Recently I bought a pair of Maxxis Rambler gravel tyres, 40mm wide and
120TPI. I had one on the front of my touring machine for the duration
of the 500km loaded tour that included about 100km of gravel roads.
Since then I have them front and rear, and have ridden some hundreds of
km more on gravel roads, some of which were fairly rough going - not in
Joerg's rough category mind you. I have inner tubes in mine, and on
relatively narrow rims compared with some other people, I think.

I've had no punctures. They roll well on bitumen too.

Today I read some reviews and there was a theme of them being puncture
prone because of the light weight side walls. From what I can tell,
these reviewers had the tyres possibly on wider rims, ran them tubeless,
and with less pressure than I've had them pumped up to.

I guess it's no surprise that with wider rims and lower pressure, the
side walls are more exposed to sharp edges.

I think one of the main reasons of going tubeless is so that people can
run lower pressures to get better traction and smooth out more bumps
without the fear of pinch flats.

But maybe it also means you need to make sure the tyre and rim
combination has more rubber further around the tyre to protect the side
walls better?

As with all things there are trade offs.

--
JS

On Monday, September 6, 2021 at 9:56:31 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
> Recently I bought a pair of Maxxis Rambler gravel tyres, 40mm wide and
> 120TPI. I had one on the front of my touring machine for the duration
> of the 500km loaded tour that included about 100km of gravel roads.
> Since then I have them front and rear, and have ridden some hundreds of
> km more on gravel roads, some of which were fairly rough going - not in
> Joerg's rough category mind you. I have inner tubes in mine, and on
> relatively narrow rims compared with some other people, I think.
>
> I've had no punctures. They roll well on bitumen too.
>
> Today I read some reviews and there was a theme of them being puncture
> prone because of the light weight side walls. From what I can tell,
> these reviewers had the tyres possibly on wider rims, ran them tubeless,
> and with less pressure than I've had them pumped up to.
>
> I guess it's no surprise that with wider rims and lower pressure, the
> side walls are more exposed to sharp edges.
>
> I think one of the main reasons of going tubeless is so that people can
> run lower pressures to get better traction and smooth out more bumps
> without the fear of pinch flats.
>
> But maybe it also means you need to make sure the tyre and rim
> combination has more rubber further around the tyre to protect the side
> walls better?
>
> As with all things there are trade offs.

Since I've encountered so many flats with the lower pressures lately I started running my 28's at 80-90 psi. I really can't tell any difference in the comfort of the tire and I don't expect to get any pinch flats now.

James <james.e.steward@gmail.com> wrote:
> Recently I bought a pair of Maxxis Rambler gravel tyres, 40mm wide and
> 120TPI. I had one on the front of my touring machine for the duration
> of the 500km loaded tour that included about 100km of gravel roads.
> Since then I have them front and rear, and have ridden some hundreds of
> km more on gravel roads, some of which were fairly rough going - not in
> Joerg's rough category mind you. I have inner tubes in mine, and on
> relatively narrow rims compared with some other people, I think.
>
> I've had no punctures. They roll well on bitumen too.
>
> Today I read some reviews and there was a theme of them being puncture
> prone because of the light weight side walls. From what I can tell,
> these reviewers had the tyres possibly on wider rims, ran them tubeless,
> and with less pressure than I've had them pumped up to.
>
> I guess it's no surprise that with wider rims and lower pressure, the
> side walls are more exposed to sharp edges.
>
> I think one of the main reasons of going tubeless is so that people can
> run lower pressures to get better traction and smooth out more bumps
> without the fear of pinch flats.
>
> But maybe it also means you need to make sure the tyre and rim
> combination has more rubber further around the tyre to protect the side
> walls better?
>
> As with all things there are trade offs.
>
I suspect certain tires get reputation which frankly has little to do with
facts after all most folks are very poor at cause and effect.

A lot of gravel tires are 35/45 and around 400g I’m less that convinced
much difference in punctures between them, compared to MTB tires even XC
whippet types they are much less robustly built and don’t do well with rock
strikes.

Bar internet warriors who claim improbable speeds and tire pressures, I’ve
not noted any pressures differences between tube and tubeless, as most
reach the point that they are happy with as though you can run lower, the
tire will wander.

Roger Merriman

On 8/9/21 1:20 am, Tom Kunich wrote:

>
> Since I've encountered so many flats with the lower pressures lately
> I started running my 28's at 80-90 psi. I really can't tell any
> difference in the comfort of the tire and I don't expect to get any
> pinch flats now.
>

I've always run my 25's that measure 27mm no lower than 80psi, and don't
experience pinch flats. I weigh in at ~75kg.

--
JS

On Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at 4:00:50 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
> On 8/9/21 1:20 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
>
> >
> > Since I've encountered so many flats with the lower pressures lately
> > I started running my 28's at 80-90 psi. I really can't tell any
> > difference in the comfort of the tire and I don't expect to get any
> > pinch flats now.
> >
> I've always run my 25's that measure 27mm no lower than 80psi, and don't
> experience pinch flats. I weigh in at ~75kg.

I'm quite a bit larger than you at 88 kgs.