I’m gearing up for my fourth (!) BWR this year and am thinking about a switch from the knobby GravelKing SK to their semi-slick SS tire.
How does the SS perform on big steep gravel descents that we have in dry SoCal? I feel confident in the SS for almost every other terrain…
For reference I’m 170lb riding an Aspero.
Thx!!
by packaged_heat
7 Comments
Hutchinson caracal race tlr is what you’re after. It’s a much faster tire than the gravel king and has about the same amount of traction
You can run a 32mm slick at BWR CA, there are no big gravel descents or anything terribly techincal. The race started back in the day on 28mms.
The biggest thing is comfort around the lake Hodges sections on the washboard and cobble rocks which is where a tire with some volume is nice. Pathfinders or any similar tire like what you have pictured in a 38-42mm is probably the most popular option you’ll see out there.
I’ve personally done it on 32mm slicks, 38mm pathfinders and 2.25″ rekon races. All had a similar finish time with different strengths across the course. If I built a bike just for bwr I would run center slick 38-40mm on a gravel bike.
You can on descents, I did fine with them but on the ascents I found my back wheel spinning out now and then and switched to the sk’s and they’ve become my forever tire for my LA based gravel rides.
Where you riding in socal? If I’m familiar I could get a bit more prescriptive with a reco
Edit: Totally missed it BWR is fine on the SS.
I’ve used Panaracer Gravel king Slick 38’s on mixed terrain rides in S.F Bay Area. With everything from loamy single track, steep gravel descents, fire roads and pavement all dry. I was a little surprised at how well it works. The only sketchy parts were steep gravel (like loose 3/4” drain rock) descents.
Of course, with less tread one is going to sacrifice something, so yeah loose gravel is going to be where you have to be careful. My understanding is (though never having done the event) is that it’s not particularly technical and people do it on road tires, even road bikes in some cases. If you want a tire with a little tread, I’d be looking at the Schwalbe G-One RS. Almost slick in the center with knobs on the side. All the rolling resistance tests seem to rate it very highly. Good luck!
Used them a few years ago and found them to be surprisingly grippy on loose dry climbs.
I ride in the SoCal desert on two wheelsets. GravelKing Slicks as my “road” set but they do pretty damn good in the dirt where it’s flat. Fairly easy to spin out on ascents. For my gravel set I use their X1. Love them. Pretty damn fast, almost no slipping up nor down hills. Corners could use a skosh more traction but I learn its limits fairly quite and haven’t had a problem.
Also ride an Aspero and have used GravelKing SS+ 38s — excellent puncture protection, great at dry gravel but on sketchy and fast descents they’re not the best.