The growing appetite for gravel and adventure bikes and the riding these bikes allows have fuelled an increase in the availability of wide gravel-specific. This guide brings together a variety of 30 to 45mm tyres designed for tackling mixed terrain with a focus on off-road capability.

All about the adventure

What's the difference between gravel and adventure? Not much… The two terms are essentially interchangeable. The US has a popular gravel bike racing scene but it’s been slow to catch on in the UK, mainly down to our lack of endless miles of gravel roads, though there are a few new events that are tapping into this appeal such as the Dirty Reiver, the Dorset Gravel Dash and others. What has caught on over here though on is the desire for adventure, with long distance rides over varying terrain and bikepacking becoming increasingly popular. Events like the Transcontinental Race have certainly helped, putting the adventure back into cycling.

Manufacturers have been quick to cotton onto this desire for bikes that offer more capability to expand riding horizons more than regular road bikes allow. Gravel and adventure bikes can accommodate bigger tyres, the geometry is influenced by endurance bikes, they offer the versatility of a touring bike and there are disc brakes for all-weather control. These traits make a gravel and adventure bike perfect for a wide range of riding, including commuting, touring, Audax, winter training and are ideal for beginners. And the bigger more aggressive tyres provide more comfort and make it possible to get away from congested roads and into the sanctuary of the open countryside. They can be ridden anywhere, and they’re adaptable and versatile.

Read more: 16 of the best 2017 gravel & adventure bikes

Growing tyre choice

And with the growing bike choice comes a growing tyre choice. The tyre you choose can dictate the sort of riding the bike can be used for. Choosing the right tyre comes down to the style of riding you have in mind. Mostly road? You want a smoother tyre that emphasises low rolling resistance. Want to ride predominantly off-road? A tyre with an aggressive tread pattern to provide grip in dirt, gravel, grass and mud is going to be preferable. And there are many tyres that attempt to bridge these two extremes, with a smooth centre section and bigger shoulder knobs, to provide road and off-road capability. The tyres in this guide lean towards off-road riding where grip on grass, gravel, mud and dirt is important, but most also offer the rolling speed you want for hardpack and tarmac roads, to provide that essential versatility.

How wide you go comes down principally to what your bike will accommodate and how wide you think is right for the riding you're doing and terrain you're tackling. At the time of writing a 38-40mm tyre is a very popular width for gravel and adventure riding, but there are many options between 30-34mm if clearance is tight on your bike, and you can go up to 50mm if you have space and want the biggest volume. We're mostly concentrating on 700c tyres here, but there's a growing interest in the smaller 650b size, which provides the benefit of a bigger tyre volume with roughly the same outside diameter as a 40mm tyre on a 700c rim.

Read more: Is 650b the future for road bikes? road.cc investigates

Let's take a look at some of your choices.

WTB ByWay 650B x 47mm — ~£40

For exploring the road less travelled WTB’s Byway is a decent choice providing fast rolling speed on road and hardpack gravel. Only wet grass and mud reveal its limits.

The 650B wheel size — a bit smaller than the standard road bike 700C — has become very popular on adventure bikes and it’s easy to see why. The smaller wheel enables a bigger volume tyre without messing around much with the frame design, providing hugely improved cushioning on badly surfaced roads, gravel tracks and dirt paths.

WTB hit the market early with its original Horizon providing stacks of comfort and off-road capability. There’s only so far you can push a slick tyre on dirt and gravel, so WTB took the Horizon and added a meaty shoulder tread pattern to provide a bit more cornering traction when you’re drifting through the bends.

Read our review of the WTB ByWay 650B x 47mm tyre
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Panaracer GravelKing TLC — £30

The Panaracer GravelKing tyres are excellent all-winter rubber for your road bike; Big Dave Atkinson declared them his new favourite all-purpose winter tyre. They're pretty light, they're easy to set up tubeless and they roll really well. Also, they come in a range of natty colours. Well, two. Plus black.

The 32mm version isn't really a gravel tyre for the UK, but you can get them in 35mm and 38mm widths too, as well as 650B versions up to 48mm wide, so for dirt riding in non-soggy conditions, they're a light, quick option.

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing
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Schwalbe X-One Allround — £39.95-£41.99

Designed to offer off-road grip in mixed conditions and speed on the road, the Schwalbe X-One Allround is pretty much the perfect tubeless tyre for the privateer cyclo-cross rider. These provide decent grip in slick mud, but roll really well when the course is dry.

Read our review of the Schwalbe X-One Allround
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Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss Ready — £35.99

The Pathfinder Pro is a fast-rolling tyre that is good for tackling rough roads and dry hardpack gravel trails. With its smooth centre section surrounded by tightly packed diamond-shaped blocks, it's obviously a good choice for lots of road riding. When riding in a straight upright position, that smooth centre line is all that contacts the road, and as a result provides low rolling resistance, allowing you to zip along the road at a decent pace. It really feels little slower than a slick tyre of similar width.

