A new set of wheels and a revised sealant choice have led to over 1,000 trouble free miles for my tubeless setup. An apology needs to be made to the tires because all of the problems I was having seem to have been a result of other components. Whoops.
There is not much to say about the Gravelking SS Plus+ tires. The tires are wearing like iron, although I think I am starting to see the rounded profile being worn down to a squarer profile. I could also be going crazy after so many miles in the saddle.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
500 trouble free miles makes me start to wonder if I have slayed the reliability demons that were bedeviling my wheels for the first part of the riding season. My fingers are crossed.
The only real comment I have on the tires at the 2,500 mile mark is that these tires wear like iron. You can still the slight patterning along the centerline on both tires. Granted, the now front tire is much more faint. The question I have now is whether these tires can last the rest of the season pushing my replacement Gravelking SS Plus+ in 38c width to next season. We shall see.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
It turns out it was not the tires, sealant, or rim tape causing me issues. My wheels were actually starting to fail.
How so? After installing a tube in the back wheel and riding for about a week all hell broke loose. On a single ride I went through 2 tubes and my back wheel went out of true. How wobbly? My eyeball estimate was somewhere between 5mm to 8mm. Yes, it was that bad.
I dropped the wheel off with the good people at Goldfinch Cyclery to true. About a day later I get the dreaded call from the mechanic. When a mechanic begins any conversation with “Well…” it is time to gird your loins for the bad news to follow. It turns out that the rim on my back wheel was beginning to crack/separate right down the center line. That was a new one. It also explained why I could not get the wheel to hold air pressure or sealant for more than a night.
Now, I find myself with a new wheelset and tires set up for tubeless all over again. What a world.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at 500 mile intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
Was it rash? You bet. Did I want to spend another afternoon fooling with sealant and an air compressor? Nope. Did I want to worry about another bizarre trailside failure? Nope.
While some of this has to do with the problems that I have been having in keeping my current Panaracer Gravelking SS+ set up correctly it also has to do with the nature of my riding. More accurately, how the nature of my daily rides has changed over the past couple of years. What had once been miles of unpaved recreation trails has turned into smooth pavement.
Not only did I resort to tubes I also rotated my tires.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Yes, I realize the images at 1,500 miles appear switched between the front and rear. That is because I failed to take a picture of the treadwear prior to rotation.
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
Notice that I said prior to the past week. I kind of want to take back all of the good words that I lavished on the Gravelking SS+.
First, the rear tire on my Breezer started weeping sealant through the tread area like crazy:
This is just a taste of what it looked like every morning. I would have blamed the sealant, Orange Endurance in this case, but the front tire did not have any leakage. I would have blamed something on the trail poking holes in the tire, but again there was nothing damaged on the front tire.
Like a fool I poured some additional sealant, Orange Endurance again, and continued my early season riding. Everything seemed normal. The tire continued to have spots of sealant weeping. However, it was holding pressure on long rides (30+ miles) and overnight, so I chalked things up to the strange swings in temperature/humidity we have been having this spring. One day it is 65 degrees and the next it is 90 degrees with similar swings in the humidity.
Like I fool I went out for a ride this morning when less than three miles from my house the rear tire on my Breezer self-immolated. There was a sound like a balloon popping followed by a complete flat. I walked the half-mile or so to the trailside air pump hoping that a little air pressure might allow things to reseal since I saw no obvious major damage.
With a pump or two of air sealant was leaking out of the valve stem and spoke nipples:
Maybe I should have cut bait on these tires when the rear tire started weeping sealant. Maybe I should have rotated the tires and rebuilt the tubeless setup at the beginning of the season. Maybe I should have switched brands or type of sealant.
Thankfully I was close enough to home to call a ride to get my ruined bicycle back to the shop and in for some much-needed repairs. It’s enough to make a guy go back to using tubes.
Passed the 1,000 mile milestone on the Gravelking SS Plus+ tires about a week ago. As the weather turns for toward the nasty—forget the Instagram worthy pictures of sunlight dappled fall leaves because it has been rainy and windy here in eastern Iowa—I get to spend some time reflecting on the past riding season.
These just might be the holy grail tires I have been looking for the past couple of years with one caveat. As you can see from the photos below the tires are wearing like iron. Previous tire sets really began to show wear on the rear tire at the 1,000 mile mark. The Gravelkings have not even shed all of the rubber “hair” from the molding process. I will probably rotate these at 1,500 miles or so.
The ride quality is good on either pavement or mixed surface trails. Honestly, I do not even think about these tires. I just “point and shoot” when I am riding like a mountain biker in the 1990s trusting his Smoke/Dart combo would carry him through.
The only caveat is that the 43C width might be a bit much. This is a chonky tire. With a nearly slick center section you have to rely on the width when the going gets soft. Like the WTB Byways previously, you have to wait until the tire sinks a little bit into the terrain before the side knobs bite. Granted, the trails around here were mostly like concrete all summer with drought like conditions persisting.
A quick note on size. The specification is for the tire to have a width of 43C. With my fancy new digital calipers I measure the tire at ~44.5C front and rear at several points along the tire’s circumference. This is a chonky tire.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
This may be the tire I have been searching for all of this time.
Has it already been 500 miles? Oh yes and the Gravelking SS tires just seem to keep asking for more.
