I have been using a set of 43-mm GravelKing SK tires for the past 1000 miles or so. I bought tires from BTD to replace a pair of GravelKing SS tires. I bought the SKs for winter use and have not been disappointed. Where I live in SE Washington state, gravel roads are commonly angular basalt or river deposits, i.e., silt and rounded stones. The SK have worked quite well. The tires are grippy and provide good traction on steep wet hills. The tread pattern keeps fairly clean. The tires are wearing well, and to date I have not had a flat. The tires perform well on pavement and are fast, given the tread design. As an initial matter, the tires were easy to mount. Lastly, I got a competitive price from BTD. So, if you are looking for a good all-around gravel tire with some grip, I would recommend the SKs.
The tires are very easy to put on and take off, hold a good amount of pressure, and generally keep me from getting flats when commuting on roads that are more or less covered in glass (when combined with a tire liner). They wear out quickly, but are worth it.
For years I have used Clement/Donnelly MSO's. I liked their small knob profile--offering more grip than a file tooth, but not so much as a knobby. I wasn't able to find the MSO's, a friend recommended Gravelking SK's and I really glad I tried them. Much faster than the MSO on pavement, with even better traction on climbs and in corners. The even tread pattern works quite well in most conditions so far, from hard pack to light mud. They are pretty light, seem to have very low roll resistance, and fit up very easily. All round great tire.
Good tires. I've put about 300 miles in them and very little sign of wear. Mostly road riding with some gravel and single track. I had real issues mounting them, which is the reason for the four stars. Had to use every trick, including seating one side with a tube. Once I figured out the procedure it went east for the second tire. Think the problem is they are a bit loose on the rim, which does allow room for tubes. I won't run with tubes for gravel biking though, too many flats.
I was planning a tour on a crushed limestone rail trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota on our older road tandem. Unfortunately, our tandem frame did not have clearance for large tires. I had tested the bike with road tires on gravel and the front end skittered about quite a bit, sometimes edging toward hard to control.
I tried to fit several gravel tires, and (only) the 700x32 Gravel King SK barely fit the front. I had little gravel tire (or gravel) experience and was skeptical that the Gravel King's modest lugs would help improve control much. I was very pleasantly surprised - the Gravel King tremendously reduced front-end skittering and vastly improved control.
The tour was successful thanks in part to this tire. It rode well on pavement, with only a little buzzing, though I didn't try any hard cornering on pavement. On the gravel - which was sometimes much coarser and deeper than the better crushed limestone parts of the trail - I always felt solidly in control - a vast improvement over road tires.
I'm pretty sure a more aggressive tread (or a larger tire with the same tread) would have been even better, but due to frame clearance, those were not options for me. I was very happy I had tried the Gravel King.
I put a set of the 26mms on my Cannondale EVO road bike to see how it would do on dirtgravel roads. Great performance and traction, even with the narrow width. Nice to have these as an option.
Great gravel tire! I've ridden these on dirt, gravel, grass, and pavement. They mounted tubelessly quite easily on Iron Cross rims. I have the 32 mm width and they are about as wide as most 35 mm cyclocross tires on my other bikes. It has a nice supple ride feel and rolls quite fast on pavement. The only downside I've found is that the tread does throw quite a few rocks if you have any small gravel (between sand and pea-size) in your local roads. It's time to replace my rear tire, but I got 3000 miles out of it, not too bad! I will replace it with another GravelKing SK.
I've found this to be a fast rolling gravel tire. I purchased the 38mm tire and mounted them on a rim with internal width of 19mm, the mounted tire measured 38mm. Fairly easy to mount and inflate on a DT swiss rim. The tire held air when first mounted. With the addition of sealant the tire barely looses any air between rides. The tread pattern is unique. The center tread pattern help this tire rolls fast and provides very good traction when climbing. The side knobs are a bit unconventional. Each knob is linked to the next knob with solid strip of tread. its basically on continuous patterm with knobs interspersed. The tire corners ok compared to a cyclocross tire. I guess gravel tires probably don't have to corner as good as cx tires.