Feel adventurous and want to get off the road and onto some gravel and dirt, and the remainder of the tyre provides good grip. The diamond-shaped tread combined with bigger and spaced out shoulder blocks gives you the capability to let fire into loose gravel or dirty corners, knowing the compound and blocks will find grip. You won't be tackling any muddy bogs, it's not quite that capable, but for gravelly surfaced tracks, canal towpaths and dry bridleways, it offers more grip than a slick tyre.

Read our review of the Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss Ready
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Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold Tubeless Ready 35mm — ~£40

Ritchey has gone inverse with the tread on its Alpine JB WCS Stronghold tyres to create a tyre that grips on light gravel and rough sections of broken country lane while also offering a smooth ride if you want to get a shift on on the tarmac. A very impressive all-round tyre choice indeed.

You'll need room in your frame for 35mm tyres to fit the tubeless version of the Alpine JB WCS Stronghold, as the 30mm version is only available with a conventional casing.

Read our review of the Ritchey WCS Alpine JB Stronghold tyre
Find a Ritchey dealer

Compass Steilacoom TC — £56-£70

The Compass Steilacoom TC tyre is a fabulously grippy, fast-rolling tyre off-road that displays frankly ridiculous speed on the hard stuff too. The performance comes at a price you'll forget the moment you hit the first transition from tarmac to gravel.

Read our review of the Compass Steilacoom TC

Schwalbe G-One Bite MicroSkin TL-Easy — £39.95

The G-One Bite is a more off-road orientated version of the acclaimed G-One All-round, with  bigger knobbles and a more pronounced shoulder making them more suited to gravel and hardpacked trails. They still roll smoothly on Tarmac but when you get to the gravel or hardpacked trails the fun really begins. We've ridden them on 40mph descents and tough climbs and the G-One Bites never put a foot wrong, no matter what type or size of gravel we were riding over.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One Bite MicroSkin TL-Easy
Find a Schwalbe dealer

Kenda Cholla Pro — £32.54

Kenda's Cholla Pro is a supple tubeless-ready mud-conquering tyre for skinnier-framed bikes at a fairly sensible price. If you like it mucky and flat-free, it's a great option – particularly if you have limited clearance.

The Cholla Pro has a striking squared-off tread profile, with no chance of getting tyre orientation wrong; arrows point forwards folks. Based on "the hooks and barbs of the cholla cactus", says Kenda, this is somewhat ironically not a tyre for the desert – at just under 33mm fitted to a 19mm rim, you're more likely to dig into soft sand than float over it.

Read our review of the Kenda Cholla Pro
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Schwalbe G-One All-Round — £21.50-£22

German tyre company Schwalbe hit a home run when it introduced the G-One. The close-packed circular knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. They’re tubeless and we’ve never had any problems sealing them on a wide range of rims. It’s available in 35 and 40mm widths.

There's also a MicroSkin TL-Easy tubeless version for £38.99.

Read our Schwalbe G-One Review

Halo Twin Rail — £22.99

The Halo features two central rails (hence the name) along the centre section for fast rolling speed on the straight with raised square blocks of alternating size on either side. They’re directional tyres with a puncture protection system and come in all-black or with tan sidewalls.

Challenge Gravel Grinder — £35.39

Challenge offers a couple of gravel tyres but this one is actually named for the riding it’s intended for. It combines tall and long shoulder knobs for cornering grip and a low profile dimpled centre section for fast rolling speed. It’s available in 33mm, 38mm and 42mm widths.

Donnelly X’Plor MSO — £39.99

Donnelly (the new name for the tyres formerly known as Clement) has designed the X’Plor MSO for mixed conditions with a smooth rolling centre section and bigger shoulder knobs, but it looks more aggressive overall than the Challenge Gravel Grinder. It comes in 32, 36 and 40mm widths and regular clincher and tubeless varieties.

Prices above are for 36mm and 40mm variants. If you need to be UCI-cyclocross-legal, you can pick up Clement-labelled 32mm X’Plor MSO for £26.49. The change of name came about when the brand's licence to Donnelly Sports LLC ended because brand owner Pirelli was returning to the bike tyre sector.

Read our review of the Donnelly/Clement X’Plor MSO

Hutchinson Overide — £34.95/£36.95

The Overide is a brand new tyre from the French company and is its début into the burgeoning gravel and adventure bike market. It comes in 35 and 38mm widths and Hutchinson has opted for a very smooth tread design with low profile diamond shaped blocks of alternating size. It’s tubeless-ready with a dual compound construction.

Maxxis Rambler — £39.99-£44.87

The Rambler is Maxxis’ first gravel-specific tyre and it comes in both 38 and 40mm width options with a tightly packed tread design, including ramped centre knobs for improved rolling speed when on the smooth. The side knobs have been spaced out more to improve cornering traction in the loose.

