curttard

Hi, I am looking for comments from anyone who has ridden two or more of Gravelking, Gravelking SK, and Schwalbe G-One All Around in the same tire widths. Looking for comparisons of feel and performance on pavement, dirt, gravel, and mud.

Most of my riding is pavement, but I like to have the option of going off-road. I've done singletrack with 35mm G-One and 38mm Gravelking but am thinking of bumping up to 40-42mm. I am still using tubes.

shoota 

Search the forums, there's a lot of info on this already. And the difference between a 38mm GK and a 40mm is... 2mm. You won't notice the difference.

curttard

I'm leaning toward 42mm, that would be a 17%+ difference in volume. Currently have 6mm clearance per side at all points with the 38s on.

DrIsotope

Gravelking SK doesn't come in 40mm. Though the 38mm does mount to around 40mm, usually. Meanwhile, the 700x43 mounts true to width, so only ~3mm wider than the 38. But the casing on the 43 has two more rows of tread than the 38mm-- 5 vs 3-- and that makes a significant difference.

I run a 43 in the front and a 38 in the rear due to frame clearances. I don't hesitate to recommend the 43s. Plush.

TimothyH

I have ridden Gravelking SK and G-One Allaround in both 35's and38's.

All inflate larger than the label - 35's to about 38 and 38's to about 41. The Panaracers are natural rubber and take a day or two to stretch out.

I have not ridden the non-SK version of the Gravelking.

There is no question that the Scwalbe G-One is a superior tire for the road. It rides like a light, supple, high thread count road tire. It is fast on hardpack and smooth trails. It shows its weakness when climbing steep grades on loose surfaces when the rear will sometimes slip. Traction in noticeably less than the Gravelking SK in sand and wet conditions. If you are happy with the narrower G-Ones then you will be happy with the wider one's as well. They will give a little extra security on loose stuff with a little penalty on weigh but they will have the same general feel. The wider version will be a little slower to spin up, that's all.

Many say that the Panaracer is a fast road tire but it is more sluggish than the Scwalbe. It isn't slow on pavement compared to some tires but it isn't as fast as the Scwalbe. Not once has it let me down on dirt however. It isn't as fast as the Scwalbe on hardpack but it refuses to slide or slip on gravel and handles wet conditions much better. This tire is great on twisty dirt road descents in the North Georgia mountains. If you move to the Gravelkiing SK you will notice the slower performance on pavement immediately. You will also appreciate the extra traction in true gravel and loose stuff, especially when descending fast.

Having come from a roadie background I preferred the Scwalbe initially. As I've learned to ride gravel better I've come to appreciate the extra traction of the Gravelking SK and learned to trust them more when pushing the limits on gravel and dirt.

Keep in mind that the Schwalbe G-One's don't play well with all rims, especially Stans Grail and American Classic. The wider ones are especially problematic.

https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocros...ternative.html

It took me a while to determine why G-One's were blowing off the rim and that thread documents the process of figuring it all out. Guitar Ted explains it well here.

Bottom line: Scwalbe G-One Allaround for road and fast hardpack. Panaracer Gravelking SK for looser conditions and true gravel at the limits. If you have the budget then try both. Either are great tires.


-Tim-

MPE

TimothyH

This is a great point and I keep forgetting that I want to get a wider tire for the front.

redlude97

I can't do a direct comparison, but the gravelking non sk is the fastest rolling "gravel" tire I've tried on pavement. My usual go to gravel tire is the clement MSO in 36 or 40 which provide better grip in the dirt and single track but suck in the mud(which i expect the GKs to as well). Both give up a lot to a true treaded tire even if its narrower at normal 33mm CX widths.

shoota 

Yeah these are definitely not made for mud. The small knobs pack up quickly.

curttard

Thanks for all the observations. Unfortunately it turns out the only one of these that is available in any size over 38 is the SK, which since it sounds like it is noticeably slower on pavement, is out of the running. So I guess I'll just stick with my 38 GKs and when those wear out, try the 38mm G-Ones. Bummer, I was looking forward to trying a fast 42.

DrIsotope

Despite the name similarity, you can't really compare the Gravelking to the Gravelking SK. They are radically different. The non-SK on anything but pavement/hardpack is sketch city.

But if you're okay with a file-tread (basically slick) the Maxxis ReFuse comes in a 700x40, and is remarkably similar in "tread" to the non-SK Gravelking.

My for-the-foreseeable-future "do it all" tire is the Hutchinson Overide. They are, in my experience, overly capable. I ride them in conditions I have no business riding them in. My SKs are going to get sidewall rot before I wear the tread out, because the Overides are just so good.

redlude97

Isn't the maxxis much stiffer than the gravelking slick though?

TimothyH

Noticeably slower is relative. I still ride 21 MPH on the road with the Panaracer Gravelking SK.

The G-One is a supple, fast tire on the road though. You are going to love them, if they stay on your rims.

redlude97

Probably not at the same power output though. It takes ~25w more power to hold the same speed on the mso on pavement compared to the gravelking filetread as measured by my powermeter on the same segment

RJM

What about Compass tires? Those things are fast on the road and you can certainly get a wide one...many are tubeless now too.