Unfortunately i got a sidewall cut after only 200 miles. Sealant could only hold pressrue around 20 psi, so I am now running the tire with a tube. The sidewall cut happened when I was riding a pretty rocky section of gravel so that may just be normal wear and tear. I would still recommend this tire.
I bought 32mm SK's to occasionally use my Canyon Endurace road bike as a light gravel bike. I'm fairly adept at seating tubeless road tires on my DT Swiss aluminum rims, but was unable to seat these SK's tubeless, using an air compression cylinder pumped up to over 160 psi, soapy water on the rims & beads, etc. Pretty frustrating experience. Put tubes in and rode a local gravel rail to trail and the C&O Canal path, which has some rocky sections comparable to pave. These rode fine on those surfaces at about 70 to 75 psi under my 200 lbs. I just remained a bit nervous about pinch flats and would have preferred an even lower psi, tubeless. Not much gravel in MD, these should be able to handle what's here, but if they're supposed to be tubeless it shouldn't take a full blown air compressor or a shop mechanic to accomplish that.
I now have several thousand miles on these tires and couldn't be happier. I ride mostly on pavement and these roll quietly and efficiently while still giving a decent performance on unpaved roads. Probably not the best for technical trails or serious mud but a great all rounder and reasonably priced. These wear well and punctures have been rare indeed. Recommended!
I bought these tires as part of a second set of wheels for my road bike to double it as a gravel bike. I was surprised how much control I had on these tires on a wide range of gravel. I felt confident on hard pack to loose gravel, and was even able to ride on loose sand/sand surfing when needed. Great tire for gravel, and surprisingly fast rolling on pavement. Thanks to this tire, I've been able to do 60+ mile exploration rides tackling tough road and singletrack climbs and miles upon miles of gravel. 10/10 would recommend.
I ride on hardpacked gravel and am entirely satisfied with the tires. Cornering is very good and traction on various surfaces seems well above average. Some rolling resistance on pavement. Had my local tire shop install them.
I have a Cannondale Synapse 105 SE that came from the factory with WTB Exposure 30C tires. Great tires, but they are slicks and zero tread an odd choice for a bike intended as a "gravel spec." So, I swapped them out for 32c Gravelkings and it's completely transformed the ride quality the bike now feels like it can really handle the dirt. (And for anyone wondering, these fit the Synapse Alloy frame perfectly... I bet I could fit the 35c, in fact).
The small, tight tread pattern reminds me of the Kedna small block tires on my cross bike from ten years ago. They have great traction on hardpack with loose gravel, they climb well, and they give me have loads of confidence cornering even at speed on a descent. And yet, the tread is fine enough to roll reasonably smooth on concrete and asphalt.
These are great tires for a bike that you want to take a lot of places, a great mixed use, go anywhere, do (almost) anything adventure bike tire. I still love the WTB Exposures, so I'll be putting them on my Canyon Endurace instead.
I like the performance of this tire but I've had my LBS set it up tubeless twice and it's failed twice. Paired with Zipp 30 Course wheels (also tubeless ready). I gave up and I'm running tubes now.
Purchased as replacements for the original tires on a Ti gravel bike. Probably wouldn't use these for serious technical trails but for my mixture of roads they work great. Not too noisy, easy rolling, fairly light weight, and for me at least, easy enough to mount (tubeless application).
they fit my Trek Domaine, very nicely. Had to deflate the tire and open the breaks making room for these babies.
They ran smooth and fast, could not tell they were for back roads.. I do like the look of the threads too.
Swapped a pair of Mavic tires for the Panaracer GK SK in size 38. All I can say is wow! Faster rolling on the pavement, grippier on the technical dirt climbs, floats through sand like butter, and I feel like Im in more control of the bike. If I had anything negative to say it would be theyre a challenge to mount on my wheels, however, I was impatient and probably should have let them sit out in the sun for awhile instead of ripping the package off and going to town on them. Buy these tires, theyre awesome!