Panaracer Gravel King SK — £27.95-£28.50

Panaracer has been quick to offer a wide range of suitable gravel tyres, and it keeps on adding new options. It offers tyres with a smooth file tread pattern up to more aggressive tread pattern such as the one pictured above, and a wide range of widths from 23 to 43 and 700c and 650b options. It’s recently added the first mud-specific gravel tyre we’ve come across and there are new tubeless options being added this year.

Read our Panaracer Gravelking 32mm review

Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss — £40

Specialized has a number of gravel and adventure bikes in its range now (Diverge and Sequoia) and so it has designed the Trigger for dealing with mixed terrain. Tightly packed diamond shape blocks make up the centre section for a fast rolling tyre on tarmac and hardpack dirt roads, and more widely spaced shoulder blocks for leaning the bike over and steering control. The Trigger is available in four widths: 33, 38, 42 and 47mm.

Read our Specialized Trigger Pro review

Surly Knard — £26.99/£44.99

Surly’s Knard has a closely spaced tread pattern for providing speed over varied terrain, and there’s enough grip for loose and slippery trail conditions. The tread pattern comprises aggressive square blocks with only the edge knobs being rectangular to allow for lean and grip in the corners. Surly offers the Knard in a variety of wheel sizes, including 650b, 26 and 29in, and a 700x41mm. The cheaper price gets you a 33 threads-per-inch casing; the spendier version is 127tpi.

Read our Surly Knard review

WTB Riddler — £33

WTB has taken its mountain bike tyre of the same name and shrunk it down to 37 and 45mm widths for gravel and adventure bikes. A fast and low profile tread pattern across the top of the tyre should provide good rolling resistance, while aggressive shoulder knobs deliver cornering grip.

• Your choice of tyres depends on the compromise of speed, longevity and puncture-resistance that works best for you.

• Light, fast tyres — especially in larger sizes like 25mm and 28mm widths — can be a huge improvement to the ride feel of your bike.

• Standard tyres with separate inner tubes — known as clinchers — are the most common type, but tubeless tyres are gaining popularity.

• One-piece tubular tyres are now used almost entirely for racing.

• Anti-puncture belts under the tread reduce flats and in some cases eliminate them almost entirely; they're the way to go for practical bikes.

The perfect tyre for road cycling would weigh nothing, have zero rolling resistance, last forever and make your bike feel like you were floating suspended above the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist, but the best modern tyres manage to excel in one or more categories. Here's a selection of the best.

This selection of the best-rated tyres we've reviewed in the last few years, plus a couple of popular classics, covers the range from sturdy commuting tyres to super-fast race rubber. What features should you look for in choosing a tyre?

Tyre types

There are three types of performance bike tyres: clinchers, tubulars and tubeless. Clinchers are the regular tyre type you're almost certainly familiar with. They have a wire bead that holds their shape and fits in a hook on the rim to hold them in place.

Tubular tyres have the tyre carcass sewn around the inner tube; the whole lot is then glued to a special rim with a concave surface for the tyre. This is still the lightest way to make a tyre and rim combination, but to repair a puncture you have to unstitch and re-sew the tyre, which puts most people off.

Tubeless tyres, as the name suggests, don't have inner tubes. Air is kept in place by a sealing strip in the rim, and either a liquid sealant inside the tyre or a rubber coating.

Rolling resistance

Two main forces work against a cyclist trying to make progress along the road. Air resistance is the most famous, but the other is the rolling resistance of your tyres, and it's much less obvious.

Rolling resistance arises from the tyre flexing where it touches the road. The rubber and casing flex and unflex, and some of the energy needed to flex them is absorbed in the process and turned into heat in the process known as hysteresis. It's much more obvious where bigger forces and energies are involved; it's why your car tyres get warm as you drive.

A number of factors affect rolling resistance, including the tyre's width (see below), tread thickness and material, casing thickness and material, and tread pattern. Tyre makers spend a lot of time and money experimenting with these factors to reduce rolling resistance. Schwalbe claims to have made 50 prototypes before settling on the design of its One tyre, which is noticeably faster than many of its rivals.

Tyre colours (CC BY 2.0 FaceMePLS:Flickr)

The current best performers for rolling resistance are very light tyres with thin treads and casings. According to testing commissioned by VeloNews by the tyre experts at Wheel Energy in Finland, the best performers are various versions of the Specialized Turbo and Continental GP4000S II.

Grip

Grip depends on the rubber compound used in the tread. The rule of thumb used to be that you wanted a compound that contained carbon black — and would therefore be black — for the best grip, especially in the wet. Modern compounds that contain silica are now virtually as good, so if you must have red tyres, look for that in the compound.

Weight

On paper, the lighter a tyre is, the faster it will accelerate. But the tyres are such a tiny part of the total weight of bike and rider that it's very unlikely anyone can actually feel the difference between, say, a 250g tyre and a 200g tyre. However, in their quest for light weight, tyre manufacturers use light casing and thin tread rubber layers, which reduce rolling resistance and that can make a tyre feel faster.

