The two wheelsets is exactly what I do. I just have the one bike and switch out the wheels from what terrian I am riding. The 2nd wheelset is definitely cheaper than a 2nd bike.
I am using 35mm Schwalbe G-One RS and its almost as fast as my road bike on tarmac and has enough grip to be handling well on gravel while also being fast!
True. But if you want all out for the road and smooth asphalt surface then you can't beat the Conti GP 5000 TLR or Pirelli P Zero TLR. I would go for 32mm and not less than 32mm for Gravel rims. Contis or Pirellis will give you the new world on your gravel bike on the road! Cheers.
I love your results! Great video, thanks for sharing. That's the reason why I'm using two sets of wheels for my gravel bike (a 2019 Specialized Diverge Comp). Stock wheels (DT Swiss 470db) changed to 28mm Conti GP5000 road tires, which makes the bike extremely fast for long road trips on tarmac. And another new set of wheels (DT Swiss GR1600 Spline 25db) for gravel rides with WTB Nano 40C tires, these are so great for off-road tracks. Result: two bikes in one! Swap in 2 minutes.😏
Yes, so absolutely true to my own experience. In my case it was with an ancient, heavy 90s hybrid bike, but going to narrower, smooth rolling tyres made a huge improvement to rolling resistance. I've never looked back.
Fun video. I looked at Strava difference between beefy 42c gravel tire, and 25c road. Difference on longer rides 65miles for example. about 20 to 30 min. I basically felt i was going 5mph slower on gravel tires. Most noticeable when going slower, on flats and climbs. Also starting out speeds were slower with heavier, knobby tires of course. But... the ride quality, and feel of the wider gravel tires sometimes easily outweigh longer ride times. I now ride on 28c, because I mostly ride roads, and happy medium to ride on 80psi. vs 50psi on 42c, or 90-100psi on 25c.
My Trek Domane SL5 came with Bontrager R1 Hardcase. Swapping over to Conti GP5000 tubeless saved 130gm on each tire and 130gm on each tube. I can run them at 70-80psi, they feel much nicer and are hands down faster - such a good upgrade.
2 bikes - Cannondale Topstone, GT GTR (Mk.1 GT Grade). Both weigh about the same and have the same groupset. I prefer the Topstone to the GTR, but my GTR rides are always faster for some reason. Long suspected it was down to the tyres - Hutchinson Override 35mm on the GT, WTB Nano 40mm on the Topstone. The Nano's are super knobbly across the profile, whereas the Overrides have an almost slick centre section. Offroad the Nanos are great, but onroad they feel sluggish. This video confirms my suspicions. Time for the Topstone to get some faster tyres 👍🚲
The schwalbe one is probably even better. You inflades them to 60 psi which is outside the recommended pressure window of 65-100 psi! More precise test would be to use e.g. maximum recommended pressure on both tires.
Or used one of the available calculators that is supposed to figure out the optimal pressure for tire size and weight. Running the gravel tires that high may have hurt a little too.
The website rollingresistance something tests that. Between high end road tyres and high end knobby gravel tyres there's a 20W difference for a bike. 10W per tyre on road, 21W per tyre on gravel, that's 20+W. On top of that, there's a drag reduction, as a narrower tyre offers less surface area to the wind. That's probably 5W at 35kmh or so. Maybe more, because knobby tyres on top of being wider probably create a lot of wind turbulence. Irrelevant on a true gravel ride, but on the road at 30kmh+, all those differences add up to a lot.
I'm a bit skeptic about their "CX/Gravel Bike Tires Overview", they have a lot of slick tyres with low/average puncture resistance on this table, and some of them come in many different versions (e.g. Gravelking, G-One) whose exact name do not match those in the shops, etc.
If you ever find out that you don't have enough grip on gravel, try running a knobby tire in the front but keep a fast tire in the rear. It's what's on my bike right now and it's still pretty fast and I don't have any problems off road.
