Bikes: Best tire for gravel?

[whatsup31415]

I have a mountain biking event coming up. Part of the trail has loose
gravel for long stretches. I suspect there will be no chance to bike
around it off-trail.

Is there any tire that will perform well on loose gravel as well as
hardpack?

Are any tires more puncture resistant than others?

The event is too short to have to deal with flats.

[Papa Tom]

Is this a race, or a casual ride?

[whatsup31415]

On May 4, 2:26*pm, "Papa Tom" <TomMontalb...@**************> wrote:
> Is this a race, or a casual ride?

Given the two, I would call it a race.

But I prefer the term "event", since I will not be racing against
anyone but myself. I certainly won't be taking it casually,
though :-).

[mike]

In article <b4a77d5f-7fe7-4549-9873-4b23f6668c06
@y34g2000prb.************.com>, whatsup31415@live.com says...
> I have a mountain biking event coming up. Part of the trail has loose
> gravel for long stretches. I suspect there will be no chance to bike
> around it off-trail.
>
> Is there any tire that will perform well on loose gravel as well as
> hardpack?

This depends on just how deep the gravel is, but in my experience riding
style is mnore important than tyre choice when riding through loose or
deep gravel. You need to avoid hard braking, especially when cornering,
and try to maintain momentum. Riding at slightly lower pressure may
help, but go too low and then you risk snake-bite punctures if you hit a
bigger chunk of rock - and of course the lower pressure will increase
rolling resistance when you are on hard-pack. If the ride is lone enough
you might benefit by reduciung pressure a little at the start of the
gravel and then pumping the tyres up a bit when you leave it - but this
probably won't be of great benefit unless the 'race' is fairly long.

Best suggestion is just go out and get some experience riding gravel, so
you will be comfortable with the changed behaviour of the bike.

>
> Are any tires more puncture resistant than others?

Yes...
>
> The event is too short to have to deal with flats.
.... but any suitable off-road MTB tyre is fairly immune to punctures if
it is ridden at the correct pressure (40-50 psi in my opinion). I am a
fairly heavy rider (92-93 kg) and MTB-cycle competitively over some
fairly rough terrrain - but I very seldom get punctures (if only my
road-cycling could be so puncture-free!) unless I stray into gorse or
blackberry.

Mike
>
>

[Papa Tom]

>>>Is this a race, or a casual ride?<<<<

:::::Given the two, I would call it a race.:::::::

In that case, I won't be weighing in on this matter, as I have no experience
with racing!

[RonSonic]

On Mon, 04 May 2009 20:13:54 -0700, jim beam <me@************> wrote:

>whatsup31415@live.com wrote:
>> I have a mountain biking event coming up. Part of the trail has loose
>> gravel for long stretches. I suspect there will be no chance to bike
>> around it off-trail.
>>
>> Is there any tire that will perform well on loose gravel as well as
>> hardpack?
>>
>> Are any tires more puncture resistant than others?
>>
>> The event is too short to have to deal with flats.
>>
>
>continental vertical pro.

Good classic all-rounder. Not so hot on sand, fine for everything else.

[landotter]

On May 4, 5:24*pm, whatsup31...@live.com wrote:
> I have a mountain biking event coming up. *Part of the trail has loose
> gravel for long stretches. *I suspect there will be no chance to bike
> around it off-trail.
>
> Is there any tire that will perform well on loose gravel as well as
> hardpack?
>
> Are any tires more puncture resistant than others?
>
> The event is too short to have to deal with flats.

Something smoother like a Michelin Country Rock might be in order.
That's if you have NO mud. It's a super toolin' around tire for your
mtb after the event. I wish they still made the 700x37 version.