650B tire options comparable to Conti Gatorskins?

[Bradley Waffa]

Longtime randonneur, but just built up my first 650B brevet bike. I've come to run Continental Gatorskins on most of my other bikes; they're not perfect and they certainly have some rolling resistance compared to racier tires, but they're smooth, hardly slow, and I don't think I've flatted in ~5 years and several thousand miles on multiple bikes and I REALLY like that. What are comparable options in 650B? Thanks in advance!

Brad

[David Parsons]

On Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 12:06:34 PM UTC-8, Bradley Waffa wrote:

Longtime randonneur, but just built up my first 650B brevet bike. I've come to run Continental Gatorskins on most of my other bikes; they're not perfect and they certainly have some rolling resistance compared to racier tires, but they're smooth, hardly slow, and I don't think I've flatted in ~5 years and several thousand miles on multiple bikes and I REALLY like that. What are comparable options in 650B? Thanks in advance!

There's the Ritchey Tom Slick, which may not be quite as flat-free as a Gatorskin, but which has much the same road feel.    And have you considered going tubeless?   The TS can be run tubeless, as well as tires going from the 25mm Schwalbe One up to the pile of fat Compass file tread offerings  (and if you wish to live more dangeously, the Hutchinson Confrerie @ 34mm works tubelessly.)

[Jeff Bertolet]

what width are you running? 30-35? 35-40? 40+?

In my limited (15 years) experience, wider tires are much less prone to flats. I won't speculate unprompted as to why, but I have been happy with all my wide tires (including Compass 650x38&42) and Schwalbe Big Apple in various sizes. I've suffered 3 flats total in 10 years on 4-5 bikes; 1 on Compass, a sidewall cut on some rough gravel.

I am moving to less puncture protection even on my commuter bike. Next tires in 20"and 26" will probably be the Tioga Powerblocks to replace the Big Apples.

[Bradley Waffa]

Someone emailed me with this question earlier. I guess I'm not married to a particular width, but it would have to be 42mm or less due to my fender clearance. And probably 35mm+ or why be 5'10" and even have 650B tires, right? More than anything I'm just looking for durability. I HATE changing flats. Especially when I'm running late to a control Happy to hear the wider tires may be naturally a little puncture resistant!

BJW

[Nick Favicchio]

Tubeless. I had a nasty nasty learning curve with the tubeless but if you really hate flats, put the cursing and frustration in and tubeless.

All the disc stuff is tubeless compatible and the fancy rim brake stuff is tubeless too. Get the new TC Baby Shoes, get a tubeless patch kit, get the best of all possible worlds :).

[David Parsons]

On Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 7:08:45 PM UTC-8, Bradley Waffa wrote:

Someone emailed me with this question earlier. I guess I'm not married to a particular width, but it would have to be 42mm or less due to my fender clearance. And probably 35mm+ or why be 5'10" and even have 650B tires, right?

6'1" and riding 650x25b (or 650x33b) on brevets here, so not necessarily so.

 

More than anything I'm just looking for durability. I HATE changing flats. Especially when I'm running late to a control Happy to hear the wider tires may be naturally a little puncture resistant!

If your #1 goal is no flats, tubeless is what you want -- I don't think anyone would say that you won't get any flats, but a lot of the annoying little flats from shards of glass (or other jabby road things) should just stop happening.   And if you want fat tires, Compass (probably?) has a 38mm TC tire that has a minimal tread (terrifyingly expensive, but there aren't that many fat slicks that are TC?)       But if you go tubeless, get a fairly hefty floor pump for the initial inflation;  I use an economy sized SKS MTB floor pump and it can get a Confrerie (33) or One (25) seated without any fuss at all  (my first try at tubeless was Confreries on CR18 rims and I had a skinny barrelled floor pump which I had to pump like mad to push enough air in to shove the bead up against the rim.)

[satanas]

I don't think Compass has a TC 38; the LLP is still for tubes only. However, Panaracer offers their Gravelking Slick in TC, and (maybe?) the file tread Gravelking - does that have a special name? And of course there's the Paris-Moto.

I probably can't really go narrower than 38mm on an i23 Crest MK3 anyway, so the GK/GKS/PM looks good to me. (As does the 48-584 Gravelking SK.)