@B2theM 1 Late reply but I got a 40c wtb venture in the front and I used to run a 38c gravelking ss in the rear but that got too many punctures so I went with a 32c conti grand sport race that was just lying in my parts bin
Actually, you save about double the weight difference in the tire's weight because of angular momentum in addition linear momentum. (tires rotate). So if road tires weigh 2 lbs less than gravel tires, you save 4 lbs effectively. And of course on a hard road surface, gravel tires will incur much higher frictional rolling resistance losses than smoother road tires.
That's what I always do. I much, much, much prefer gravel bikes over any other for their speed, versatility, compatibility with racks and mudguards (not the case with all gravel bikes), improved comfort, etc. But hate tractor tyres. Also prefer aerodynamic rims. And asphalt over gravel. To Me, as gravel bike is the much more practicable road bike. Essentially, as fast with the right setup, but superior in every other way. On road as well.
Instead of buying a new gravel bike, I just change my bars to gravel bars with 30dg flare. My road bike is amazing. Super comfort and total control on downhills. I love ride on drops. I'm on 32mm tires. Let's say that road bikes are like Ferraris, gravel bikes are SUVs, and road bikes with gravel bars are Masseratis... Speed and comfort 😂
I am running 40mm Challenge Getaways TLR they seem as fast. The rolling resistance tests rate them as in the same league as 32mm Continental 5000. I have a spare front wheel with Maxxis Ravager for when it is muddy. All works fine,
You do a nice job. Get another set of wheels, that goes for everybody. I ride my cross bikes with road tires all the time. Always have, never get dropped - least not below 32ish mph. Wheels are cheaper than top-notch rigs.
مقطع جميع انا مبتدا في عالم الدراجات واشتريت دراجة من نوع gravel ساتدرب عليها جيدا وعندما اصبح جيد سانتقل الى الدراجات من نوع الطريق reod وكما فعلت انت ساقوم بتعديلات عليها وتصبح دراجة طريق خصوصا ان نوع الاطار عندي جيد واحببته من النظرة الاولى 😂👍🏽
I have the exact same schwalbe tires (not pro) and run 60psi also. I moved from 28mm tuber gatorskins and the difference was so much more cushy. Night & Day difference
Same pressure is both tyres only makes sense if they are the same width/volume tyres. As tyres get larger, for same support then you reduce tyre pressures. So for me on same rim - I use 28mm at 45psi, 33mm at 32psi, 40mm at 25psi. I now regard 60psi as silly hard and very uncomfortable. Tubeless was a revelation, as now I can ride the correct pressure and not have to worry about snakebites. This means more grip, more comfort, more speed and also rarely a flat tyre. I also found my 33mm CX tyres faster than my 28mm road tyres and so much comfier, particularly off road. I now wonder what pressures you now run two years later.
45psi for 28mm is too low, that may be the reason they are slower... although 32psi for 33mm is also extra-low, they should be faster at 50-60psi, too. That said different brands/models tires perform very differently, so it's possible that some CX tyres, even with knobs, are faster than road tyres...
You seem to have missed the memo that hard tyres are not in fact faster @@DR_1_1, they just feel faster which is not the same thing. But yes some tyres are simply better than others. I had some 36mm that were sluggish and hard work compared to both my 33 + 40mm tyres.
@@JeremyLawrence-imajez No, higher pressure gets you less rolling resistance, all other factors equal, ie same tyre, same width, same surface, same weight, etc. It's simple as that. It's just less comfortable. But faster. You'd need to go as high as 20psi to see the rolling resistance plateaued.
That's incorrect, last century thinking @DR_1_1 I suggest you update yourself on this topic. In short it's the same reason why suspension is faster on lumpy surfaces, but on a micro level. Even a good road isn't actually smooth and good roads are rare. This is why racers now use larger tyres and lower pressures than previously. I've long thought that 32mm=ish will end up being the sweet spot for road riding because increasing weight becomes a tradeoff. Just as 2.3"-ish seems to be is sweet sport for MTB. Last century 21mm and 1.8" was the norm along with stupid high tyre pressures.This change is part of the reason why riders are now faster. More comfort is also less fatiguing so faster too, unless doing events measured in minutes. BTW Cyclocross racers use 33mm tyres and pressures in low 20s, because it's faster and grippier. World Champion MTBers use 16-18psi and 2.3/4" tyres to win races. Road racing is still behind the progress curve, as it usually is.