First, the tire seems to be wearing like iron. My riding has been about 60/40 pavement/loose surface so it is not like I am babying the tires on smooth pavement. The rear tire even has some of the rubber whiskers after 500 miles. It is an encouraging sign.
Second, I do not even think about the tire. Heck, the section of trail I have been riding has nice drops where the pavement is supposed to meet transitions to the roadway. I just bomb it without a second thought. It feels like the glory days of the Smoke/Dart combo.
Third, these tires hold pressure really well. I was getting used to coming out for a ride and adding 5-10 PSI every day. Not so with the Gravelkings. I need to adjust the air only every few days now.
A quick note on size. The specification is for the tire to have a width of 43C. With my fancy new digital calipers I measure the tire at ~44.5C front and rear at several points along the tire’s circumference. This is a chonky tire.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
That’s all folks. The WTB Byway 40Cs that were installed on my bike became squishy messes that would not hold air. I tried adding a boatload of Orange Enduro sealant to no effect. It looked the tire casing was going through puberty with how many little dots of white were showing through when the tire was pumped up to 50 PSI or so.
It did not break my heart—despite my inherent aversion to spending money—to dump the Byways because I had a set of Panaracer Gravelking SS Pro+ 40Cs in my garage waiting for installation.
A note on installation, the tire went onto the rim with no trouble but the bead was a bear to seat. It wanted to roll over onto itself for some reason. I had to manually nudge the bead along the diameter of the rim close to the rim edge before blasting the tire into position with an air compressor. The SS Plus+ (or SS+ depending upon the marketing material) uses a bead to bead layer of Panaracer’s ProTite puncture protection belt. After suffering two fairly serious punctures with my previous tires I am excited to see if this feature would eliminate that problem.
With the bead in place and a syringe full of sealant the Gravelkings held pressure with little to no sealant bubbling through the tread or sidewall. I do not know if this is attributable to the anti-puncture belt or a difference in construction, but this is a big departure from the WTB Venture and Byway tires I had installed previously. I hope that this bodes well for the Gravelkings’ ability to withstand the rigors of the ride.
With about 150 miles of mixed riding (60/40 pavement/gravel split) I can say a few things about these tires. First, they are chunky. This is not a dainty tire. From the 43C width to the fairly stiff sidewalls this is not a tire that will awards for suppleness, but it is also not a tire that is going to leave you worried that the sidewall is at risk. For those of us with more of a straight ahead, bulldozing riding style this is just what the doctor orders.
Second, though the tire is big it does not appear to be slowing me down. All of the loops that I have done are within 1% of my average speed for the season with the narrower Byways installed. GPS does not lie.
Third, it feels a little disconnected when riding on smooth pavement but the tire is a joy in the loose stuff. Maybe it’s the width and the resulting tire volume. Maybe it’s the chunkiness. Time will tell.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from Panaracer. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
I spoke of trust at the 2,500 miles check-in and I am likely to speak again of trust at 3,000 miles.
The issue now is that the rear tire, showing some serious wear, will not hold pressure for more than a day. I have reseated the tire, changed the sealant, and check for serious leaks. Nothing seems to change the fact that the tire loses about 15 PSI over the course of an evening.
I should rotate these tires because the front has some life left to it and I am cheap bastard. When good tires are costing north of $60 before sealant is figured in I want to make sure to get every mile out of a set.
The question is will I end up with a situation like I had with the WTB Venture 40Cs last season. At about 3,000 miles or a little more the tires just stopped holding air. I would come out the next day and sealant would be bubbling out of little holes all over the center tread area. It was like the casing itself was starting to delaminate or something. I do not want to find myself halfway into a long ride and have to nurse failing tires home.
I do have a set of Panaracer Gravelking SS+ 43C sitting in my garage waiting to be installed. Almost calling to me.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far at various intervals:
There is an interesting uneven wear pattern on the rear tire that I have never noticed with any previous tires. It is something I will have to watch in my next set of tires.
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from WTB. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
Trust. When your only contact with the ground are a few square inches of rubber you need to trust you tires.
It is not that I fear a catastrophic failure of the WTB Byway 40C tires on my Breezer, but I do not know if I trust the tires completely. At the 2,500 mile mark I am starting to think about replacing the tires, as opposed to rotating and pushing on to 3,000 miles or more. This is even more attractive because I have a set of Panaracer Gravelking SS 43C sitting in my garage.
Why don’t I trust these tires? It’s not about the quality of the ride. The tire is predictable and rolls fast. The rounded tread profile offers a smooth transition when leaning into corners, which is a departure from the prior WTB Venture 40Cs. My trust issue comes into play with regard to the tire holding air.
Some of the leaks the tires have developed have come from trail debris, intentional or otherwise. Recently, small leaks have developed in the center part of the tread on both the front and rear tires. The leaks are small and the Orange Enduro sealant seems to be doing its job. However, every ride or so I notice a little wet spot on one of the tires.
Maybe it’s the miles. 2,500 miles is beyond the life of some tires. Maybe it’s the terrain. Some of my miles are on gravel roads with the notorious chip style rock. Maybe it’s the tire design. The tires on my bike lack the new SG2 Puncture Protection. This feature is a bead-to-bead belt of nylon designed to prevent punctures and slashes. I just do not know.
Below you will see how my tires have weathered the riding season so far:
Note: I bought these tires with my own money. Nothing has come to me from WTB. If I were pimping a product I would let you know.
My Green Misadventure 