My wife got an urban ebike so she could do some family rides with my son and me. She only rides paved and gravel/crushed stone paths, no singletrack. The bike has 27.5 rims and came with Kenda Kwik Seven.5 tires. These tires are good on paved paths but have poor traction for turning and braking on gravel. Any recommendations for a tire that will work well on crushed stone and gravel but also roll smoothly and quietly on pavement?
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27.5 tires for pavement & gravel
jabrabu
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My wife got an urban ebike so she could do some family rides with my son and me. She only rides paved and gravel/crushed stone paths, no singletrack. The bike has 27.5 rims and came with Kenda Kwik Seven.5 tires. These tires are good on paved paths but have poor traction for turning and braking on gravel. Any recommendations for a tire that will work well on crushed stone and gravel but also roll smoothly and quietly on pavement?
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2,125 Posts
Maxxis Ramblers are a very good compromise for that mix of conditions. The one downside is that they do wear faster from pavement use. But I have tested them (650 x47b) against Panaracer 700 x 38c Gravelkings and they give up about 10w to the GK slicks with the GK's set to road pressures and the Ramblers set to gravel pressures. And they are fantastic off-road.
Rambler
Rambler
Thanks for the recommendation. It looks as if the Ramblers are only 27.5 x 1.5. This stock tires are 27.5x2.2, and I'd like to keep the higher volume, like 2.2 - 2.4 width.
Maybe I should just go with an XC race tire, like the Rekon Race.
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I have WTB Venture 650b-47mm tires on my gravel bike and I like them.
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2,125 Posts
In that case, yes... you will have to balance pavement vs. off-road with an XC race tire. The Rekon Race is favored to the off-road a bit. Something like a Kenda Booster Pro would be favored more to hardpack and pavement. You will have to figure out the balance...
Booster
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1,272 Posts
GravelKing SK
WTB - multiple 650x47 offerings
WTB - multiple 650x47 offerings
Funny, the tread design on the Booster and the Rekon Race look almost identical.
I was also considering the Fastrack.
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2,125 Posts
I own them both and they have similar but different personalities. The Booster Pro knobs are shorter and larger, hence the roll better on pavement. But I have crashed pushing the front just a little too hard in loose conditions. In those same conditions, the Rekon Race with its taller, smaller knobs has just a little more traction, but they are also slightly slower on pavement.
If you didn't own both, you might not ever know any better. Fast Traks are more on the Rekon Race end of the spectrum IME. But I have set road bike times on the road with bald S-Works FastTraks.
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I run older version of Fast traks 27.5 x 2.2 as my montercross/dropbar singletrack setup. They're fine, but are a bit slow/noisy on the road.
I think if your wife is not hitting it hard the GravelKing SK 650 x 2.1" is fine. Any even better choice is probably the Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge 650 x 2.2" - but they are $$$ tires to run on an urban commuter bike.
Any XC race tire is fine, they might not roll as well, but then again she's got a motor. Probably overthinking it.
I think if your wife is not hitting it hard the GravelKing SK 650 x 2.1" is fine. Any even better choice is probably the Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge 650 x 2.2" - but they are $$$ tires to run on an urban commuter bike.
Any XC race tire is fine, they might not roll as well, but then again she's got a motor. Probably overthinking it.
Schwalbe G-One is available in 27.5x2.25. Seems ideal for that. https://www.schwalbe.com/en/gravel-reader/schwalbe-g-one-allround
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Mezcals
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