I'm running the cheapest wire-bead slicks I could find on my cross bike (NZ$23 each). They are generally 4-5kmh faster in 95% of the riding situations I am currently riding in!! Running 45psi gives nice ride.
your video quality is good, you will go big soon. what about road bike vs gravel bike w/ road tires? rn i ride mtb but still miss rb feels, if gravel bike w/ road tires aint that slower compared to rb, i will try gravel
Thanks! The gravel bike with road tires is just about as fast as my carbon road bike. If I put some deep section wheels on the carbon bike, the difference would probably be even smaller.
people have no idea about bike tires. If its smaller than 45 mm its barely a gravel tire. Most people ride MTB tires or usually the widest tires that fit. Also there is no reason to fit anything smaller than 28 mm on the road and lastly 60 psi is wayyy to mutch for 38 mm tires. Different volume tires need different pressures people!
This bike was really easy to assemble ru-vid.comUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA and required very few adjustments out of the box. The wheels did not require any truing/adjustments. The frame had some small scratches, but nothing major.I did replace the seat though - the seat it came with was very uncomfortable. The tires need to be re-inflated every 4-5 days, but this appears to be quite common for the narrow 700x25 tires.Overall, in my opinion, this bike looks and rides like a much more expensive bike.
My tip is to never use hookless wheels and avoid tubeless, an inner tube with protection such as tannus armour is way better Regarding the test would be much better to know average and max speeds. Few seconds doesn't tell much but knowing speed difference would IMHO
I put 30mm continental 5000 road tires on my canyon grail and replaced 40mm gravel tire. After 32km first puncture 😂 in freezing early morning in Munich. I did 3200km on my 40mm gravel tire and even did a long tour (Munich to Venice) in summer with zero puncture the entire time. So be prepared fellas 😂
I feel your pain! I put about 10k miles (16k km) on multiple road tubeless tires w/o any punctures (Schwalbe, Michelin Power Road and Power Cup)... and then in one week I got 3 punctures back to back! Just did a 340 mile (540km) 2-day ride on my Michelin Tires, and made it through the whole thing with zero punctures. Hopefully my luck is back!
I will probably do that when my road bike dies, then use the Revolt as a road bike only. In the mean time I just have to put up with the extra resistance to get to the trails!
Did you encounter any compatibility issues with the wheels by downsizing the tires that much? I'm considering going from 42mm gravel tires to 30 or 32mm road tires.
No comparability issues. Just the normal pain of installing tubeless tires haha. Definitely worth taking to a shop or watching a bunch of tutorials if you’ve never done it before.
So I’m getting into biking. I was given for free a trek 3700. It’s fun going on trails on but so slow and painful on road. I bought a khs flite 150 endurance bike for 150$ with road tires it’s so much faster in pavement. But between shitty roads and weighing 220 pounds. I pop them alot. And I get sad when I explore and come across a gravel trail that I can’t go on. I’m training for ms150 anD currently ride bike 20 miles daily as commuter. In December want to buy my first new bike around 1300$. I don’t plan on doing races. Sounds like I should get a gravel bike and get a second set for road instead of get a road bike and pigeon holed. I just don’t want to feel sluggish on road
You'll definitely notice a big different with proper road tires! Having two sets of wheels for a gravel bike seems like a popular option. I ended up giving my Gravel bike to my Dad and buying a road bike for myself since I was riding on the road almost 100% of the time.
