (WTB ASYM i23p) have an inner rim width of 23c, so it sounds at least like the Ventures would work.

pbass

Looking at the Gravelking 48s--was not hip to those before (thought they were only in 700c). This might be the ticket. Way cheaper than the Ventures as well.

pbass

You've just described pretty much every single ride I go on

gus6464

I got rid of my Byways pretty quickly here in SoCal as traction is absolutely non-existant. I would definitely go knobbier. Right now I am running 700x40 rambler in the rear and 650x2.1 thunder burt in the front and the ramblers have really great rear traction without the huge knobs although once I hit the sandy spots that are everywhere traction is gone.

ericzamora

I was planning on getting the Ventures but i ordered my new 650b Kinlin wheels too early, and didn't want to wait 2 months before they were released, so I went with Teravail Cannonball 650b x 47 light and supple tires. They measure 47 outerwall to outerwall, about 48 outer knob to outer knob, on the 23c inner width Kinlins. Oh, and i run them tubeless, 35/38psi.

My model is the last listed in the dropdown menu:
https://teravail.com/tires/cannonball#TR7268

I have no complaints with them, i love how they look too. and i ride maybe 60/40 pavement/gravel in central california, foothill elevations so lots of dry dusty stuff. since my interest is how slightly bigger knobs may perform, when they wear out, i may try the Ventures. Or see what's available at that time. I may have a year or more to go with the frequency i ride.

eric/fresno, ca.

pbass

Thanks for all the input folks. Looking back I realize I posted about this before, so sorry for the redundancy. I'm springing for new tires next week though, so I'm finally about to act on it. Toss up right now between the Ventures (maybe not enough grip in the center? That tread just looks minimal to me), the GKs (I hear they don't grip well cornering due to the side tread pattern?), and at the extreme end of the spectrum, the Senderos (probably overkill, but I'm still tempted.......)

gus6464

You are going to hate the GK's for dirt cornering where we live. Go for something with a little more bite on side tread.