It’s a big volume tire and that gives one a lot of grace as far as dropping air pressures and keeping the rims off the rocks. I ran them at no more than 40 psi and even down to 30 psi just to see how that was. Out of the saddle pitches where I was weight forward and driving, I had to try really hard to get the rear tire to break traction. Not quite as stuck as the WTB Ventures, but not far off. Where the Resolutes can feel a bit ‘loose’ on hard dirt with a light overburden, the SK’s feel very hooked up. But I was not expecting how much traction they would give off road, even on hard pack. On the road, they roll as well, likely better. I have to say that, except for traction in the most loose of conditions and perhaps over deep sand, the Panaracer Gravel King SK’s are a notch above the Resolutes. I wanted to compare the SK’s to a tire I prized for its all-round-ness for So Cal use. After using the WTB Ventures, which were like Velcro in the dirt but draggy on pavement, I re-mounted my stand-by WTB Resolutes, which are about the same size as the GK SK’s. We have pretty dry conditions now, with little rain this winter. In the dirt I have been surprised at how tenacious they are. I can’t imagine anyone thinking these are not fast rolling enough on the tarmac unless your riding is biased >70% road. Transitions to cornering are smooth and predictable. It just rolls like there is no tomorrow and on smooth sections of pavement they make this high pitched ‘jet aircraft at altitude’ noise. The tread pattern is made of center rows of small blocks, 5 across in the 43mm version, that become two nearly continuous, long sections of tread at the very sidewall. It has very little knobs as such, so the sidewalls are just about as wide as the tread. After a few weeks of being mounted tubeless, the 43mm version measured exactly 43mms wide at the sides of the casing.
Basically the 40mm version was always bigger than 40mms, so why not just put that in print? Exactly. That makes it good for the rider as they can more accurately predict the fit to their bike’s frame. The 43’s are not a bigger version of the 40’s I tried before, but the new numbers reflect a correction in the labeling for the sake of accuracy. I have a set of the 43mm ones and a set of the 38mm ones. We have the more ‘normal’ casing in tubeless and in both the sidewall colors. There is even an SK + with a beefed up casing for flat protection. Now keep in mind that there are several tires with the Gravel King moniker, but some are more like slicks or are not tubeless. And tubeless compatible up to 60 PSI!” Detail of the Gravel King SK tread Aggressive knobs, ZSG Natural rubber compound, puncture protection breaker and AX-α special low rolling resistance casing make the Gravelking a go-anywhere tire. “Looking for a tire that’s more aggressive than the mixte-tread GravelKing? The GravelKing Sk might just be the tire you need for the more hardcore roads. It was time for a refresher on the Gravel King SK’s. Gravel King SK’s on Grannygear’s Lynskey GR-250Ī while ago I was thinking about the SK’s again as I had noticed a ‘new’ 43mm size in the line as well as a 38mm version. I remember them being fast rolling and nice riding, but then other tires came along as testing duties called to me. Relatively new to the market, they were tubeless ready and had very high volume, being over 40mms wide when mounted.
The Gravel King SK’s in the 40mm size were next. First I tried the Comet Hardpacks, and those were pretty cool with lots of grip in the dirt, but they were not tubeless and that was not good for me. They were the first gravel bike tires I had ever used. When I first built up the Lynskey, I sampled two sets of Panaracer tires. Panaracer Gravel King SK Tires: Quick Review – by Grannygear
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