Q: Tire Width for commuting with HED C2 rim

[canadasteep]

32 or 35 or 38 for city commuting?
Smooth paved, with the odd pothole

Looking to balance speed and efficiency vs weight.
My frame can accommodate 42's with fenders.

Looking for a little insight on what size tire might be best with this rim.
Oh, looking at Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires.

c2, not c2 plus/belgium plus

[zetroc]

28

[nublar]

Gravel King 700x38 Slick

[zzy]

Been commuting all year on Marathon Plus 35s on Belgium rims. Great combo. And I run over glass intentionally to see if it's even possible for these tires to go flat. So far - zero flats, in NYC no less.

[jtbadge]

Originally Posted by nublar

Gravel King 700x38 Slick

These are nice and readily available in the $32-ish range.

You’ve got room for volume, you might as well use it! Great for potholes and riding in lower light situations were it maybe harder to see road hazards before you are right on top of them.

[biker72]

For mostly smooth pavement I've been using Gravel King 700x32 Slick.

[Ken Robb]

I suppose your choice will be affected by how much climbing you have to do on your rides because lots of hills MIGHT suggest narrower tires than you would choose for the ultimate comfort on rough surfaces.

[saab2000]

I've got some Gravel King slick (well, herringbone tread) and they're pretty nice tires, especially around 40 PSI. That seems absurdly low to me as I'm a roadie and it took a while to get used to that, but it works very nicely.

I'm running them tubeless with Finish Line sealant. I had one cut this winter that required a removal of the tire and a patch and a reinstallation but otherwise they're good. Surprisingly comfortable over rough, patched tarmac. To the point that I can barely feel rough patches.

There are small wet spots on the tire from tiny holes where the sealant is leaking but this has no apparent effect on pressure. They lose air pressure very slowly, meaning a few pumps of the pump just once a week, max.

They're clearly not as fast as a pure road tire. But as a commuter tire I think you could do worse. But this depends on the cleanliness of the roads you ride and the commute distance. Overall I'd probably give mine an 8/10 as fat road tires. As gravel tires I'd probably want a bit chunkier tread.

Here's a picture taken just yesterday on a hard packed, unpaved trail.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by saab2000

I've got some Gravel King slick (well, herringbone tread) and they're pretty nice tires, especially around 40 PSI. That seems absurdly low to me as I'm a roadie and it took a while to get used to that, but it works very nicely.

I'm running them tubeless with Finish Line sealant. I had one cut this winter that required a removal of the tire and a patch and a reinstallation but otherwise they're good. Surprisingly comfortable over rough, patched tarmac. To the point that I can barely feel rough patches.

There are small wet spots on the tire from tiny holes where the sealant is leaking but this has no apparent effect on pressure. They lose air pressure very slowly, meaning a few pumps of the pump just once a week, max.

They're clearly not as fast as a pure road tire. But as a commuter tire I think you could do worse. But this depends on the cleanliness of the roads you ride and the commute distance. Overall I'd probably give mine an 8/10 as fat road tires. As gravel tires I'd probably want a bit chunkier tread.

Here's a picture taken just yesterday on a hard packed, unpaved trail.

Very pretty but I can feel the humidity from SoCal. OTOH we are having minsoon moisture come up from Mexico so it's 80F and 75% humidity at the beach. We THINK we may melt like the snowflakes we have become.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Add me to the 700x38 GravelKing chorus.