I got Compass Antelope Hill tires on one of my mtbs turned gravel bike and they are doing great...comfy and fast too.

redlude97

How do they hold up? that is a good option, and made by panaracer as well. I have friends who use them touring but say the sidewalls are pretty weak and don't hold up to the rough stuff

RJM

I haven't had any issues and they have been holding up great, but I didn't buy the superlite ones, just the regular tan walls and they are setup tubeless. The only issue I've had is when I get out of the saddle to climb up a hill and they slip out. That's more of a function of them not having any knobs though. I have them mounted on some Bontrager racelite wheels and the tubeless setup was super simple.

unterhausen

I didn't do any resistance testing, but I think the Gravelking SK on the road rolls out just fine. I have gravelking slicks on my road bike, and I wore through the tread relatively quickly. I don't really track my mileage, but if I had over 2000 miles on them before there was casing showing through I would be surprised. I don't think they would last long at all on gravel, unless you have very smooth gravel roads with no actual gravel on them. I'm a big fan of the SK's for gravel though.

I like the gravelking slicks, but the wear is making me think about getting some Compass tires for the road.

chas58

I'm thinking you are referring to not paved wet sections? They have insane amount of traction in the wet (and surprisingly impressive in snow). But off road they are more like a slick when it is wet (grass, dirt, mud, etc is pretty tricky). I use them as my winter/spring tire (Thanks!!!)

I ride 28mm on the front on the road, and up to 54mm on the front when I really need a big tire. The 54mm (Thunder Burt) really makes the bike feel like a mounain bike, adds more traction, increases trail, adds to stability, slows down the steering, adds a lot more cushion (low 20's psi), and a makes soft sand much more rideable.

It also accelerates like a mountain bike (i.e. slowly with effort) and has a bit of a gyroscopic effect. It tends to slow everything down, which is good for gravel.

HTupolev

The sidewalls are very thin, consisting of basically nothing but the casing fabric and enough rubber to protect it from the elements.

Whether this is a problem depends on how much the sidewalls are getting exposed to the riding surface. Narrower tires tend to experience more sidewall exposure than wider tires, both because the sidewall is closer to the ground on a smaller tire, and because narrower tires need to get pumped to more extreme drop in order to achieve a given amount of compliance or float.
My recommendation would be, if you're going to use an unprotected tire like a Compass, don't err narrow. So far, I've never experienced any sidewall damage on my Rat Trap Pass Extralights, but at 53mm they're obviously a pretty big tire.

redlude97

Yea, I'm looking at the snoq pass 44s since I think I can just manage to wedge those into my frame that fits 40c semiknobbies since the panaracer gravelkings only go up to 38.

Witterings

Reviving a slightly older thread and people may no longer be subscribed to it but hopefully ..... when you say the extra 2 rows of tread make a significant difference do you mean in terms of grip in more slippery conditions or drag on the road .... or both??

My 38's I measured and they are actually 38 so maybe it depends on your rims.

DrIsotope

In terms of grip and "float." Up front, the 35s and 38s tended to want to cut in when the going got really smooshy. The 43 inspires a lot more confidence.

Dragwise, I don't think the 43 is much worse than the other widths. The GK SKs are basically plows compared to a road tire or even a happy-medium style tire (like my Overides.)

Mounted width is absolutely dependent on rim width. I mount my GKs on a mixed set of Crank Brothers wheels, an Iodine and a Cobalt-- which are different widths, which is why (I think) the 43 mounts to 43 but the 38 mounts to 40.

I just know for absolute certain that I can't fit bigger than 40 wide in the back-- I've got ~2mm on either side of the tire, and the chainstays have the mud scrapes to remind me.

mstateglfr 

Hey hey- Timmy is referencing Guitar Ted! Its been a long road to get here, but glad you made it.

Witterings

@DrIsotope ..... cheers for that and a very quick response

I've literally only just got my 1st gravel bike and went with the GK SK 38's on it as a happy medium and what I knew the bike would easily have clearance for, I've been out on it a couple of times and I actually think they're good and whilst our main mileage is road we do go over a reasonable amount of gravel and can't avoid 2 stretches of mud.
I've now measured the clearance and was wondering if the 43's may be that much better for the winter without much penalty on the road and then back to the 38's in the summer ... although I ran my 29er with Vittoria Voyager Hypers throughout the summer which are pretty much slicks.

Funnily enough the other tyre I was looking at was the Overides as an alternative but thought they may not cope with mud at all and don't seem to have much puncture protection but most of the reviews suggest they're great in the dryer periods and very quick on the road but not great for areas with lots of thorns.

The one other tyre a friend had on a hybrid recently and seems to get no press at all is the Specialized Crossroads, the minute we were on tarmac they semed incredibly quick and are also available in their Armadillo version which I believe is pretty bullet proof .... only thing they seem to have against them is the weight.

Always the holy grail isn't it of fast on road, grippy off and handle a bit of mud when needed whilst enough volume to give a cushy ride and not create any drag ... design that you'll be worth a fortune