I am coming to the end of race season and with some colder wetter weather I am wanting to put Gravel bike tires on my hardtail mtb for training purposes. This would allow me to do better and more road rides and get some gravel riding in. Gravel biking is something I want to do in the future and I want to see if I would like it without buying a complete gravel bike. The rims are Roval Control Carbons with a 25mm internal width. Would I be able to fit certain gravel tires on these? and If so what tires should i put on it? Also thinking of putting some drop bars on the bike rather then my flat bars lol.
I run HED Eroica rims that are 25mm internal and run 700x43 Gravel King SS’s. Probably a bit narrow(short) for a MTB. My previous gravel bike ran 2.2" tires on 23mm internal rims. You can for sure get a set of gravel tires on that bike, that said, plenty of people run MTB tires on gravel just fine too.
I’d be looking at 45c - should be just fine. Drop bars will require a stem swap, likely. I’ve done this before, I did not care for it. I ran a hardtail with a rigid fork for almost two years as my road/gravel bike. With the right tires it’s fine if you’re just training. I still have some stout PRs on that bike fwiw.
You could also just put on a fast rolling mountain bike tire like a Schwalbe Thunder Burt which should be available in as small as a 2.1. These would work well on the gravel and still allow you to hit a little single track without needing a tire swap.
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I ran Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 1.6’s on my hardtail. They are slick tires but handled anything except mud. Never had a flat either but I just never liked the skinny look of them on an MTB.
Yes, +1 for Thunder Burt. Or Vittoria Terreno.