are 28mm tyres ok for gravelly park walkways?

[RideToWorky]

Hiya All,

Would love to ride along gravelly park walkways with the Missus, who really isn't keen on road riding. (Really easy type of smoothed out hard core paths along parks etc. Guessing this would be the same for centre parcs etc.)

Are 28mm tyres ok for gravelly park walkways.

Cannondale road bike
Still looking to road commute on the bike
But also thinking about perhaps converting from my 25mm Tyres, to 28mm tyres which shop said would fit ok.

Any other things I should know about, if converting to 28mm road tyres?


Regards
Martin

[freeflow]

yes. They will be fine on packed gravel. Try something like a Conti 4 seasons or Pro 4 endurance

[Rich_Clements]

As freeflow says you'll be fine with 28's

[mjr]

I'd say 28s are "OK" rather than "fine" on packed gravel. Don't expect as comfortable or fast a ride as you get with either 28s on tarmac or 37s on packed gravel.

[hamster]

Should be fine. I've ridden stuff like that on 23c. This summer a bad bit of mapping led us to have to ride a 4km section of rough track with rocks the size of fists, we had 28c Michelin Pro4 Endurances. It was no problem with care picking a line.

[PT1029]

I've used 28c tyres on bridle paths.
If you have/plan to have mudguards that run under the brakes, you might not have enough room with 28 c tyres on a road bike. SKS race blades/grud guards usually exempt from this issue.
Good that you are trying to avoid the cycling widow syndrome!

[resus1uk]

I have 28 mm Marathons on my trikes. Regularly use the old railway trails like the Tissington trail in the Peak District. Even the single wheel drive had enough grip up hill and I got upto 22 mph downhill.
I would have preferred my old hard tail MTB with bigger tyres but the Trike did well on compacted gravel.

[blackbike]

My two tourers have 25mm Marathons on and I consider them go anywhere bikes.

I've even done easier routes on them at mountain biking centres.

[Gattonero]

Mind you: not all the "28mm" are the same!
I.E. tyres with special puncture-protection like Marathon/Marathon plus, Conti Top Contact, etc. they are all bigger than stated. They are especially taller than usual, so clearance may be an issue.
If they fit, Vitotria Randonneur are a decent cheap solution, or the venerable Panaracer Pasela, or GravelKings, or vittoria Pave (a bit more delicate, tho)

[PH]

Mind you: not all the "28mm" are the same!

Indeed, not all 28s are even 28 and some of that will depend on the rim. My 28mm conti 4 seasons on Open Pro rims measure little more than 26 and on the same rims the 30mm Marathon Racer (Which I think would be a good tyre for paths) is only just 28mm.

[RideToWorky]

Thanks for the info guys!

Some interesting findings

Will post separately.

Cheers
Martin