I am looking into a new drop bar bike and I love off-road/gravel riding. I do comfort, recreational rides on quiet asphalt and gravel roads but want to do more gravel and natural trails. I was wondering if it was even worth having a gravel bike with 50mm tire clearance for any of the type of terrain in the attached screenshots. Would a 38mm tire (or less) be sufficient for the trails in the screenshots? At what point does terrain get rough enough where it is best to have a 45mm or 50mm tire? Or, is it a preference in ride comfort and level of skill thing that I am clearly overthinking?
by EngHokie
25 Comments
38 to 45 is the actual tire sweet spot for 99.7% of gravel riders.
That terrain looks optimal for a 40-45mm tire. If it’s Cat 2 or rougher, you want to go bigger.
not necessary but much more comfortable, and the fatter one will be slower to accelerate, harder to climb, slower in headwind, but will hold a higher speed much better as it doesn’t get bumped around by the track
Wide tires aren’t necessary. We all used to ride much worse than this on 33mm cross tires. The industry is convincing the cycling public they need wider tires to sell new bikes that fit the wider tires. In the future, I will not be surprised to see a return to narrower tires.
For the photos you provided, no.
In general, do you need 50mm tires for gravel? No. Do you want 50mm tires (or capability run 50mm)? Yes. It can be more comfortable. And who knows what type of riding you plan to do in the future.
If you have existing bike, no need to upgrade. If you are buying new bike, you should consider frame that can go up to 50mm.
No, but they sure are nice.
I feel like 35s are the sweet spot for 90% of people.
No
I’d go on 32mm on this trails without doubt.
You should be fine
Necessary? No. I’d ride that on my Brompton. I’d enjoy it a lot more on 48 mm tires, though.
I’ve ridden very much like what you post on 25 mm, on 2.2 inches and several sizes in between. 28mm to 35mm has been the sweet spot. With the 25 mm, I do need to be more careful on the downhill. Going up from the 28 mm to 33 or 35 does let you take advantage of tubeless and the pressure tuning you can get. Improvements above 35 are pretty marginal on the terrain you are showing. The big volume tends to start playing a role with deeper holes, roots, skiddy surfaces, …
I’d go 28 mm with tubes if you want to keep things simple and 33 or 35 tubeless if you want comfort and a good selection. If you’re a big guy and a downhill bomber, then go for something like 40 all the way up to 2.2 inches.
Remember that plenty of people rode all this stuff on “touring bikes” in the 1980s and those were 25mm and 28 mm tires. People race far worse on 33mm maximum tire size allowed in cyclocross bikes.
That being said, “necessary” is relative.
I would always choose wider! 45-50 mm is perfect. I have a bike with 35mm, 45mm, and 48 mm. I love the feel of the 48 mm the most by far no matter the type of terrain. Even city with curb bumps wit feels like nothing on 48mm, where my 35mm I have to brace for it.
No I rode on 32’s on gravel for years but lemme tell you 45 is way more comfy.
That’s 35mm territory, right there
Properly inflated, the proper tires actually make the ride waaaaay smoother. And thus faster. And more comfortable. And more enjoyable.
Of course a person can be slow and uncomfortable if they wish.
Those trails look like 38s would do well.
It’s better to have it & not need it then need it & not have it.
You’re overthinking it. Ride whatever size you want. I can say from experience though that wide tires at low pressure are suuuuuuper comfy. I dont think most people need over a 38, but man do 45’s feel good.
If that is the most technical of what you’ll see, then get what you like!
Things get more interesting on rougher terrain, and that’s where your bike’s ability to absorb changes comes into play.
Big tires are about comfort, not necessity. I ride 45’s because I just turned 40 and I don’t enjoy my spine being jack hammered every time I roll over a bump. I used to ride the same routes on 28’s and it worked fine, but 45’s are just more comfortable.
Depends- I weigh 235 and won’t ride on rocks on less than 40mm
40 does me fine and I do some singletrack and atv trails too. There are some sections where 45 / 50 would be better, but I’m talking 5km out of 5000km. There was was 2km section on ride last year where it was too sketchy and I had to hike-a-bike, it was scenic though, so there was that
I ride on trails like this all of the time on 28mm tires.
All your pictures have surfaces smoother than the roads in my city, much less the gravel rides. I could ride those on 23×700..
The only reason I occasionally ride more than a 38 is because Florida is sandy AF..
I went from 40mm gravel tires on a trek domane, to 2.1″ MTB tires on my lauf seigla. The difference is night and day. The larger tires are more comfortable, full stop. They are also great for when gravel turns into single track. They do suck up some watts though, and they are noticeably slower on hardpack and pavement.
Now that we are seeing gravel tires get bigger, I think we are hitting the perfect zone for comfort and speed. I now have tufo thundero 48mm tires and they are awesome. In my opinion, wide small knob tires are the sweet spot for gravel riding. They are the perfect blend of traction, comfort and speed. I highly recommend these!
If you want to bikepack it’s nice to have the bigger tire clearance