Literally the day before this was taken, everyone in the picture’s tire choices gave them enough clearance and were the right tire for the conditions. Huge rainstorm the night before creating thick mud meant that everyone’s tire clearances evaporated.
So no, this isn’t USPS where “if it fits, it ships.” Most of the times in the dry you can get away with a little bit bigger than stated, especially on the fork. But you’re playing with fire if you try that in the wet or sloppy.
by chunt75
9 Comments
Also I still have scrapes inside the chain stays from where I had to carve dried mud out with a knife. And that’s *with* the Seigla tire clearance of roughly another quarter inch when you’re running 2.2s.
Riding gravel isn’t about best case scenarios or what works in the stand. If something fails, you are going to oftentimes be in the middle of nowhere, with iffy cell service, and far from the nearest aid station/gas station/water refill. Ride smart, be able to self rescue, and don’t shoot yourself in the foot
👏👏👏
Can’t wait for some mud to sandpaper my paint down to the carbon because some dude on reddit said I could fit 3” wide tires on a gravel bike.
Knowingly going into that and not getting paid for it is a little silly.
It’s like going to the beach in Florida during a hurricane. Yeah, your vacation got ruined…it happens.
But what if my bike has deep rims and beefy rubber and I just want to look hench on the asphalt? I’m OK then, right? Say I’m good with that, bro. That’s cool, right? I can max my width, right? My ‘tache is on point!
GravelBro. The Fakenger of 2025.
This is……obvious?
Mud tires have always been narrower than daily drivers.
… in the end there’s no solution if mud has taken over, so either it’s dry and you can run as wide as you want as long as the wheel turns, or it’s wet and muddy and you can ride… whatever you want because it won’t matter… 🤣
This 💯. The amount of posts every week with thunderberts and race kings that have 2mm clearance on a bike that clearly isn’t design to fit them is ridiculous. People acting like XC tires are gods gift to their performance or an extra 5mm is going to turn their bike into a gravel weapon. It won’t. There’s tons of amazing tire options out there that will safely fit your bike all the way up to 45mm.
If you want to ride 50mm+, you need a bike that’s designed to accommodate those and there’s only a handful. The kind of terrain XC tires thrive in when it gets truly chunky and rough are where there’s high chance for picking up shit that WILL damage your frame. Otherwise you’re just posing.
Was the rest of the course any better? If it was this bad from the start, I’d prob tap out.
What do you mean “road conditions change” and “I don’t need 58mm tires on a commuter bike”?