Romantic Perversion

 

The smell of a new car, the first whiff of fried food, fresh air, the special scent of that stuff your significant other wears so well. the smell of....bah you get it..

You ever wonder who came up with that shit, shit soo alluring that it makes your senses flash and the engine light of your romantic triggers fire.

After a weekend in raw, and seeing all the happiness despite all the misery brought on by our favorite mother, it has T wondering time and time again, what in the gosh dam hell are the tire companies putting in there gravel tires to make folks open there wallets and give there hard earned dollars to the various treads that are meant for one thing, gravel roads.

Ok before the entire listening audience of 12 tune into Netflix hear me out on this.

In the defense of this rant. Gravel riding is unlike its predecessor ..

Cyclocross, where in fact a quiver of different tread compounds, and various casings can drastically change the out put for the day,  and to just like cyclocross Mountain bikes, casings, tread depth, blah blah blah.

But gravel roads? 

yea maybe, maybe not depends

Hopefully but doubtful the thick grip consumer has looked over a  few things before smelling the tasty bag of the various choices.

Where will I ride mostly?

Well dude, I’m doing this gravel ride, with a couple buddies that I mean ride a shit ton and we are gonna it up some gnarly farm roads. And maybe rip The DTE and Cannonsburg, and some fast farm roads..

What is the terrain like?

I don’t know dude.. but I want to be ready.

What will fit my bike?

Uh yea, cuz I bought basically the most recent and semi advanced gravel rig available, or something close to it.

What type of rider am I?

I’m kinda of just getting into it, but I plan on doing the Coast to Coast gravel thing, some CX racing, club rides with the local aggressive pricks, maybe some single track, and oh i like that thing called Lord of the Springs and possibly a Triathalon or even a Half Iron Man

What is my budget?

I can drop coin, but not at my local bike shop, because there is one dude that always drops attitude there.

This rant doesn’t go without a little justification, or actual knowledge, Ts butt is big but it ain’t to big to play around with handful of discarded rubber left by one local gravel dropout left on Ts stoop.

Specialized Roubaix tubeless ready 700-32-33

Vittoria Terreno Zero tubeless 700-38

Schwalbe G1 700/38 tubeless ready 

Vittoria Terreno dry 700/33

Panaracer gravel king slick 700/38

Specialized sawtooth 700/38 tubeless ready

Panaracer gravel king SK 700/38 tubeless ready

WTB byway 700/42 tubeless ready 

Specialized pathfinder 700/38 tubeless ready 

One of Ts neighbors who has much deeper pockets than T is constantly on the quest for the next big gravel erection . And never shy at leaving a milk crate full of sticky partially used discarded rubber on Ts doorstep. after stumbling over them and a few mis-fires, This grouchy old fart decided what the heck, Lets see what all this silly romance is about, and let love in.

After days of holding them feeling them and remembering when he was young, T got setting them up and preparing a little experiment.

The requirements?

• Mount them on the same wheel set
• Test them on a medium length  time/mile circuit, with a mixture pavement, chop-seal, gravel, (both chunky and fine)wet and gooey  mud, and smidgen of two track
• with appropriate air pressure to Ts fat ass, IE meaning within the normal standards
• Ride each set of wheels on the above route at a moderate to high aerobic pace.

Well dude I’m  waiting...

It’s should come to no surprise that of course the smoother style would outshine the more trendy ones, especially on hard pack or pavement, but what surprised even this old coot was how manageable they were even in the wet, farm roads, and goopy muddy stuff. Of course the corners were a different story, but even with the more gravel inspired tires it was a role of the dice as most lacked any shoulders to support railing turns and loose gravel transitions.

So in number forms here is what a person of Ts small life came up.

• Vittoria Terreno dry 700/33  15.8 mph, from the initial pedal stroke.. these felt slow and wobbly more of a dry condition  CX tire 
• Panaracer gravel king SK 700/38 tubeless ready  16.5 mph felt heavy and floppy on pavement, clogged up a bit in the deeper muddy side of the road stuff.
• WTB byway 700/42 tubeless ready 16.7 sluggish to get up to speed but once there felt like a second job to keep them in just constant momentum. 
• Schwalbe G1 700/38 tubeless ready  16.8 mph surprisingly nice feeling despite all the tiny nobs, but not supple at all, but  one  benefit they didn't clog up.
• Specialized pathfinder 700/38 tubeless ready 16.8 mph. Probably one of the best soft to loose cornering tires, but felt heavy and chore like to keep them at speed even on hard pack dirt. 
• Specialized saw tooth 700/38 tubeless 17.2 mph, rolled like a fat slick but more room for error. Corners nice and felt fairly supple, but still pretty heavy. 
• Panaracer gravel king slick 700/38 17.5 mph once up to speed felt fast enough to consider, but in slow corners with there big round profile felt like turning on a pillow 
• Vittoria Terreno Zero tubeless 700-38 17.6 mph probably the best all around tire for various shit T encountered washboard friendly, and fast smooth cornering was confidence inspiring 
• Specialized Roubaix tubeless ready 700-32-33 19.2 mph, hands down first pedal stroke the fastest tire, on hard pack and pavement, wet spray type dirt mud,  a little tricky in the soupy stuff but they didn't clog up like a the gravel king SKs did.

What’s to take from it? 

I don't know man...

If your ripping DTE, Doing Coast to Coast gravel and exploring the local loop The Roubaixs aint gonna cut it.

riding with dudes, and trying to keep wheels of the local aggressive pricks, small knobby 38s at 45 psi is going to have you hating all things in life..

Side note: of all the tires tested, The Specialized sealed up and seated with no gripes and loss of air on

 the first try. 

Spending a good grip on cool, stylish, and awed at real gravel inspired treads is sure more romantic than just getting some chubby slicks, that have been doing the job for decades with great results. 

don't buy into the hype. just 

Know your hype

 

T