Rene Herse tires.

[merckx]

It seems I am an outlier as I still prefer to use tubes. Many of the suggestions are endorsing tubeless tires, and the mechanics of setting them up. Maybe I will give in at some point and try a tubeless set up, but for the moment, I couldn't be arsed with the hassle of tubeless.

It also is becoming apparent that RH tires are best suited to be used with tubes. They are very light when compared to many of the tubeless tires that have been suggested, and they have very low RR according to BRR, even when used with tubes.

[spoonrobot]

Who was the highest placed René Herse sponsored rider at Unbound?

Ted King at 35th place?

Innokenty Zavyalov in 40th

Brennan Wertz in 60th

I guess for the Women's Lauren de Crescenzo came in 9th (-1h25m)



The top 10 was a real who's who of fast gravel tires - in order below

Vittoria
Maxxis
Specialized
Vittoria
Pirelli
Schwalbe
Pirelli
Maxxis
Wolfpack (?)
Continental
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
René Herse

[litcrazy]

To be honest, does this reflect more on the tires or on the budgets of these companies and thus the quality of the riders they sponsor? As gravel is becoming more sponsored and professionalized, I imagine we’ll return to riders riding the brands that pay their salaries. Can’t blame them really.
I do fear this is the kind of logic that had the world locked into tires 23mm in less for years. That’s what the winners ride…

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by lorenbike

For the price well worth it over gravel kings which I find harder to install, and more fragile. I think RH and even panaracer paselas roll nicer than the gravel kings.

Gravel kings always need an extra (if not two) wraps of tape to seal up and I find they roll slowly on pavement, even the slick version. I'm not a fan.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

To be honest, does this reflect more on the tires or on the budgets of these companies and thus the quality of the riders they sponsor?

I dont think it really reflects anything, for unbound at least.

It seems like all of the front runners this year went for bigger and more durable options compared to anything I would consider using for gravel where I live, and I dont think any of these top 10 riders used the manufacturer's fastest tires.

[spoonrobot]

The winningest gravel racer the past 3 years rode some of the slowest tires available, I try to remember that to stay tethered in reality.

The "fastest" tires at Unbound top 10 this year were the Schwalbe Thunder Burt at P6 and the Continental Race King at P10. It does seem that people went bigger this year.

Top 10 featured 2.1, 2.2, 2.1, 47, 50, 50, 45, 42, 44 - not in order.

[ckipp88]

This thread title made me chuckle!

[benb]

Yah staying tethered to reality here is something to strive for.

The tire brand or type of tube or lack of tube is a pretty marginal thing compared to everything else going on.

[EB]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

The "fastest" tires at Unbound top 10 this year were the Schwalbe Thunder Burt at P6 and the Continental Race King at P10. It does seem that people went bigger this year.

Good XC mountain bike tires are pretty fast. Is Unbound turning into "Leadville with more oxygen?"

[gravelreformist]

Isn't Unbound like 99% gravel? If so, that's dramatically different than how most people ride their gravel bikes day in and day out. Choice of tires for a specific race course doesn't have much relevance to how regular riders ride day to day.

Day to day I notice a huge difference in enjoyment when I have slower tires on the bike - but that wouldn't stop me from choosing a 'slower' tire for certain conditions.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

To be honest, does this reflect more on the tires or on the budgets of these companies and thus the quality of the riders they sponsor? As gravel is becoming more sponsored and professionalized, I imagine we’ll return to riders riding the brands that pay their salaries. Can’t blame them really.
I do fear this is the kind of logic that had the world locked into tires 23mm in less for years. That’s what the winners ride…

That's not why the world was locked into 23mm tires. They had the same style R&D we have now they just had less and lower availability.

There were no fast wide tires because nobody made them, nobody made them because the concept was antithetical to how tires were generally made. A wide tire needs to be relatively thinner than a narrower tire to be close to as fast. This design and production concept was functionally dead when Jan Heine arrived on the scene.

Let's not undersell what it took to get here. Nobody made tires in larger sizes in the construction that makes them fast. To get from the marginally fast Grand Bois tires as a base to the actually fast René Herse tires required years of testing and development. The Grand Bois tires are very supple but have very thick rubber, the Compass tires were a development to maintain that suppleness (which was fast) while thinning the tread considerably (this was faster).

Think of it this way, if you put the biggest, fastest tire you could find on your bike in 2005 you'd be significantly slower than on 23s, and this concept continues both forwards of backwards from that point until probably the early 1980s through to 2015ish.

The tires didn't exist.

[robt57]

"Rene Herse tires SUCK! "


Noticed the misleading title did not state 'All'

I am quite pleased with the only ones I've used. 32mm Stampede Pass with latex tubes. I've also run [latex tubes] the Soma Supple Vitesse EX, which are made same place and are more similar than not.

[litcrazy]

But the desire to imitate the winners meant that most riders were satisfied with their 23s and defended them vociferously on various forums based on how they placed in prestige races.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

But the desire to imitate the winners meant that most riders were satisfied with their 23s and defended them vociferously on various forums based on how they placed in prestige races.

That may well be, but it's possible to be right for the wrong reason.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by ls1togo

Just mounted a pair of Panaracer GV tbls 700x35 slicks on 23mm ID WTB carbon wheels...no fuss no muss on first try, ...actually they replaced a warranteed set but I've had several sets on various bikes and have never had a mounting problem which more than I can say for several others.

That’s been my experience as well. Glad yours was similar. The SS is the only gravel king I’ve had issues with mounting. They refused to hold their shape and were just a hassle but eventually did mount. My issue with panaracer is they don’t last on the terrain I ride. They always flat or cut and ultimately fail. The Sk plus are an exception however the tread pattern tossed kitty litter rocks into my frame all day..