Later,
Stephen

[David Parsons]

On Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 1:13:43 AM UTC-8, satanas wrote:

I don't think Compass has a TC 38; the LLP is still for tubes only. However, Panaracer offers their Gravelking Slick in TC, and (maybe?) the file tread Gravelking - does that have a special name? And of course there's the Paris-Moto.

I probably can't really go narrower than 38mm on an i23 Crest MK3 anyway, so the GK/GKS/PM looks good to me. (As does the 48-584 Gravelking SK.)

I'm running my Ones on a SL23, which is apparently 20mm internal width, so I think you could fit a Confrerie-width tire into your 23mm i-w Crests without any problem (maybe even a One, though a 25mm tire on a 23mm i-w rim seems like an invitation for burping at the slightest provocation.) 

[Stephen Poole]

Thanks David.

Yeah, my guess is 32-ish would mount okay even though it's not ETRTO approved (37mm minimum on i23), however I ran nominally 1.25"/32mm 26" slicks on similar width Araya RM20 rims 30 years ago. Still, the BB would be very low unless there was somewhat less drop than would be good for 38 up to 2.1". I was going to go with 75mm, but maybe 72 might be better; I'd prefer not to end up with <257mm BBH with 38s, or <270mm with 48mm Gravelking SKs.

I'm not likely to run Ones anyway since Stans (and everyone else) seems to think they'd blow off the rims at any sensible-for-their-width inflation pressure. What do you run them at, out of curiosity?

Later,

Stephen

[David Parsons]

I inflate them to about 90psi (the SKS mountain floor pump only meters up to 86 psi, but I shovel another pump or two of air in after the meter pegs) and then ride them 'til they're down to about 50psi.   They're a snug fit on the rim, so I suspect I'd have to run into a curb or deep pothole to knock the tire off (and at that point I suspect I'd have more to worry about than the tire flopping off.)

The only tubeless tire I've ever blown off the rim has been a Confrerie on a ztr355, and that was because I hit a curb while dodging a jogger (thus the "more to worry about")

Later,

Stephen

[Bradley Waffa]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. It does sound like tubeless is probably the way to go. I've been running tubeless on my MTB for some time, and I my HED Belgium+ wheels are tubeless compatible... so if I may steer my original question in a slightly different direction, what are everyone's favorite 650x42 tubeless tires that strike some balance between speed (i.e. lack of rolling resistance), comfort, and longevity/durability?

Thanks again!

Brad

On Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 3:06:34 PM UTC-5, Bradley Waffa wrote:

[njh...@gmail.com]

I've been running the Hutchinson Confrérie des 650B (nominal 32, actually measure 33mm) on one of my bikes for a couple of years. They roll pretty nicely - I take that bike out on bunch training rides - gobble up the road buzz and bumps nicely, and seem to last pretty well. Although they're nominally not a tubeless tyre, I've been running them tubeless without any problems. I have yet to have a puncture with them - still running the same front tyre, and recently replaced the rear prior to going on a week-long tour, even though it still had some wear left on it.

XXCycle sell them at the rather nice price of 23 Euros: https://www.xxcycle.com/tyre-hutchinson-confrerie-des-650b-275-650-b-ts,,en.php.

Nick

[Paul Sherman]

Compass Babyshoe Pass reigns supreme in the 650bx42 category if you’re willing to shell out up to $84 per tire. Panaracer Gravel Kings (basically a Pari moto with flat protection) ride pretty nicely and are much cheaper. They’ll probably wear out quicker than the Compass tire (thinner tread), but the price is right. Both tires are likely to be undersized on rims designed for rim brakes.

Paul
Beijing

[ViveLemond]

And remember these tires last a long long time.

[David Parsons]

On Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 11:44:12 AM UTC-8, ViveLemond wrote:

And remember these tires last a long long time.

How long do they last, and in what sort of use?

 

[djm323]

Im thinking about replacing my rear BSP XL at 5000 miles (185 lbs, 90% road / 8% trail / 2% gravel).

Dan

Chicagaux, USA

[David Parsons]

On Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 2:32:19 PM UTC-8, djm323 wrote:

Im thinking about replacing my rear BSP XL at 5000 miles (185 lbs, 90% road / 8% trail / 2% gravel).

Hmm.  So they'd probably last me about 3k miles (I go through a Confrerie or Nomad in about 2500 miles, and the only tire I was ever able to get up over 5k miles was the marvelously brick-like Vittoria Randonneur.)  If I ever see a pair of them for cheap they'd probably be worth a try.