That can mean very light tyres are not very durable, or are so thin they puncture easily. You might be prepared to put up with that for the extra turn of speed when racing, or for that special ride in the sunshine on perfect roads, but most of the time you'll want something beefier.

Folding vs rigid

Lightweight tyres almost all have beads made from Kevlar, which allows them to be folded for easy storage and transport. Kevlar is lighter than the traditional steel wire bead, but its resistance to stretch can make folding tyres harder to fit.

Puncture resistance

To stop foreign objects getting through the tyre to the inner tube, tyre manufacturers use various barriers in addition to the tread and tyre carcass. Layers of Kevlar or a related fabric called Vectran are used in lightweight tyres, and when weight is less of a consideration, manufacturers put an extra layer of resistant rubber under the tread. This works well; if you're not in a hurry, tyres like the Schwalbe Marathon are great for round-town peace of mind.

Tread pattern

Unlike this motorcycle tyre, bicycle tyres don't need water-dispersing patterns. (CC BY-SA 2.0 dvanzuijlekom/Flickr)

On tarmac, it really doesn't make any difference to grip what shapes the designer has carved into the tread. Bike tyres are too narrow to aquaplane at speeds below about 200mph. But the lumps of tread in between sipes and shapes can squirm, and that increases rolling resistance. The best tread pattern is therefore a smooth, slick surface, but with rare exceptions tyre company marketing departments can't seem to get their heads around this.

Width

Fatter tyres can be run at lower pressures and therefore give a smoother ride, and better grip on bad surfaces. Road tyres have long been 23mm wide, but that standard has given way to 25mm and even wider in recent years. Those extra millimetres make a noticeable difference in ride feel, and aside from a small weight penalty there's no downside.

Many people think fat tyres must be slower, but all other things being equal, the wider a tyre is, the lower its rolling resistance. This may be counter-intuitive, but it's been demonstrated time and again in rolling resistance tests.

For any given tyre pressure, the size of the tyre's contact patch will be the same. But the wide contact patch of a fat tyre has a lower circumference than the long, thin contact patch of a skinny tyre. Because less of a fat tyre flexes, rolling resistance is reduced.

Tube choice

Tubes can make a significant difference to tyre performance. The thinner, lighter and more flexible the tube, the less effect it will have on rolling resistance. That's why high-end tubular tyres have latex tubes instead of the familiar black butyl rubber. Latex tubes also provide a bit of puncture resistance as they are flexible enough to stretch round a sharp object rather than being punctured by it. However, latex is porous and needs pumping up before every ride.

Other inner tube materials occasionally crop up. Polyurethane is the most common and is currently available in tubes from Panaracer and — for mountain bikes — Schwalbe. It has the advantage of being very light and retaining air well, but it's not as stretchy as butyl or latex so needs more precise matching to tyre size. Schwalbe's polyurethane tubes use a BASF plastic called Elastollan which appears from BASF's claims to be stretchier that traditional polyurethane. Schwalbe calls it Aerothan and says 35g road bike tubes are in development, but only for disc-braked bikes.

Shopping

Tyres are typically a bit cheaper in winter. When the good weather arrives prices go up a bit.

33 of the best tyres

Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL — ~£38

Continental's Grand Prix 5000 tubeless tyres take everything that is improved with these latest generation tyres and add tubeless compatibility for improved puncture resistance. They're relatively painless to set up and provide excellent performance in all conditions with low rolling resistance, good grip and durability.

German tyre giant Continental revamped its long-running and hugely popular GP4000 tyre last year with the GP5000, and in the process developed its first road tubeless offering. It shares all the same features as the non-tubeless version with updated Black Chilli rubber compound, Vectran breaker, Active Comfort Technology and Lazer Grip.

It's a case of lots of small changes adding up to make an improved tyre, and the good news is that on the road the new tyre has all the hallmarks of the old GP4000, but is better in every way. It's fast, grippy and puncture resistant, simply a very high-quality tyre that has no compromises.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL

Specialized Turbo Cotton — £54.99

Specialized's Turbo Cotton clinchers are some of the best tyres that we've ever had the pleasure of riding. The supple casing and Gripton rubber compound combine to give a fast and smooth ride that is perfect for racing.

Read our review of the Specialized Turbo Cotton
Find a Specialized dealer

Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ Isotech — £45.99

Vittoria's Corsa Speed G+ Tubeless tyre is a great choice for summer and race use. The casing and tread are much softer than some previous tubeless tyres, giving these a much better feeling on the road.

Tyres can completely change the ride quality of a bike, influencing the way that you can ride in different conditions. These Vittorias – the fastest tyre tested by bicyclerollingresistance.com – offer easy tubeless setup and a much superior ride.

Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ Isotech
Find a Vittoria dealer

Panaracer GravelKing 32 — £28.50

The 32mm Panaracer GravelKing tyres are excellent all-winter rubber for your road bike and tester Dave Atkinson's new favourite all-purpose winter tyre. They're pretty light for a 32mm tyre, they're easy to set up tubeless and they roll really well. Also, they come in a range of natty colours. Well, two. Plus black. Are they gravel tyres? Not really for the UK, in this size. But for winter road riding they're ace.

You might think these tyres look a bit like a plus-sized version of Vittoria's Open Pave with their file tread and green bits. And that's a fair comparison a lot of the time. Okay, they don't have the Open Pave's supple 320TPI casing, but the AX-Alpha Cord construction is still supple and you can run them tubeless which makes them even more so. The extra air in the carcass over a standard road width means there's comfort on tap for filthy back lanes and unsurfaced sections.

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing 32
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Compass Bon Jon Pass TC Extralight — £67

The Compass Bon Jon Pass TC Extralight is the lightest and narrowest of its tyres that can be set up tubeless. It's good. Very good. Compass calls it its 'Goldilocks' tyre, and for going fast or far on rubbish British roads or gravel, in all weathers, it is indeed Just Right.

Compass has its handmade tyres manufactured in Japan by Panaracer, but the process and materials are unique to Compass. These tyres indeed cost a pretty penny, but if you want the pinnacle of real-world performance over varied surfaces, they're worth the cash.

Read our review of the Compass Bon Jon Pass TC Extralight

Bontrager R4 Classics Hard-Case Lite — £54.99

Bontrager’s R4 Classics tyres are beautiful handmade clinchers that offer a smooth and very quick ride. You get great cornering grip and such a supple casing really helps on rougher roads.

The R4 Classics have, as the name suggests, been designed to tackle the road conditions commonly found in the spring races. They boast many of the features found in the tubular version that is used by Trek Segafredo for those very races. In fact, this is exactly the same tyre, with the only difference being that it isn't sewn around an inner tube

Read our review of the Bontrager R4 Classics Hard-Case Lite
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Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular — £39

Challenge's Strada Pro Open Tubular is a super-supple tyre designed for racing on rough roads. It's not the quickest tyre we've ridden, but for the battered B roads of Britain these are ideal for racing, fast riding and even as a summer training tyre.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Pro Open Tubular
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Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm —£73

How wide is too wide? The 48mm Switchback Hill is the widest 650B tyre that Compass makes, and too wide it ain't. It's super-comfortable, fast-rolling, tubeless-compatible, off-road-capable and light. There's really not a lot wrong here. At a time when people are doing roll-down tests to see if it's worth switching to 28mm tyres from 25s, my advice would be to skip a few sizes and fit a pair of these, if you can. They're great.

Read our review of the Compass Switchback Hill Extralight TC 650B x 48mm

Hutchinson Fusion 5 11Storm Tubeless Performance — £39.95

The latest tyre from tubeless pioneer Hutchinson might just have knocked the Schwalbe Pro One out of the role of benchmark performance tubeless tyre. The traction of the Fusion 5s out of the box in a range of conditions, especially in the wet, surpasses the Pro One's. Factors like speed and rolling resistance are trickier to compare, but they certainly don't feel any slower at all, and puncture resistance is superb.In a nutshell, they're fast, grippy, supple, durable and easy to fit, and a rival for any other tubeless tyre currently available.

That's down to The new ElevenStorm rubber compound that provides the tread for the very latest version of this tyre. Warning to the wise: there are versions of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 available with Hutchinson's old HDF>5.2 tread compound. They're good tyres, but if you want the latest and greatest, look for the 11Storm

Read our review of the Hutchinson Fusion 5 ElevenStorm Tubeless Performance tyre
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Mavic Yksion Pro Road UST — £37

The UST version of Mavic's Yksion Pro tyre is a massive improvement on the previous, frankly indifferent, tyres that Mavic used to ship with their wheels. It's made in France for Mavic by Hutchinson, who know a thing or two about tubeless tyres, and scores well in Jarno Bierman's rolling resistance and puncture prevention tests. You get a pair of Yksion Pros with all of the Tarmac-orientated wheels in Mavic's new Road UST range, from the £269 Aksium Elite UST and up.

The tread is made from the same rubber — Hutchinson calls it ElevenStorm — as the super-grippy Fusion 5 tyres, so looks an awful lot like Mavic is throwing in a pair of Fusion 5s with its Road UST wheels.

The old Yksions seriously lacked grip, especially in the wet, and puncture proofing was pretty poor. These UST versions are way, way better, offering loads of grip even in the wet and and if they do break traction, a little shift in power or body position easily brings them back under control.

Read our review of the Mavic Yksion Pro tyres on Ksyrium Elite UST wheels

Read about Mavic's Road UST wheels and tyres

Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy 650B — £37.99

Back in 2015 we first reviewed the Schwalbe S-One as it was then called, and it was a revelation: fast, grippy, comfortable. As a 30mm tyre it wouldn't fit in every frame, but our advice was: If you can fit 'em, buy 'em. Fast forward to 2018 and we're riding the new 40mm, 650B G-One Speed, which is every bit as good, and highlights the benefits of Road Plus, as we're now contractually obliged to call 650B, as well as any tyre we've tried.

