Gravel can be challenging for equipment makers. Events can be anything from road to mountain biking, which can be tough for cyclists to decide on the right gear. Tires are a critical choice, and from the rides I did this year as part of Project OneBike, Schwalbe equipped us with some good choices in their G-One Speed and Bite gravel tires.
Schwalbe offers four tires in their G-One line, Speed, All-Around, Bite, and the new for 2020 Ultrabite. The tires range from essentially a file tread to something like a mud tire. Knowing the events I would be riding this year, I picked the Speed and Bite. If I had only one tire to go with, it probably would have been the All-Around or the Bite, but I’m stand by my choice.
Both tires share the same basic features. For the 700×38 tires we received in both, they are both the Microskin Tubeless Easy (TLE) from the Evolution Line. What all that means is, these tires are made to be light, easy to mount tubeless tires that are durable. The Speed includes Schwalbe’s Level 5 V-Guard is a highly cut-resistant fiber that provides plenty of protection from sharp road objects without much weight.
The differences come down to the treads. All of the G-One line uses circular treads on all of their tires. The Speed has a highly dense, low profile dot pattern, providing grip in dry and sandy conditions, while still maintaining low rolling resistance. The All-Around uses a similar tread pattern, but the dots are a little more pronounced, balancing grip and rolling resistance. The Bite was Schwalbe’s most aggressive gravel tire until the Ultrabite arrived. The Bite uses larger circular treads that are more spaced out, to provide more aggressive traction for challenging conditions. The concentration down the center is still enough to not increase rolling resistance, but the side treads are spaced out more to allow for more grip. The Ultrabite pairs up the circular knobs to create pill-shaped tread blocks that are spaced a bit further apart throughout the tire, providing the most grip across the line at the expense of a small decrease in rolling resistance. Honestly though, if you are using the Ultrabites, you probably aren’t too worried about rolling resistance on the road.
For my first event of the year, the Speed was my choice. At Monkey Knife Fight, in Emmaus, PA, I paired the Speed with my trusty Astral Wanderlust rims built up with White Industries hubs. The Wanderlust rims have a 22mm internal width, which was perfect for the 700x38mm wide tires. The course was a mix of road and hard-packed dirt and gravel, with not many technical sections. It was great for a tire that has a little bit of texture to it, but not a lot of rolling resistance.
Running the tire around 40psi, I was definitely aired a little high (I’m about 185lb), but it rolled great on the roads. On one particularly challenging dirt climb, the Speed never gave up. You could see plenty of places where tires were spinning out or cleat marks from riders walking the hill, but with the help of an absoluteBlack oval ring, the tires held their traction all the way up the hill. The Speed handled everything I threw at them that day without hesitation, and I have not had any issues with punctures, burps, or air loss throughout the season. The tread has shown a little bit of wear from road riding, but they still have plenty of life left in them for the next few seasons.
The Bite became my go-to tire for more aggressive gravel, like the Lu Lacka Wyco Hundo and unPAved Susquahanna. Both of these events are a mix of road, gravel, and even some trails. The LLWH was run under some pretty nasty conditions, while this fall’s unPAved was a much more pleasant ride. For both though, I was very happy I was riding a tire with some significant tread.
Whether it was mud, rocky terrain, road, or hard-packed dirt and gravel, the Bite handled it all well. In both cases, I ran the Bite at a little bit lower pressure, between 35-38psi. This helped to smooth the ride out a bit (with the help of a Lauf Grit fork) while also providing a little more grip. The Bite did clog up a little in the mud, but as soon as you are back on some solid ground, it quickly cleared out. In all but the muddiest or loosest conditions, the Bites gave me all the grip and confidence I needed. As with the Speed, the Schwalbe Bite tires were solid, with no issues with punctures, slices, burps or air loss.
One other thing to mention, and it was a significant thing for me with Project OneBike. Since I was using one bike all season long, and a limited number of wheels, I had to swap tires fairly often, depending on the riding I’m doing. The Astral Wanderlust/Whit Industries wheels saw the bulk of my gravel and cyclocross riding this season, which meant I was changing tires, at times, on a weekly basis. With all of the G-One and X-One (reviews coming soon) tires, I was able to swap them easily with the Topeak JoeBlow Booster pump and valve cores removed from the tubeless stems. While everyone might not be swapping tires like I am, the ability to mount tubeless tires with a similar amount of effort as tubed tires is something that should be noted and taken into consideration.
The G-One line is available in a range of sizes for 650b, 700c, and 29″ to match your needs. Schwalbe is slowly adding tan wall versions of their tubeless tires to the lineup, which is highly appreciated by those of us that like that sort of thing. With the addition of the Ultrabite, Schwalbe now has a full line that really covers every adventure you can take on a gravel bike.
Heckling Editor, Image Taker, Crash Test Dummy, and Beard Master at Bikeworldnews.com
~Veggie Powered Athlete~
Location – Lancaster, PA
Current Testing Rigs – 2024 Van Dessel Arch65, 2019 Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, 2018 Van Dessel Motivus Maximus LTD, 2016 Van Dessel Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 2015 Bianchi Sempre Pro, 1978 Trek TX900
Dream Bike – I’ll tell you when they make it
Discipline – Cyclocross, gravel, road and duathlons (ride/run)
Favorite Rides – Quiet country roads of Amish Country, some of the best roads around.
Food of Choice – Sweet potato roll
Beer of Choice – Unibroue Grand Reserve 17, aged four years
Bourbon of Choice – Widow Jane 10 Year