Hill Speed

[north woods gal]

Crankin, you can do very well on gravel roads with a road/touring/cross bike with 700x35 or 700x40 tires. You don't have to go MTB, again, unless you plan to do some very rough gravel roads. 700x35 or 40 is the typical tire width for gravel road racing bikes. I have such a bike in a Salsa Warbird that came with 700x35 tires and, to be honest, it takes a really deep sand or gravel trap to stop it. It will handle any of the gravel roads in our area that my larger tire bikes will do. Just need to be a bit more selective about picking a trail though the gravel.

Where the 700x35 drop bar bike shines, though, is as a pavement of any kind bike. I used a cyclocross bike with 700x35 tires for most of my commuting in my Chicago biking days, even for some riding in the snow. Those bigger tires did a much better job of handling some of those nasty Chicago streets than my 700x25 standard road bike.

As far as average speed on pavement, there is really very little difference between my Domane 700x25 and my Warbird 700x35. I like the option of taking a gravel road, now and then, so I ride the Warbird more than the Domane, plus the bigger 700x35 tires don't hurt as much with those darn road cracks.