Read our review of the 650B Schwalbe G-One Speed MicroSkin TL-Easy Folding
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Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech — £38.09

The Corsa Control G+ is the beefed-up version of Vittoria's well-respected Corsa G+. They're a great alternative to many winter-specific tyres, offering levels of rolling resistance and grip seen on your summer lightweights without compromising durability.

Find a Vittoria dealer
Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Isotech

Pirelli P Zero Velo — £35.89

The Pirelli P Zero Velo tyre marks a very impressive return to cycling for Pirelli after a half-century hiatus. This tyre is fast, comfortable and long lasting, making for a great all-round ride experience on the road.

Out on the road, they are thoroughly impressive at all times, feeling fast and slippery (through the air, not on the road surface!), yet able to take on the often poorly maintained roads that I'm accustomed to in the south west. Cornering in the wet never feels sketchy, and they zip along very nicely on flat roads without giving any unwanted feedback.

I know that they have bad weather in Italy, but I'm still very impressed with how much Pirelli has obviously thought about adverse conditions when developing these tyres. I saw Pirelli testing the wet grip of the tyres on the test track outside of Milan at the launch, and it certainly appears to have paid off.

Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero Velo
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Panaracer GravelKing SK — £27.95-£28.50

Japanese tyre company Panaracer has been quick to offer a range of gravel-specific tyres, becoming a significant player in the burgeoning market. Measuring 43mm wide, these GravelKing SK tyres are tubeless compatible and feature a tread pattern that excels both on and off road, with a tough carcass that can withstand some abuse.

The GravelKing comes in a variety of widths and tread patterns, but this SK (Small Knob) is probably the pick of the range for the latest generation of adventure bikes like the Kinesis Tripster AT, Mason Bokeh or Open UP. As well as the 43mm tested here (which was called 40 but actually measures 43mm, and is now labelled as such), the same tread pattern is offered on 26, 32 and 35mm width options if your frame doesn't offer enough clearance.

Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing SK
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Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm — £28

Wider road bike tyres are gaining an almost unstoppable momentum as people discover they can be both fast and comfortable, and with the emergence of the endurance road bike genre, Rubenesque road rubber is only going to become more common as bikes are designed to fit fat slicks. The Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700x32c pushes the plump limit to the point where once upon a time it might have been considered a humourously slick cyclo-cross tyre.

The R3 Hard-Case Lite comes in 23, 25, 28 and 32mm widths, and the full fat version here is something to behold, turning your road bike (if the rubber will fit) into something like a SuperMoto bike, although sideways drifts are not required on every corner, however tempting.

Read our review of the Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 700C 32mm
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WTB Horizon TCS 650B — £35.99

WTB's Horizon TCS is a fast-rolling, super-grippy and super-comfortable tyre that excels on the road and is capable of tackling dry off-road trails to inject some adventure into your routes.

Tyres have been getting wider over the years, and this trend for chunkier tyres and a growing interest in gravel and dirt riding on road bikes has given rise to the return of 650B, an old standard once favoured by French touring cyclists because it allowed bigger volume tyres for more cushioning on rough and badly surfaced roads. (By shrinking the rim size you can use the bigger volume tyre.)

Read our review of the WTB Horizon TCS
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Clement X'Plor MSO — £9.99-£39.99

The Clemént X'Plor MSO Tubeless Folding Adventure Tyre is an excellent tubeless-ready choice for venturing off the beaten track, at speed. At £60 RRP in its tubeless-ready guise it's not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for.

The 36mm MSO measures 35mm wide on a 19mm internal-width rim. Whilst this may seem short change, unless you are 100% certain your frame is capacious enough, being a smidge under is definitely better than over, which may see your frame clogged or rubbed.

Able to be set up tubeless or tubed, there are two sizes of the tubeless MSO variant available: the tested 36mm, and a soon-to-be-launched and frankly whopping 50mm (that's 2in to you mountain bike folks). Also in the MSO range (but not tubeless) are the following variants: 32, 40 & 50mm sizes, available as both single-compound 60TPI (threads per inch) and dual-compound 120TPI casings. There's a 120TPI dual-compound 36mm MSO coming later this year. With so many variants, be sure you're ordering the right tyre.

Read our review of the Clement X'Plor MSO

Donnelly LCV — £60

The LCV is the latest high performance tyre from Donnelly (formerly known as Clement) and with an RRP of 60 quid it's gunning for the big boys like Schwalbe and Continental. Those are pretty huge reputations to challenge, but do you know what? The LCV has them well in its sights.

The LCV is designed for all-out performance, and the moment you pull it out of the box you can feel the stickiness of the rubber so you're pretty much expecting a very grippy ride, and it doesn't disappoint.

