Schwalbe recently added an Ultrabite option (left) to its G-One gravel line. The Bite, Allround, and Speed options are also shown here. Photo: Ben Delaney
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Last year Panaracer did a limited run of colored GravelKing options. All the 38mm versions are sold out. The next batch, in different colors, is coming in March. Photo: Ben Delaney
Frostbike is a three-day convention put on by Quality Bicycle Products, the biggest parts distributor in the United States. While Trek, Specialized, and Giant now also provide bike shops with a substantial amount of parts and accessories, most shops use QBP for a healthy portion of their business.
QBP stocks a huge variety of brands—from SRAM, and Campagnolo, to Schwalbe, and Maxxis—but it also has a few brands of its own, like Salsa, Surly, Whisky, and Teravail.
Tech editor Dan Cavallari and I visited Frostbike in Denver, Colorado, on Friday, to check out what’s hot for 2020. Here is a gallery of the latest gravel tires.
Teravail’s Cannonball has been a fast (and fast-selling) tire that comes in 35, 38 and 42mm widths, and in black or tan sidewalls. Photo: Ben Delaney
Maxxis’s popular Rambler (left) and the chunkier Ravager (right). Photo: Ben Delaney
The Rambler comes in EXO sidewall protection, and Silk Shield bead-to-bead protection models. Current widths are 38, 40, and 45mm, with a 50mm in the works. Retail is $45 to $65. Photo: Ben Delaney
Maxxis’s Robert McCollum said the company is trying to get roadies comfortable with the idea of having different front and rear tires, such as a Ravager front and a Rambler rear. Photo: Ben Delaney
The Volocita used to be a road tire; now it’s an all-road tire, in a fatter width. Photo: Ben Delaney
Panaracer GravelKing come in a huge variety of width-, and protection options, and all at reasonable ($44-$49) prices. Photo: Ben Delaney
Last year, Panaracer did a limited run of colored GravelKing options. All the 38mm versions sold out. The next batch—which also will be available in different colors—is coming, in March. Photo: Ben Delaney
Schwalbe recently added an Ultrabite option (left) to its G-One gravel line. The Bite, Allround, and Speed options are also shown here. Photo: Ben Delaney
WTB now has a slightly beefed-up version of the semi-slick Riddler, called the Raddler. Photo: Ben Delaney
“The Riddler only radder.” Photo: Ben Delaney
WTB tires run the gravel gamut, from fat, semi-slick options like the Byway (left), to the file-tread-with-knobs Riddler, to the chunkier Resolute. Photo: Ben Delaney
Challenge is still more focused on cyclocross, but it is in on the gravel game, too. Photo: Ben Delaney
The new Donnelly EMP comes in 38, and 45mm options, for $75. Photo: Ben Delaney
Donnelly just started making some of its cyclocross tires in the Czech Republic. Soon, some of its gravel options will be made there too. Donnelly boss Donn Kellogg said the Czech tires are fast and supple, at 240tpi. Photo: Ben Delaney
