So, I have accumulated a number of tires over the last year and have not really done any testing as I would normally do to actually see that they perform. Normally, I keep this stuff to myself, but as I have vastly benefitted from the ST knowledge base, I decided to write something up.
Tires:
Control tire (or just a well known tire) Grand Prix 4000SII in 25mm (latex tube)
Hutchison Sector 28 (This is not really a gravel tire, but it goes to nearly 30mm on my WTB rim and frankly, was not bad off-road yesterday when I tried it out) (Butyl)
Schwalbe G-One Speed 2.0 (Tubeless)
Schwalbe G-One Allround 38mm (Butyl) This tire is well-worn. I would say the center strip looks more like a G-One Speed
WTB Resolute 42mm (Butyl) Fairly new
Methodology: I rode a 1-mile stretch of paved road near Cajon Junction (SoCal) that averages 7 percent and climbs about 420 feet. I kept to a 190 watt average or 188 if I was rolling latex or tubeless. Wind was calm except where noted. I did not pick it for this reason particularly, but the road surface was chip-seal and not at all smooth with sections that were somewhat rough.
All wheels were 700c
Run 1: GP4000 at 70psi 10:46
(Not sure if the wind had an effect, but this run I definitely felt something. I would guess it should have been a bit faster)
Run 2: Sector 28 at 60 psi (I’m going to run this tubeless and 60 is about as high as I would go)
10:42
Run 3: Sector 28 at 40 psi (This run also had a bit of a breeze. I would really like to have tried this again, but my time was limited.)
10:51
Run 4: G-One Speed 30psi (This is as high as I would want to run this tire)
10:50
Run 5: G-One Speed 15-20psi (I wanted to try this really low just to see. Not sure my gauge was super accurate at that low of a pressure.)
10:50
Run 6: G-One Allround 30psi 10:56
Run 7: WTB Resolute 30 psi 10:56
Some observations:
1. I did not expect all of these tires to be so close together in terms of performance. If we took these as perfect representations (which I would not do based on one run), then the three gravel tires are only separated by 6 seconds for ten+ minutes. That is not a huge.
2. The slowest tires had tread. No surprise. The WTB is the newest and has the most tread, so it is really a pretty fast rolling tire. I suspect that the Allround would start to mirror the Speed once it has worn down a bit more.
3. The +/- on tire pressure is not that important. The Speed runs were exactly the same time and I suspect that Sector runs would have been closer without the breeze.
4. Road Plus 650B here I come! If I can roll a 2.0 tire at 20 psi nearly as fast as smaller road tires then I fear my ‘road bike’ is going to spend most of its time hanging in the garage in the future (it fits max 28mm front/26mm rear tires).
Somewhat related comments:
1. WTB rims are great. When they snap on, they don’t come off even when completely flat. Previous to this, I had installed the Sector tubeless on the WTB rim and it took significant force to unseat the bead. That inspires a lot of confidence. This did not have anything to do with how tight the tire was, either. Several of the above tires felt very loose and installed easily, finger-only, but once seated, they did not come off, even flat.
2. Comfort. Most of the tires felt really smooth, except of course, the GP4000 and the Sector at 60psi. The Speed at 15-20 felt like I was riding ultra-smooth pavement; you don’t really even have to choose a good line.
I am sure I am going to work on this more and have a couple of other tests planned, both for off-road and to see what sort of aero penalty you pay for the 2.0 tires at 25+ mph, so this post will probably continue to grow.
Feel free to comment on your experience with these tires and compare them to other tires I have yet to try.
Chad
Tires:
Control tire (or just a well known tire) Grand Prix 4000SII in 25mm (latex tube)
Hutchison Sector 28 (This is not really a gravel tire, but it goes to nearly 30mm on my WTB rim and frankly, was not bad off-road yesterday when I tried it out) (Butyl)
Schwalbe G-One Speed 2.0 (Tubeless)
Schwalbe G-One Allround 38mm (Butyl) This tire is well-worn. I would say the center strip looks more like a G-One Speed
WTB Resolute 42mm (Butyl) Fairly new
Methodology: I rode a 1-mile stretch of paved road near Cajon Junction (SoCal) that averages 7 percent and climbs about 420 feet. I kept to a 190 watt average or 188 if I was rolling latex or tubeless. Wind was calm except where noted. I did not pick it for this reason particularly, but the road surface was chip-seal and not at all smooth with sections that were somewhat rough.
All wheels were 700c
Run 1: GP4000 at 70psi 10:46
(Not sure if the wind had an effect, but this run I definitely felt something. I would guess it should have been a bit faster)
Run 2: Sector 28 at 60 psi (I’m going to run this tubeless and 60 is about as high as I would go)
10:42
Run 3: Sector 28 at 40 psi (This run also had a bit of a breeze. I would really like to have tried this again, but my time was limited.)
10:51
Run 4: G-One Speed 30psi (This is as high as I would want to run this tire)
10:50
Run 5: G-One Speed 15-20psi (I wanted to try this really low just to see. Not sure my gauge was super accurate at that low of a pressure.)
10:50
Run 6: G-One Allround 30psi 10:56
Run 7: WTB Resolute 30 psi 10:56
Some observations:
1. I did not expect all of these tires to be so close together in terms of performance. If we took these as perfect representations (which I would not do based on one run), then the three gravel tires are only separated by 6 seconds for ten+ minutes. That is not a huge.
2. The slowest tires had tread. No surprise. The WTB is the newest and has the most tread, so it is really a pretty fast rolling tire. I suspect that the Allround would start to mirror the Speed once it has worn down a bit more.
3. The +/- on tire pressure is not that important. The Speed runs were exactly the same time and I suspect that Sector runs would have been closer without the breeze.
4. Road Plus 650B here I come! If I can roll a 2.0 tire at 20 psi nearly as fast as smaller road tires then I fear my ‘road bike’ is going to spend most of its time hanging in the garage in the future (it fits max 28mm front/26mm rear tires).
Somewhat related comments:
1. WTB rims are great. When they snap on, they don’t come off even when completely flat. Previous to this, I had installed the Sector tubeless on the WTB rim and it took significant force to unseat the bead. That inspires a lot of confidence. This did not have anything to do with how tight the tire was, either. Several of the above tires felt very loose and installed easily, finger-only, but once seated, they did not come off, even flat.
2. Comfort. Most of the tires felt really smooth, except of course, the GP4000 and the Sector at 60psi. The Speed at 15-20 felt like I was riding ultra-smooth pavement; you don’t really even have to choose a good line.
I am sure I am going to work on this more and have a couple of other tests planned, both for off-road and to see what sort of aero penalty you pay for the 2.0 tires at 25+ mph, so this post will probably continue to grow.
Feel free to comment on your experience with these tires and compare them to other tires I have yet to try.
Chad