rozman

I'm looking for some 'off road' tires for my road bike. The max width that will fit is 25mm.
Mostly for packed/light gravel trails. I'm currently using Conti 4000 road tires in the dirt (for the mixed road+gravel that I ride), but a tire with some (small) knobbiness would be better..
Any suggestions?

Barrettscv 

I have found the Michelin PRO 4 Endurace to be a really tough tire. Tougher than the Continental Gatorskin but with a softer compound that proves more grip than the super-durable Gatorskin compound.

rosefarts

At that size, don't worry about knobbies. File tread is the most you can hope for.

Puncture resistance would be nice.

Can you get 650b wheels with long reach brakes? Might get you above 30. Might also cost more than what you're riding is worth.

tyrion

Gravelking SKs (non-tubeless version) come in 700x26.

tangerineowl

IRC has a couple of Marbella options. 26mm? and 28mm.

A couple of reviews mentioned the non-tubeless? option came up somewhat narrower than advertised.

Laseranimal

Vittoria Corsa Control perhaps?

Dino_Sore

The Gravel King and Gravel King Plus (non-tubeless) also come in 26mm. These have a barely noticeable file tread. I had a pair of the GK 26mm on my road bike as a winter tire, and they measured 25mm on old-school road rims (15mm inner width, I think). They worked well on maintained gravel roads and even held up on more nasty stuff so long as I was careful with speed. As noted above, the SKs come in 26mm but you might have more of a fit issue because of the knobs. But, it's always hard to predict the actual width you will get on your rims.

shoota 

There's no such thing as a "25mm gravel tire", that's simply too narrow. Panaracer used to make a 26mm SK but then they figured out that made no sense.

DeadGrandpa

I'm prejudiced in this area. There's gravel and then there's gravel tires. On civilized, manicured and consistently sized gravel, I wouldn't want less than 35mm width. With more variation in the size of the gravel, including almost tennis ball size chunks, or grapefruit size stones half buried in the road surface, wider is better, and my 29x3 Chupas are the best answer for me. Whatever width, pressure is very important. Roll tubeless and lower pressure for great cornering and climbing on gravel. I don't see how you could enjoy it on 28mm tires.

My GF has a road bike that accepts up to 700x28mm tires. When we ride gravel, she takes her other bike, sporting 27.5 x 2.1 tires. I think this is the correct strategy.

Koyote

A bike that takes a max 25mm tire is not a good choice for “off road” riding. In fact, such a bike is literally called a “road bike.”

Caliper

I've gotta agree with this. In fact, 25mm tires aren't suited for some roads I know of.

OP: get some file tread 25's, but stick to smoother surfaces. Yes, you can go across all sorts of bumpy and even off road places on a road bike when really needed (plenty of YouTube videos to prove that), but if this is the entire ride, you'll have a better time just getting a frame that can take larger tires.

scubaman

+1. If you want to ride gravel with 25mm tires, just use whatever tires you'd normally use. And be careful, and carry spare tubes and patches etc.

If a different bike is not an option, maybe consider smaller wheels, which will allow for bigger tires? Using 650b instead of 700c is trivial with disc brakes, but typically also feasible with caliper (vs cantilever) rim brake frames too. The internet - and these forums - are full of info about such conversions.