BikingViking793 

I have a Felt Z75 disc and am riding 25mm continental gp4000 now. I generally have the psi up high to avoid pinch flats now so I can really feel every little bump. When I ride my cyclocross bike it's a much more pleasant ride. So I'm curious if there are any options that might smooth the ride for my Felt. I ran across the Gravelking tires in 26c and am wondering if this might help? Pretty sure I could fit these. I watched a youtube review and the guy seemed to be saying they were much better over small bumps. Anyone have experience with these? Looks like the Gravelking sk comes in the same size and has more tread. If not gravelking any other options would be welcome.

fishboat

I have a number of bikes that run GK slicks. GK slicks tend to run narrow. You may be able to mount 28mm tires on your bike..they run 27mm or slightly under.

I've not run gp4000s so I can't offer anything there. The SKs are slightly knobby..probably not what you're looking for on the road, although they're surprisingly fast on pavement.

Rides4Beer

Are you running tubeless on your CX bike? That's prob why, plus bigger tires. How much pressure are you running in your GP4Ks? Chances are you could prob drop down a bit and still not pinch flat.

datlas 

Can you try to drop the PSI a smidge on your current setup? There may be room to go down and still avoid pinch flats, depends on your weight and road conditions of course.

BikingViking793 

No, it's an old CX bike and it running tubed 30mm tires. So not huge tires, but much more pleasant on the road than my road bike. I'm running 110 because I got a pinch flat running 100.

trailangel

You didn't get the tube in there correctly. Not possible to pinch flat at 100 psi IMO.

Elvo

Yup running Gravel King 700x35 at 40 psi, they are extremely smooth

BikingViking793 

You might be right. I'm usually around 200 pounds.

hsuBM

Probably not.

I have GP5K’s and GK’s and the GP’s are definitely more supple. The GK’s area of shining is flat protection without being as resistive to rolling as Marathons.

The GK’s might be softer due to being able to run lower psi without worry of flatting.

BikingViking793 

It looks like the max pressure is 105 for the GK so I wonder how low I could go and safely not worry about pinch flats? Now I'm also wondering if their 28C is really not very wide. The guy in the review felt the 26C were about the same width as his 25C gp4000.

datlas 

Drop your tire pressure to 90F 95R.

hsuBM

width and diameter are tricky things. In the same fork broken-in Corsa G+ 25c’s fit about as tight to the crown as GP5K 28c’s.

The one frame of mine for which 28’s are tight, the crown-to-axle is the limiting factor. Neither Corsa 28c nor Pasela 28c fit the front without jamming lots of debris up in there.

I weigh ~170lbs and my GK 32c’s on my geared bike are typically at 45F 50R Monday morning and when I get the “isht, I’d better pump them before I pinch them” they’re at 30F 35R.

My 28c’s I’ve got pumped to 50F 60R and they’re handling bunnyhopping on jaggled potholes streets just fine, however they are on wide-ish rims (Archetype) which does seem to affect the ride a bit.

BikingViking793 

So I guess a little tread probably won't make much difference and it's all just tire pressure?

BikingViking793 

Do you know the internal width of your rims? Mine are 17mm.

fishboat

I think they are 17mm(?) The rims where I run 700x28s are H Plus Son Archetypes. Outer width is 23mm. I'm not finding and inner width online. By the look of the scale drawing on the H Plus site, it they aren't 17mm, they're pretty close.

TiHabanero

"You didn't get the tube in there correctly. Not possible to pinch flat at 100 psi IMO."

I weigh 230 lbs and can verify that my experience is quite different. I have pinch flatted several times running 110psi on 25mm tires. Switched to 28mm tires many years ago and have not pinch flatted since. I run the 28mm tires from 90 to 100 psi. Continental Ultra Sport 2. Cheapo tires that last a lot of miles. If I rotate them every 1500 miles I get about 6000k from a set.

BikingViking793 

Is the slick tire the Gravelking plus on this page? I don't see a slick reference.
https://www.panaracer.com/lineup/gravel.html

fishboat

Panaracer is really expanding the GK line..you almost need a manual to figure out what you need.

Rather than wade through the GK site, the following are GK slicks. Bikesmiths also carriers 32-38mm sizes in anther link. They're prices are typically pretty good. I've picked up quite a few set from them in various sizes. The slicks are a tire with a metal-file type tread.

https://www.thebikesmiths.com/collec...12924455911458

BikingViking793 

Thanks. The slick tread looks the same as the ones they are just calling gravelking on the GK website.

BikingViking793 

I just got a new battery for my caliper and I'm a bit surprised. My 25mm gp4000 are measuring just slightly over 28mm wide on my 17mm internal rims. I haven't ridden for a bit on them so the inflation is probably 100 or less. Is it because they are like 3 years old?

BikingViking793 

So I got some 28mm Gravelking plus slick from the bikesmiths for a great price. The good news is I have plenty of clearance for them, but it's strange that they really are not very wide. I'm only getting about 26.55mm wide with my caliper at 90psi. It varies a little on different parts of the tire. I ment to double check the internal width of rim but forgot, but it is supposed to be 17mm. When I do the other tire I'll try to get it then. I measured my 25mm GP4000 again before taking it off and it was really wide. The width could vary quite a bit too. Went from just under 28mm to about 28.4mm at widest. So I'm still curious if a tire will widen and stretch out with miles and a heavier rider? The front gp4000 was a bit less wide and measuring around 27.5-27.75mm. It's cold around here but I'm gonna try a couple mile after I get the front tire on. Mounting was pretty average, not easy but not real hard either. Thinking I'm gonna try 95psi in back and 90psi in front. These tires have a max 105 psi so I'm hoping these can be run with less pressure than the gp4000.

HTupolev

GP4000s are known to run extremely wide. It's likely that your "25mm" GP4000s are just a bigger tire than your "28mm" Gravelkings.

Not to any significant degree.

A lower max pressure does not at all imply that a tire can tolerate lower minimum pressures. If the GK is narrower than your old tires, you'll need to run them at higher pressures to avoid things like pinch flats.

BikingViking793 

Because its so cold I only went for like a mile ride with about 90psi in both tires. Felt pretty good. Measured the internal on my rim and only got about 15.75mm which is odd cause the spec says 17mm. Will see how I like them in spring when I can do some big rides.

Blues

BikingViking, do you have something you can measure that you otherwise know the dimension, to check your calipers? No offense intended.

BikingViking793 

Yeah I was curious and checked on a tape measure.