@@MitchBoyer I like riding on road but here in Houston we don’t have much paved trails. All space is to accommodate cars. We have the widest freeway in the entire world and I almost get ran over daily. When I took my mountain bike to east coast with Smokey’s it was so much fun. So looking forward trying to decide best use of money. I’m eventually getting a nice mountain bike. But unsure what to do for my second bike
Had the same Giant tires on my Revolt 2. ATX2 from Emory in 38mm. I swapped to slick gravel tires being Panaracer Gravel King SS. Like you halved the weight. Such faster. Width was important toe for comfort and traction as our roads get wet having a decently long rain season. So kept the confidence to bomb downhills in the wet, cut across grass, poor footpaths and still ok on smoother gravel roads. I have a roadie for critv racing and run 26mm that measure 28 and the confidence is dramatic when conditions are average. Safety confidence speed. My grabel bike is my training bike. Ultimately 2 sets of wheels would be great if you only had a gravel bike. But I do.likevthe sharp steering and ultra low weight of a carbon rim braked bike, it feels so much faster uphill and later etched carbon rim brake surface is surprisingly good. It pulls up nicely even when wet Huge improvement over standard carbon rims that seriously the brakes don't work, don't pull up at all when wet. Whatever works! Just enjoy it.
I've seen in the comments that people really don't like the Giant Crosscut tires--looks like any upgrade to them is a good one, especially with quality tires like those Panaracers. Thanks for watching!
Nice video, but Giant's tyres are painfully slow and have high RR. There are far faster gravel tyres and I reckon the difference would be less (Gravelking SS, G one RS, Cinturato gravel H etc)
It's amazing isn't it? If interested, watch Josh Poertner from Silca explain "hysteresis". He's amazing and clearly lays out where these differences come from.
Inflating both sets to the same pressure does not make it a good comparison because of the difference in width. 60 PSI is most likely too low for the 30mm and too high for the 38mm. On a smooth surface this will then benefit the wider tire. On a very bumpy surface this benefits the narrower tire.
Very good point! I had no real knowledge of rolling resistance, or the importance of tire pressures when I made this video. I just inflated it to the recommended specs for the 30mm and copied the same for the 38mm 😅. Silca's tire calculator recommends 46psi for the 38, so I was quite a bit off :)
How do you repair a flat on these new tubeless tires? My experience with road bikes ended 4 years ago (I'm too old and fat now to enjoy it) and I used Continental tubed tires. If I flatted, just insert a new tube (stored in my saddle's bag) and voila, off I go. I'm assuming the new tubeless are not like the old sewups of yesteryear. PS: never grow old or get unhealthy enough to enjoy riding, you will regret it.
Most of the time it seals up itself! You can carry dynaplugs (just like the car tire plugs) for bigger holes, but I’ve never tried them. I actually still carry a tube in my saddlebag just in case of a catastrophic failure. The tires are not really more difficult to remove or put on compared to a clincher. The canister is only needed if you’re going tubeless, so a mini pump or co2 + tube inside should be fine for emergencies. But! I haven’t had to test it yet 🤞still no flats!
Get the Vittoria Road Airliner inserts - that’s my solution for the rare possibility of a flat. They will allow you to ride back home or to your car. You get peace of mind as well as a lighter ride - not needing to carry a saddle bag at all. Win-win situation!
@@MitchBoyer I've used plugs before and they work exactly as prescribed. Big sidewall cut and was riding again in less than 5 minutes without even dismounting the wheel from the bike.
I’m in a similar situation - I have a Trek FX Sport 4 that came with heavy tires and I just got some Continental GP 5000 S TR’s (32mm) to improve speed. I spent a lot of time researching a good in-between tire that would be fast on road but could also handle light gravel, but it’s hard to find one. Still not sure how the GPs will handle gravel, but am anxious to see how much they improve road speed. How are the Schwalbes on gravel? I have the Pro Ones on my road bike, they’re quite nice in my experience.
Hey I am curious to see how it went for you? when I had my Giant Escape RX I put some Continental Ultra sport III and the improvement was noticeable. For general use I cannot recommend more those tires, they are so affordable.
I originally had the shimano spd pedals, but switched to the Favero Assioma pedals (which use the Look Keo cleat) shortly before making this video. Spd was definitely more convenient. I ended up giving this bike to my dad and he chose to have the spd pedals. Thanks for watching dude!
Most likely, but it depends on the internal rim width of your gravel wheelset. If it's too wide, a road tire may not fit. I bet if you did 30s you'd be safe though. And the latest science seems to show wider tires are faster. I'm currently on 28s that inflate to 30mm, and I already have a set of 30s to put on my bike when those expire.
