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Gravel King wear rate

Chuck

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Feb 7, 2011
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I'm interested in the Gravel King SK tires. Need something for the trails and gravel but still will end up doing most of my riding on tarmac. Wondering if anyone who has used these tires has any idea about how many km the tread lasts if ridden a lot on tarmac. I had some Continental Cyclocross Speed tires with similar tread that wore down after only a few hundred kilometers, so wondering if GKs are any better than that.
 
I'm interested in the Gravel King SK tires. Need something for the trails and gravel but still will end up doing most of my riding on tarmac. Wondering if anyone who has used these tires has any idea about how many km the tread lasts if ridden a lot on tarmac. I had some Continental Cyclocross Speed tires with similar tread that wore down after only a few hundred kilometers, so wondering if GKs are any better than that.

I've got one (700x32) on the back of what was my gravel hack and is now my commuter. Got 2,227 km (mostly tarmac with bits of off-road) on the first tyre before I got a couple of punctures and decided that the tread was getting a bit thin. Could probably have used it a bit more but I can't be arsed with punctures when I'm commuting.
Here's a pic of it

IMG_20200313_060309602.jpg

The one that's on at the moment has got 425 km (about 100km of that was on the front). They come up at 30mm on my wheels so that might increase the wear on the middle of the tyre a bit, I suppose.

IMG_20200313_060245764.jpg

I've got an IRC Marbella on the front (700x28) of that bike and that's got 2,300km on it and is still in pretty good shape. When the back one needs replacing again I think I'll go with another IRC over the GKs (although the IRC was a pig to get on the rim).

IMG_20200313_060227357.jpg

My new bike came with Schwalbe X-One all round (the cheap non-tubeless ones) and I've been pretty impressed with how they've fared so far. Front and back at 1800km, mostly tarmac.

IMG_20200313_060214690.jpgIMG_20200313_060159218.jpg
 
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I've got one (700x32) on the back of what was my gravel hack and is now my commuter. Got 2,227 km (mostly tarmac with bits of off-road) on the first tyre before I got a couple of punctures and decided that the tread was getting a bit thin. Could probably have used it a bit more but I can't be arsed with punctures when I'm commuting.
Here's a pic of it

View attachment 19686

The one that's on at the moment has got 425 km (about 100km of that was on the front). They come up at 30mm on my wheels so that might increase the wear on the middle of the tyre a bit, I suppose.

View attachment 19687

I've got an IRC Marbella on the front (700x28) of that bike and that's got 2,300km on it and is still in pretty good shape. When the back one needs replacing again I think I'll go with another IRC over the GKs (although the IRC was a pig to get on the rim).

View attachment 19690

My new bike came with Schwalbe X-One all round (the cheap non-tubeless ones) and I've been pretty impressed with how they've fared so far. Front and back at 1800km, mostly tarmac.

View attachment 19688View attachment 19689

I also recommend IRC highly.

The tread lasts for a long time. And lots of choices depending on your needs.

Andy
 
Gravel Kings are my go to tires for Gravel and commuting. Going on over a year and no wear. Even punctured and no problem with tubeless. Fills in the hole, pump up the volume good to go. Never an issue.

Great all around tire and worth the price.

I do hope you do your proper research. I would never use just this site as my go to for research and decision making purposes. Foolish!
 
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A huge fan of Schwalbe Marathons. I had been plagued by punctures before I started using them on all my bikes and have had just one in a year since, and that was mostly because of my poor installation.
 
I second the opinion on puncture proofness of the Marathons. I'm using 25 or 28mm on my winter/bad condition road bike and 50mm on my commuter (for a few rides on my MTB) not a single puncture yet (knock in wood). They Roll well, but are on the heavy side and definitly made for tarmac or light gravel/forest roads. I feel they are lacking grip when riding fastish in rougher or muddy conditions.
 
For commuting I like the Schwalbe Marathons... a bit heavy though. Been using Gatorskins mostly. Haven't punctured them once and I've taken them on some rocky trails, but not the best grip. So what I'm looking for is something that is good for road and trail on my new Ritchey so I don't have to switch wheels out. It takes up to 32 mm width.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Schwalbe G-Ones but saw some reviews about them being a bit squirrely in the rain. They look really nice though. Tempting. IRC... I don't know anything about them but will give them a look.

For now though, since @Winston Leg-Thigh says the GKs last pretty well, I think I'll go with them.
 
I've got a pair of Gravel King SKs in 700x32c for sale if anyone is interested. They're second hand, but with plenty of life left. I got them for a bike I'm building up, but can't use them due to lack of clearance. They actually fit with a 2mm gap all the way round, but when I had a quick spin on some wet gravel near my house, I found that that's not enough height clearance for the pea gravel that sticks to the knobs. I've ridden 26c SKs before on another bike and the cornering was great. They're really grippy tyres. 4mm of height clearance and I think you'd be fine. I'm going to get 32c Gravel King slicks instead. The tyres I'm selling are not marked as tubeless ready, but there are stories of people contacting Panaracer USA and being told that up to 60psi is okay.

I'd like 4000 yen for the pair. An Amazon gift card is probably easiest. I'll cover the postage. The previous owner said they had 500km on them. On an 18mm inner width rim (Kysrium disc) they came out at 32mm wide at 60psi. Saibot (Rides of Japan) has a video of brown wall 32c SKs on Youtube and his came out at 32mm wide too.

(if the mods want this in the "for sale" forum, just let me know)
 

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Gravelking 38 slicks without knobs, 2900km tubeless on tarmac without any probs so far (touch wood). File tread is still visible and you can hear it on the road.
This is what I run but not tubeless. Back wheel just starting to lose file thread in a couple of places. No idea of the mileage, bought about 14 months ago, fairweather usage on tarmac, rindos, coast and river paths, gravel and dirt. Not sticky slippy muddy stuff. Suits me, no need for knobs on gravel or the dirt I am on, and it it saves you getting beat up by the extra road buzz.
 
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