How to Choose the Right Tires for Your Gravel Ride
The right width can mean the difference between sinking and sailing over rough terrain on your gravel ride
One of the features that makes a gravel bike a gravel bike is ample room for larger tires. Wider tires allow you to run lower pressure for comfort and let you float over chunky terrain without sinking in, sliding out, or bogging down.
But how wide is wide enough? It depends on the roads you’ll be riding. Going too big on a course with mostly hard-packed dirt roads or smooth, fast “champagne gravel” will just slow you down and be less fun. So your goal is to make like Goldilocks and get the width “just right”.
Gravel Tire Widths for Every Ride
Gravel tires come in a wide array of widths ranging from 28mm to 47mm and beyond. The following guide will help you nail the tire width sweet spot for your next ride.
28 to 32mm: These skinnier gravel tires are great for “groad” rides, where you’re mainly on pavement or otherwise packed, smooth, fairly well-maintained gravel or dirt roads. This tire size range provides extra stability on unpaved segments without slowing you down on the asphalt. When in doubt, go for 30+ here.
35 to 40mm: Once you go from riding terrain that is mostly paved to mostly unpaved, you want tires in the mid 30mm plus range. If you want one “set it and forget it” tire size, choose one in this range. A 38mm tire is the sweet spot here for riders who are comfortable on rough terrain and want an efficient, quick rolling tire. As always, as the terrain gets chunkier and/or you need extra comfort for very long days, opt for the wider end of the range.
42 to 45mm: If you’re out for a big day on chunky rocks, loose gravel, extended sections of sand, or perhaps some smooth single track for good measure, this is the range for you. You’ll see a sea of 40 to 42mm sized tires at arduous events like Unbound where you’re on chunky gravel and rutted roads for much of the day.
47mm+: This is bikepacking and adventure biking territory. These fat tires will let you venture into mild mountain biking territory. Note: Not all gravel bikes will fit a tire this big without it nearly touching (or actually rubbing) the frame. These tires are generally matched with smaller wheels (i.e. 650B instead of the standard 700c).
Choosing Tread
Gravel tires are available in a wide variety of treads, which refers to the grippy knobs (or lack thereof) on the tire. You can buy specific tires for specific conditions, such as mud tires that have knobs that are designed to provide additional traction and to push gloppy dirt from the center to the outside of the tire. There are also mostly slick tires with a little tread on the outside that are great for hard pack, fast-rolling dry gravel roads.
But most of us (unless we’re getting paid to ride) aren’t swapping out our tires according to the weather. And in many cases, we’re not really sure what we’re in for. The best bet is to opt for an “all arounder” or mixed condition tire. These have a tightly spaced center tread for lower rolling resistance on hard packed roads that is pronounced enough to dig into softer surfaces. They also generally incorporate a pattern that sheds mud should the going get sloppy. This is the way to go when you want to be up for whatever without worrying about swapping tires ahead of time.