As more roadies begin to venture away from the asphalt and onto the gravel, off-road technology is popping up in the traditionally conservative world of road cycling. With wider tyres, lower pressures and gnarlier surfaces, more terrain is accessible than ever.
Once you leave the confines of the road behind, there’s a lot of fun to be had – along with a whole new world of obstacles poised to deflate your day, and potentially your tyres. That’s where the new generation of tubeless gravel tyres can make or break your ride. By eliminating the tube they eliminate pinch flats, dramatically reduce punctures, and let you run the kind of low pressures that make dirt grippy and enjoyable for even the most tarmac-addicted roadie.
Tubeless tyres, as the name suggests, mount to the rim without an inner tube. Unlike a tubular tyre (which contains an inner tube), tubeless tyres use the pressure of the air within them to form a seal with the rim. These tyres are then filled with sealant, which plugs any punctures in the casing, making the system much less prone to failure.
Mountain bikers have been running tubeless systems for years now, but on the road, issues with maintaining high pressures and sealing punctures have made tubeless tyres much less common. Gravel tyres, which are usually run at lower pressures, and have higher volumes than road tyres, represent sort of middle ground – and a natural home for tubeless tech.
Going tubeless will require that you change your tyres and possibly your wheels, but upkeep costs are low – you won’t be buying nearly as many tubes – and the convenience can’t be beat. We’d still suggest carrying a tube so that, in the event of a catastrophic tyre slice, you can still make it home, but to put it in perspective, we’ve been running tubeless for the last few months and (knock on wood) have yet to fix a flat!
The Tyres
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Clement Xplor MSO – Donnelly (which sells internationally under the Clement brand) has continued making great products under its new name. The X’PLOR MSO is perfectly suited to mountain gravel roads, with its name coming from the airport code for Missoula, Montana. The closely-packed central tread rolls well on hardpack and tarmac, and the bigger knobs on the sides of the tyre hook up well on sand, mud, and grass. The 40mm volume provides plenty of cushioning across rocks, washboard and roots, but slimmer models are available for those whose frame lacks the clearance for such huge volumes.
Kenda’s Flintridge – Coming in both 35c and 40c, we prefer the larger Flintridge, which fits fine on the more capacious gravel frames we have been riding recently. The stiff sidewalls set up easily on our test bike and the central tread pattern, which looks like striped lines on a road, and rolls almost silently on the tarmac. These are a little less supple than some of the other tyres we tested, so they weren’t quite as comfortable on really bumpy trails, but they felt fast on the roads, and gripped well on smoother singletrack.
Maxxis Rambler/ Re-Fuse Combo – Gravel legend Rebecca Rush likes to run a custom combination of front and rear tyres to maximise efficiency and speed in the kind of long gravel races at which she excels. Rusch prefers a slick rear tyre like Maxxis Re-Fuse on the back and a more grippy Rambler on the front for traction. This works well in gravel races where low rolling resistance is a priority and rear traction isn’t as important. For those of us looking to hit the trails, a pair of 700×38 or 700×40 Ramblers provide great traction, even if they cost a little speed on the smoother surfaces.
The Gear
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Plug Kit – Although tubeless tyres filled with sealant will seal most punctures, really big cuts might prove too much for the polymers. In these situations, a tyre plug can give the sealant particles something to bind to and stop the flow of air. It works kind of packing gauze over a bad wound to help blood platelets form a scab. Blackburn’s Plugger kit is small, lightweight, and easy to use, getting you back on the trail in a matter of minutes. (The alternative is putting an inner tube into your tyre, like a standard flat change.)
Maintenance – Stan’s was one of the first brands to innovate tubeless-ready rims and conversion kits for clincher wheels, and the brand’s tubeless sealant, valves and valve core extractors remain some of the best in the game.
We love the reliable and lightweight Grail wheels, and the included tubeless valves that fit most other brands – including aftermarket tubeless conversions. Once those valves are installed, Stan’s valve core extractor will save your hours of fiddling around with pliers when removing valve cores to refresh sealant, and its bright red anodizing makes it easy to fish out from the depth of your toolbox.
With the valve cores are removed, Stan’s syringe injector and sealant do a great job of providing a mess-free solution to would be punctures from goathead thorns to windshield glass, it even got us home with a pretty nasty looking nail in our tyre. Stan’s suggest topping off the sealant every two months or so to make sure you always have plenty in the tire when you need it.
Pump—To mount tubeless tyres, you need to deliver a large volume of air into the tyre very quickly. This pops the bead of the tire outwards onto the edge of the rim and creates the seal. In some cases, a normal hand pump will work, but most of the time a compressor is needed.
Unfortunately electric compressors are bulky, noisy and costly and pretty hard to take to the trailhead for last minute repairs. Enter the Lezyne Digital Pressure Overdrive. This sturdy pump does double duty as a floor pump and a compressor. About 50 strokes will charge the pump chamber, and a throw of the satisfyingly-solid lever sends a quick blast of air into your tyre to help seat the bead. The digital gauge is perfect for dialling in tire pressure for the perfect trail-riding experience. Invest in one of these, and you won’t have to stop at a gas station or bike shop every time you want to switch tyres.
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