How to Pick Your Next Set of Gravel Tires

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You don’t need to have been around cycling for that many years to have seen the change in tire widths. When I first started out (admittedly over three decades ago), 19mm tires were common; looking back, they look razor thin, and you ran them as hard as you could possibly go. If you had arms like Twiglets (google the snack if you’re not British), you had to find someone with biceps that could handle pumping to 120psi. Skinny and rock-hard, just like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, and riding on them was just as grim as the film.

Then along came 21mm as a standard width. Followed very closely by 23mm tires, these seemed to be the go-to for about 15 years, from the late 90s to the early 2010s. Yes, there was 25mm, too, but that was the reserve of those that went out on grubby roads in winter; they weren’t seen as a standard width. Then, what only feels like about 10 years ago, 28mm were introduced, at first a winter tire width, with rubber and a carcass for stopping grit and grime from puncturing them. What I guess was now only 10-15 years ago, finding a rim-raked bike that accepted the excessively chunky width wasn’t all that easy. In fact, I have a fancy carbon rim brake bike in my garage that I still ride; built-in 2010, it has the problems I alluded to; it’ll fit 25mm tires at a push, but put a 28mm in, and the wheels won’t turn. Oh, how things have moved on in a short space of time.

Things started to change quickly in the late 2010s, and I’ll argue this: it was down to the advent of disc brakes and the birth of what is now classed as gravel. I call it the rapid rubber evolution. Those 25mm tires became the skinny ones on road bikes; 23mm were left to gather dust on bike shop shelves, and 28mm tires, once a tire size that was common on the start line of Paris-Roubaix, became the preferred racing width for many. Then 30mm and 32mm entered the game and became the starting point for those who ventured off-road on the leafy lanes and gravel roads. But again, it’s all changed again in a short few years since the late 2010s.

Today 30mm tires are seen on pretty much every race bike in the pro peloton, and as for gravel tires, well, you could argue that they start at 35mm, or is that now classed as all-road? Look, I’m even a little lost now. Yep, tire width and choice have become a wide-ranging (pun intended) topic. It can be a pretty confusing product category now, not just for the new people to our sport but even for us who have been around the sport for a while. Navigating tire choice is hard, especially when it comes to gravel tires.

The cycling industry has hit a perfect storm for confusing customers over the past few years. As I’ve mentioned, the introduction of disc brakes has led to bike manufacturers increasing what size tires can now be accommodated, and that, mixed with the gravel scene becoming quite fragmented, means there are more tire manufacturers making more 700c tires in more sizes than ever before.

Do you go for 40mm or 45mm? Do you go semi-slick or full-on knobbles? What TPI do you need? And what does that even mean? What’s the difference between a 700 and a 650b tire, or even a 700c and a 29″ tire? So, for those new to the sport or just a little baffled by what they need and what to look for in a gravel tire, I bring you what I hope is an informative chat with one of the experts on this subject from Italian powerhouse tire manufacturer Pirelli. We cover everything you need to know when spending your hard-earned cash on what can be a pretty pricey purchase. Purchasing the right or wrong tires for the intended terrain can be something that can either elevate a ride or hinder you out on the bike.

The only thing we don’t touch on is pressure; that’s for another video.

So, without further ado, I hope you hit that play button, enjoy it, and learn a little.

As always, thanks for watching.

Cheers,
Dave