Just when we thought gravel bike tyres couldn’t get any wider, along comes Schwalbe with two 60mm 700c tyres. That’s around 2.3 inches in old money – about as wide as the tyres raced by XC mountain bikers.
Schwalbe says that the G-One RX Pro 60mm is designed for "ultra-bikepacking" and gravel races that stretch over "several thousand kilometres". It says that for these rides, durability and reliability are just as important as riding characteristics.
It’s also introduced the 60mm G-One RS Pro, which it promotes for monster gravel bikes, as well as XC MTBs. It reckons that these will help you to tackle demanding routes such as The Rift in Iceland, adding traction and comfort to the race.
If your gravel bike isn’t quite the match for such wide tyres – and few are – there’s also a 55mm variant of the G-One Overland Pro, again aimed at bikepacking and gravel adventures.
Schwalbe hasn’t provided weights for the new G-One tyres, but while they match many MTB tyres in width, and XC MTB tyres are one of the hottest trends in gravel, they’re still not as chunky as mountain bike tyres, which typically have the aggressive tread pattern and the toughness to tackle more technical terrain.
The G-One tyres have a less prominent central tread pattern and a rounder profile that is better adapted to faster riding over gravel surfaces, but with the side lugs to help you keep moving when the surface gets trickier.
But with most gravel bikes still at 50mm tyre clearance or less, options for bikes that will handle the ultra-wide tyres may be limited.
The Ridley Ignite GTX – essentially an MTB frame with drop bars – has 58mm clearance, the 3T Extrema Italia 57mm and even the Factor Sarana, launched at The Traka earlier this month, only has 57mm clearance.
That means, until monster gravel bikes catch up, you may need an XC mountain bike frame if you want to ride the new 60mm tyres... so maybe they are MTB tyres after all.