Cool! Just wondering though what the difference would be if you use gravel bike + road tires vs pure road bike. Would there be any difference on watts or time?
That’s a good idea! I imagine it depends on weight and how aero dynamic the road frame is-and of course how deep the wheels used are. Might be a future video!
@@MitchBoyer That's amazing! Any tricks for cycling with a camera? I like to ride with my XT3 (+35mm f1.4) and a peak design leash strap cinched all the way up. I've been looking into the few options for stabilizer/cross-body straps, but haven't been impressed so far. In fact, I've been on the brink of making my own!
@@mydearriley Thanks! I have a strap from PSbagworks that works well, but I find myself using my Insta360 or GoPro or even iPhone more often these days on rides (of course that's not as nice for still photography)
@@MitchBoyer had schwalbe 30mm pro one tubeless on a surly pacer. Loved them super fast. They fit on the tcr but did not seat right. The tcr slr one wheel set is notoriously slow. My pacer with schwalbe tires was faster.
Concidering selling my road bike, and buying a gravel bike with a extra pair of road tires instead. Do you often feel like running out of gears when riding downhill?
You are comparing a low quality, heavy stock tire to a high performance road bike tire that is used by pro riders in races. A much fairer comparison would be a high performance gravel tire such as the Continental Terra Speed (350 g in the 35 mm version) or the Specialized Pathfinder Pro.
What you’ve done is compare a crappy tire with a top of the line tire. All cheap tires are heavy stiff and slow. Tires are the one place where it pays to go high end because the quality of the rubber really makes a difference.
You’re absolutely right! The majority of my viewers are pretty new to cycling and would be switching from a stock tire on their own bikes, so they would see similar results to this video. It would be interesting to compare the stock gravel tire to a nice gravel tire.
@@MitchBoyer Thank you for replying. That’s a nice touch. Re gravel tires: you’ll have the added complication of wildly different tread patterns. Tread patterns make a huge difference in roll resistance in gravel riding, much more so then the tire width factor that most people are distracted by. Hey, you could do a piece on that! Benefits of wider tires. That’s hugely topical for gravel, MTB and road riders.
I honestly thought the difference would be greater, (slicks always feel so much faster) I’d like to see you do the challenge again but remove 600g of weight from your bike with the nobbly tyre set up.
Those Crosscut tires are junk; so this test really didn't tell you very much, unfortunately, because you're comparing a low-quality tire against a high quality tire. Additionally, you were comparing a tube/clincher setup versus tubeless. Sorry to sound negative... Not really trying to be. However, I think you probably would have seen immediate quantitative differences even if you'd went with a different gravel tire, such as the Schwalbe G-One 700x38. I immediately took off my stock gravel tires and put on some Teravail Washburn semi-slick tires set up for tubeless and the difference was immediately apparent. I'm also getting a spare wheelset to run a true road tire on and I'm really only expecting to see a difference on high speed group rides.
It's not a matter of gravel or road tyre. That Giant Crosscut is a shitty tyre, and you've put on a much more supple faster rolling compound tyre. Channels like this just add to the confusion for consumers. An example of the Dunning-Kreuger in full flight.
Y'all people trying to prove and justify the price of your bicycles tires etc. Okay if you're going to have to test you're going to have to do it at the same time because the barometers headwind tailwind sidewinds all change. Only if y'all put more thought into your country than you do as you do your bicycles.
Totally true with a clincher tire--you don't want a pinch flat! These are tubeless, however, so you can actually run them super low. Schwalbe recommends 55-80psi for this specific tire. I was shocked at first, but they ride great, are super fast, and I've had no issues so far. ✌️
😂 true! Hopefully it gave a little insight into how much faster it can be. I'm working on a video going the other way: putting gravel tires on my road bike. Tried to find tires that are fairly equal in quality. Hope you watch it when it's out!
Yeah almost 700grams for a 38mm tire is a lot, even the crapiest cheap sri lanka tire isnt that heavy, this comparison doesnt make sense, get an actual gravel tire thats about 450 gramas at that width and do it again