Read our review of the Donnelly/Clement LCV
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Michelin Power All Season — £30-£34.79

Since 'four seasons in one day' is a description often applied to the British weather, these Michelin Power All Season Road tyres should be right at home among UK riders. After a typical English June, we're pleased to confirm that the performance is every bit as reliable as Michelin claims.

The All Season is one of three tyres in the Michelin Power range, each promising better performance with less drag than its predecessors, the Pro4 series. In the case of the All Season, it's grip that's the focus of performance claims, and Michelin promises 15% more grip 'on slippery surfaces' but 5% less resistance than the Pro4 Grip. Of course, this is neither here nor there if the Pro4 Grip was a pile of dingoes' kidneys, but back in 2014 our own David Arthur gave them a solid four star rating (read that review here).

At nearly 260g for the 25mm version (slightly less than officially claimed), these are hardly lightweight, but a lot of this is in the thick tread with its Aramid 'Protek +' protection layer. Over the test period I had no punctures and the tyres shrugged off some bad treatment, such as miles of freshly dressed country lanes that had gravel rattling off the down tube.

The only time you should be noticing your tyres when you are out riding is when they are failing you in some way – a puncture, a loss of grip, a noisy tread or a leaden, draggy feel. So perhaps the best thing we can say about these is that I never really noticed them.

Read our review of the Michelin Power All Season
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Schwalbe G-One — £37.99

If you can fit the Schwalbe G-One tyres in your frame, you should get some. As genuine all-rounders they're impossible to beat right now: fast rolling on tarmac and properly capable off-road. They're really, really good.

The G-One is a gravel tyre, according to Schwalbe. It's available in 35mm and 40mm widths and uses Schwalbe's Tubeless Easy construction, which the company claims makes them – you've guessed, right? – easy to set up. And they are. They went on first time every time with a Bontrager Flash Charger pump. And I even fitted them with a track pump, just so I could say I did. And that was fine too.

The close-packed knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. You can lean them right over into the the bends on the road, and they'll grab all sorts when climbing off-road.

We know plenty of people who've tried these tyres now, and we don't know anyone who doesn't love them. Try them. You'll love them.

Read our review of the Schwalbe G-One
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IRC Formula RBCC —£55

IRC’s Formula RBCC Tubeless tyres provide outstanding grip in dry and wet conditions.

Fitting and inflation are straightforward, and once the sealant is in and distributed around the inside of the tyre, all is secure and airtight.

The round-profile tyres sit pleasantly plumply on the rim; and measured with the callipers across their widest point came up at 25.5mm. The large-volume casing certainly holds a lot of air, which is very noticeable in the ride quality. We thought for a while the council had been round fixing the roads, but that was just a dream.

The other great quality in these tyres is the grip. We took them to northwest Scotland for a few days' testing on the steepest, twistiest, wettest, gravelliest, farm-manuriest roads we could find and, honestly, it was all we could do to get them to step out of line. Only when we deliberately braked late and hard into a sharp left-hander at the bottom of a steep hill did we finally coax the back tyre into some sort of skid, and even then it was more of a correction of direction than any cause for alarm. It feels like your brakes have had an overhaul. Most impressive.

Read our review of the IRC Formula RBCC

Schwalbe Pro One tubeless — £36.95-£38.95

Schwalbe bills this — the improved, lighter and faster-rolling version of the One — as 'tubeless easy', and some people even claim they have managed to get these to go up with a track pump. We found them easy to fit as tubeless tyres go, but they still needed a high-pressure blast to seat them.

As far as tubeless tyres go, though, these were very easy to fit – as long as you've got some compressed air to hand, in the form of some magic pump, a CO2 inflator or a compressor.

At 291g each (claimed weight 275g each), the Pro One takes tubeless tyres a step closer to rivalling the weight of the lighter clincher and inner tube setups. They feel light and accelerate well.

They needed 60 miles or so to wear in, but then the grip increases to very reassuring levels indeed. Blatting around our local race circuit these tyres go around the very tight corners confidently at any speed.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Pro One tubeless
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Specialized S-Works Turbo — £34.99

Very fast and very light, the S-Works Turbos are tyres you'll want to save for race day or an attempt on a sportive personal best. The Blackbelt puncture protection does a reasonable job of stopping small objects from getting through the tread, but the featherweight sidewalls are easily cut. Jo Burt found that a problem when he reviewed them and I've recently had to bin a pair after forgetfully using them on less-than-perfect roads.

On a sunny day, on good Tarmac, though, they're lovely and the 28mm version could be the perfect UK summer tyre.

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Read our review of the Specialized S-Works Turbo

Vee Tire Co Road Runner — £34.99

Fast-rolling, supple tyres that offer confidence-inspiring cornering grip, and sensibly priced. Rubbing your thumb over the Road Runner from Vee Tire Co when it's in its box, you just know it's going to be grippy – the compound feels practically tacky against your skin. And it doesn't disappoint once you put tyre to tarmac.

