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700x23c tires for dirt/gravel road

39998 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by fiziks, 15 d ago

atimido

Discussion Starter · Jul 13, 2010

I'm doing a ride that goes over a packed dirt/gravel road. I am looking for a tire that would fit on my road bike training rims (700x23c). Does anyone have any suggestions? I am favoring the Continental cyclocross tires. Comments..?

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louise

· #2 · Jul 13, 2010

If a 23 will fit the rims, so will a 25 - probably a 28 as well.

Have no idea the length of the gravel portion of this ride but if it is long enough to worry about then a 23 will guarantee pinch flats.

You don't need CX tires - put a 25 on, pump a little softer than you would normally and go crazy.

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simonaway427

· #3 · Jul 13, 2010

I would get the widest that will fit on your bike - 28 to 32c maybe?

25 is still too skinny.

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Salsa_Lover

· #4 · Jul 13, 2010

Marathon Plus comes in 700x25c

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Mike T.

· #5 · Jul 13, 2010

atimido said:
I'm doing a ride that goes over a packed dirt/gravel road. I am looking for a tire that would fit on my road bike training rims (700x23c). Does anyone have any suggestions? I am favoring the Continental cyclocross tires. Comments..?

I do lots of hard dirt/gravel road riding. How gravelly are your roads? In the early part of the summer they "grade" the roads I ride on (scrape smooth) and this, until the roads are again packed down by vehicles, makes them almost unrideable even on a mountain bike. From there it goes all the way down to packed smooth dirt that's about as fast as asphalt.

I rode them for many years on my mountain bike. About 3 years ago I went to a cyclo-cross bike with 32mm Challenge clinchers. This year I've gone to a road bike with 28mm Conti 4-Season clinchers. I've tried 25mm tires too in the past.

For me, the joy of dirt/gravel roading is proportional to the volume of the tires used. The bigger the tire, the better the ride and the less chances of washout, wandering steering (the looser the surface the bigger the wander) and pinch flats.

So my answer would be "use the biggest tire your frame will take". You have to be careful with sizing as they're not all created equally - my new 28mm Conti 4-season are actually narrower than my old 25mm Michelin Pro. Go figure.

Any tire will fit your rims - my 32mm Challenges and Vittoria Cross XG Pro worked fine on my Open Pros.

Tire pressures are crucial. Get them too hard and it's a miserable ride as you're getting beaten up. Get them too soft and you'll pinch flat on stones and potholes and braking bumps.

And narrower isn't necessarily faster either. Wider softer tires let you float over the rough stuff while hard skinny tires will just slow you down to where you can take the beating.

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atimido

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 13, 2010

Thank you all for the info and suggestions. I know about the Marathon Plus tires, and I am going to look into the Continental 4 Seasons.

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MattSoutherden

· #7 · Jul 14, 2010

I run Marathon Racers on my training bike. Much lighter than the Marathon Plus. They are 30mm though, so you need enough clearance. They have just enough tread to make them useful on tracks, but no so much that they're useless on the road.

And if anyone tries telling you that 28-30mm is just too slow, string them up with a veloflex carbon.

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Salsa_Lover

· #8 · Jul 14, 2010

careful with the Marathon plus, the tyre is 25c but the flat protection is thick so it would need more clearance for the same size.

Example, I couls fit Conti 4 Seasons 700x28c on my Bianchi but not the Marathon Plus on 700x28c

I think could be able to fit the Marathon plus 700x25c, but I have never tried them on.

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Mani

· #9 · 18 d ago

atimido said:
I'm doing a ride that goes over a packed dirt/gravel road. I am looking for a tire that would fit on my road bike training rims (700x23c). Does anyone have any suggestions? I am favoring the Continental cyclocross tires. Comments..?

I am literally trying to do what you were trying to do almost 13 years ago, what did you end up doing and who did it work?

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Lombard

· #10 · 18 d ago

Mani said:
I am literally trying to do what you were trying to do almost 13 years ago, what did you end up doing and who did it work?

The last post was 2010 and that poster hasn't been here since 2014. I doubt you'll get an answer.

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fiziks

· #11 · 15 d ago

Hard packed dirt, or even hard packed gravel is one thing. But loose gravel on 700x28 tires, in my experience, is like trying to run on an ice rink in flat-soled dress shoes, even at slow speeds. Even with a tread, you are still going to be riding across rocks that are as wide as the tire, which will feel like riding on marbles. And on 28s, if you let out too much air from the tire, you risk riding on the rims and pinch flats.

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