Gravel Gear; Tires

With at least 3 gravel rides this year I need to consider a raft of new equipment. As posted here I picked up a Lynskey Cooper CX bike. It’s a great bike but was built for commuting and as such there are quite a few thing that I need to change out. First up are tires. The bike came with 32mm Gatorskins, great for commuting, not so good for off road. After a fair bit of research and some running of the budget numbers I opted for a set (and a spare) of the Clement X’Plor MSO tires. Not the most expensive, nor the cheapest but tires that had received some very solid reviews.

From their website: The X’Plor MSO is an adventure tire designed for mixed conditions. The combination of smooth-rolling center knobs and aggressive shoulder lugs provide great traction and durability for gravel roads, trails, cyclocross, urban assault and even pavement. The MSO will fit on your cyclocross or gravel bike, commuter, and touring rig and comes in two sizes: 700 x 32mm and 700 x 40mm.

I decided on the 40s which should be a more comfortable ride vs. the 32s.

Clement is an old French company which was established in 1928, it was then sold to Pirelli and then lay dormant when Pirelli left the bicycle tire market. They were relicensed in 2010 and the brand is enjoying a second life. Beyond the technical aspect of this tire there was a lot of appeal of the history and European roots of the company, check out their website here.

Besides who doesn’t like a company that has a Griffin as a Mascot!

Once I have some miles on them I post my thoughts.