In the dry they really grip well and give you loads of confidence to keep banking the bike over. Mini roundabouts and the like can be taken flat out and we've yet to find their limits of adhesion.

Read our review of the Vee Tire Co Road Runner
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Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm — £27.99

Tyres are getting bigger, and the Continental Grand Prix 4000S II 28mm is a great example of why this is A Good Thing. Assuming you can fit these tyres into your frame, there are plenty of reasons why you should. They're excellent.

Big doesn't necessarily mean slow. It certainly doesn't here. You don't notice the extra bulk of the tyre when accelerating, and once up to speed they have a very supple feel and excellent all-round grip.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 4000s II 28mm
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Zipp Tangente Speed — £49.30

Zipp Tangentes are pitched as race-day tyres with an impressively low 196g weight in a 25mm size. They are very responsive and fast-rolling tyres, ideal for racing and Sunday best bikes.

They have a 220 tpi rubber/nylon casing, and weight is saved with the absence of the puncture belt that features on Zipp's two other tyres, the Course and SLSpeed tubular. We had no flats during testing. That doesn't tell you much - luck has a huge part to play in punctures as much as anything - but the clean tread with a noticeable lack of cuts and marks suggest good durability from the rubber compound.

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Read our review of the Zipp Tangente Speed

Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme 28mm — £23.30

The Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme tyres bill themselves as Xtreme (sorry) weather tyres - so perfect, then, for three seasons of UK riding.

They have managed several thousand kilometres without any punctures or slide-outs in the wet, despite our tester donning his old college volleyball knee-pads and seeing if he could lose the front wheel on fast roundabouts. Come rain or shine, they have provided comfortable riding, with smooth rolling and decent acceleration, and while they are not the lightest tyres on the market, they don't seem to suffer because of the extra weight.

Read our review of the Vredestein Fortezza Senso Xtreme
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Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm — £45.00-£46.99

The Strade Bianche race uses the white gravel roads of Tuscany and this 30mm racing tyre is just what you need for that kind of thing. It's a brilliant all-rounder that's fast enough for nearly any road use, but with hugely improved comfort.

Out on the road they're fantastic. You can run them at hitherto-untried low pressures with little or no danger of flatting them on potholes. They roll extremely well and at 358g they're not heavyweights. It's not like sticking a set of Marathons on. These feel like race tyres, they really do, except loads more comfortable. If you want comfort on long rides but still want to go fairly fast, there aren't many better tyres we can name.

Read our review of the Challenge Strada Bianca 700C 30mm
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Schwalbe One V-Guard — £27.50

Schwalbe makes the bold claim that its One tyres are the fastest the company has ever manufactured. Our roll-down testing confirms that they're fast and they feel extremely rapid with good traction in a range of conditions, with impressive puncture protection and durability.

They're now available in a wide range of sizes, up to 28mm and in clincher, tubular and tubeless. In normal use, riding the tyres daily in training, the 167km Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive and a road race, the tyres really impress. It's the sensation of speed and lack of resistance that is most noticeable. In a range of conditions too, they show incredible performance, from sun-baked to rain-sodden roads.

The link and price above is for the 23mm version. The 25mm width can be found for £30.99, while the 28mm version is £35.96.

Read our review of the Schwalbe One V-Guard
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Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite — £27.49

Despite a puncture-resisting layer, the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite tyres roll quickly and grip securely in all conditions.

They're secure in wet corners and the Hard Case puncture protection has proved more than capable of dealing with the variety of grit washed onto the roads.

Read our review of the Bontrager AW3 Hard-Case Lite
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Schwalbe Marathon Plus — £26

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are essentially heavy duty, ultra reliable commu-touring tyres that inspire unprecedented confidence without feeling sluggish or barge-like, as the 970g weight for a pair would imply.

Much of this is attributable to the Smart Guard system. This is essentially a clever subsection of supple rubber designed to force sharps out, rather than drawing them in as deep-treaded Kevlar types can, especially with age.

Read our review of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus
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Vittoria Pave CG Open Clincher — £31.26

Designed for comfort, wet grip and resistance to punctures and impacts, this is a lightweight fat tyre for riders who want speed on poor roads and don't care about a little extra mass.

It uses Vittoria's extremely supple 320tpi casing, Isogrip tread compound and is constructed like a tubular, hence the 'open' designation, short for 'open tubular'. Vittoria tags it as a tyre for extreme conditions, but as far as we're concerned that means British roads all year round.

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Continental Grand Prix 4 Season — £34.99

These popular puncture-resistant tyres from Conti have a Duraskin® cut-resistant layer from bead to bead, and two extra Vectran breakers help increase puncture protection.

They're billed as suitable for wet weather. Call us pessimistic, but to us, European wet weather tyres means year-round UK use, and the GP 4 Seasons are excellent do-everything tyres.

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