· Jonathan Cutrer · Cycling · 3 min read
Gravel Tires for Texas Roads — What Actually Works
Six tires tested on caliche, chip seal, and the occasional stretch of actual pavement. Here's what stayed on the bike.
Texas gravel is its own thing. You get caliche roads that are basically packed powder until it rains and then they’re mud. You get chip seal that looks like pavement but has a texture somewhere between coarse sandpaper and loose gravel depending on when it was last resurfaced. You get limestone-edge roads through the Hill Country that are genuinely fast but will flat you if you look at them wrong.
I’ve run a lot of tires over the last three years. Here’s an honest breakdown of the ones worth talking about.
The Contenders
| Tire | Width | TPI | Weight | Compound | Best Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panaracer GravelKing SK+ | 40mm | 60 | 385g | ZSG Dual | Caliche, mixed |
| Teravail Cannonball | 38mm | 120 | 420g | Light & Supple | Chip seal, hardpack |
| WTB Riddler | 37mm | 120 | 390g | Comp | Hardpack, road |
| Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M | 40mm | 127 | 340g | SmartNET | Mixed, endurance |
| Challenge Gravel Grinder Race | 36mm | 260 | 320g | Open | Fast hardpack |
| Specialized Pathfinder Pro | 42mm | 120 | 430g | Gripton | Loose, soft |
That TPI number matters more than people credit. Higher TPI means the casing deforms over obstacles rather than transmitting the hit to your hands. On long days over rough caliche, the difference between 60 TPI and 120 TPI is real and cumulative.
What I’m Actually Running
GravelKing SK+ on the front. The file tread center rolls fast on hardpack and chip seal, the side knobs give you something to lean on in corners. Holds air reasonably well with sealant. Has taken some serious punishment on rocky Hill Country descents.
Cannonball on the rear, currently. The Light & Supple compound makes it faster than it has any right to be for a 38mm tire. Wears a bit faster than I’d like on rough caliche — I go through a rear Cannonball about every 4,000 miles.
The Ones That Didn’t Work for Me
The Challenge Gravel Grinder Race is a tire for people who ride faster than me on smoother roads than I typically find. It’s an excellent tire — 260 TPI, fast, supple — but the casing is fragile enough that I flatted twice on rocky descents in the Hill Country before I gave up on it.
The Riddler is a fine tire for East Coast hardpack. On West Texas caliche it’s too aggressive in the center and doesn’t clean out fast enough when the road gets loose. It works; it’s just not the right tool.
On Width
Everyone asks about width. The honest answer is: go as wide as your frame clears, within reason. I run 40mm. It’s not as fast as 36mm on flat hardpack, but the ride quality on rough roads is noticeably better and I flat less. The rolling resistance difference between 36mm and 40mm at the same pressure is real but small enough that it only matters if you’re racing.
Run lower pressure than you think. On gravel I’m usually at 30–35 PSI front and 35–38 rear for my weight (175 lbs). Most people coming from road riding run 10+ PSI too high on gravel and then wonder why their hands hurt.
Setup
All of these are running tubeless with Stans sealant, refreshed every 60–90 days. I don’t race, so I’m prioritizing puncture resistance over weight. If you’re racing or doing events with timed sections, the Challenge tire is worth the fragility trade-off. If you’re doing long days unsupported, the SK+ or Cannonball will cause you fewer problems.
What I’d Try Next
The Pirelli Cinturato Gravel RC at 35mm has been on my list for a while. The M I tested was slow for my use case, but the RC compound is reportedly faster. I’ll probably test it over winter when the roads in the Hill Country are harder from the cold.
