In the movement of "wider is better ", I wanted to share some first hand experience that I hope will help anyone in a similar situation as me. There's a bunch of reports and misleading videos online that left me nothing but conflicted.
My new Lauf Seigla came with 50mm wide Goodyear Connector tires. My last Lauf had the 44mm Maxxis Ramblers. Both setup Tubeless. I'm 6'1", 215lbs for reference.
With 4 rides on the new setup (~110 miles), I'm sharing honest feedback. This takes into account 27-74' weather, dry, wet, packed, sloppy gravel and of course road. Running anywhere from 38-55psi.
The main benefit to 50's – on rough loose gravel, they're faster. They spread the load out better and are quicker. They don't "dig" into the looser gravel like the 44's did. Occasionally on a fast descent I would feel the front "push".
The 44's were much faster on well traveled gravel roads. Especially when they're maintained or hard packed. And significantly faster on the road.
My riding consists of about 40% road, 60% gravel for my average 30-45mi ride. Crushed limestone paths. To washed out gravel equestrian roads, to highly traveled gravel residential and bucolic settings. The drag of the 50's on the road, at 14+mph is real. And I understand the Goodyear's aren't great. But I'm optimistic the Schwalbes will perform significantly better.
Comfort wise, the 50's are slightly smoother. That could also be the new Seigla vs. the True Grit I have. But the 50's do roll better over the rougher less compact gravel. They also grip better on inclines. Although that's never really been an issue even on the 44's, standing up at 450+watt climb. They didn't flinch, however. And I could see them performing much better in sloppy, muddy terrain.
I decided that 45mm is the way to go and have a set of Schwalbe GS one's on their way. I'm excited to see how they'll perform. I'm somewhat disappointed in the 50c and feel let down. I had high expectations from everything I've read, all the tests I've seen, and the rolling resisted charts and sites. But reality proved different, for me at least.
For context, I also ride a lot of road. 700×28 on the road bike currently. Had 25's on a prior bike and feel 28 is where it's at for road. But I digress.
by Chruisser
9 Comments
Any issues with toe overlap on the bigger tires? Seems like a lot of bikes are designed with huge tire clearance on the frame, but not to the cranks
It seems like people get caught up in wider is faster. But it’s the fast rolling XC MTB tires that are faster than narrower gravel tires. Wider gravel tires are not necessarily faster.
why do you say you are disappointed in the 50’s based on what you saw online for rolling resistance? according to BRR the goodyears have tons of rolling resistance..
Yeah not every wide tire is inherently fast. So much of it is in the casing: that Goodyear might (and probably does) have a shittier casing than a 2.1 Thunder Burt, which significantly will influence rolling resistance.
But to what you’ve said, I’ve definitely found that on true hardpack and lots of asphalt, 40s or 45s are the way to go. And I’m a wide tire believer! Category 1 gravel with a ton of asphalt on races usually gets my 40s, Category 2 gravel tends to be 45s. Unless there’s a majority of it off road I won’t even consider throwing on 50s or the 2.2s, and even then it’s got to be Category 2 or above with a lot of looseness or technical ability required for me to consider.
These contributions are so valuable to the community! Thanks for sharing! If you could be bothered to continue to invest into the experiment, it would be so cool to learn what you thought about conti race kings, thunderburts, and thunderos compared to these tires. And selfishly, gravel h’s! ….yeah thats a lot of money in tires.
38-50 psi in 50 mm tires! That’s nuts. I’m running like low 20s. Take a look at some online pressure calculators and run proper pressures
Get yourself some better quality tires and set them to the correct pressure and they will be faster. 2.1 Thunderburts or 2.2 racekings. Thank me later
This is my feeling as well. I don’t care how much people try to claim 3in tires are best for everything. I’m being a little tongue in cheek but some people do claim anything less than 50mm on road is archaic.
I ride 3in on my loaded MTB and they are slow. However, on 70lb loaded bike with a 200lb rider. It’s necessary.
On gravel I prefer 40-45mm. On road I think 28-35mm depending on rider weight and road quality. Mtb, depends on the goal, rider weight, terrain. I think MTB has the most variables and widest acceptable tire widths.
I think you need to play around more with optimizing tire width / casing / pressure.
Jan Heine set the fastest known time for the Oregon Outback last year riding 26” x 2.3” tires.
https://www.renehersecycles.com/jan-sets-oregon-outback-fkt/?srsltid=AfmBOorWjNG-ma6RTR23njC5qFlicHlL1y1_oKXuL1VSmKgrTYfkAZCq
It surprises me how much people get caught up in tire size, maybe it’s a man thing lol.
Yah there’s a difference between 45mm and 50mm… barely! But what really matters is the tire compound, tread pattern, and casing construction. The tires you’ve tried are vastly different, but the 5mm isn’t the thing making the difference.