# Wheelset/Tires for graveled paths, fire roads... for road bike



## HyperCycle (Sep 5, 2012)

I have a Trek 1.1 bike that I've been riding for 3 years. I was interested in purchasing wheels, cassette and cyclocross/gravel tires to use on local rail trails in my area. I've noticed quite a few riders riding these trails with road bikes.

If I bought a wheelset with 19mm wide rims (which I assume is the width on my Trek's wheels) and 700 x 35m gravel tires along with Shimano 8-speed cassette, 12-25T, to install on rear wheel.... would it be compatible with the current rim brakes on the Trek 1.1? Or would the 35mm tires be too wide to fit between brake apparatus when installing or removing tires? I'd like to be able to easily switch out a tire set for either gravel path use or road use without having to adjust rim brakes.

Sorry if this is a noob question.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

While I don't know for fact, I did just google some pictures of Trek 1.1 and am pretty confident saying there's no way you're be able to fit 35mm tires in that frame/fork.

Depending how smooth the gravel is and how heavy you are you may not really need tires that big though.


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## HyperCycle (Sep 5, 2012)

Jay Strongbow said:


> While I don't know for fact, I did just google some pictures of Trek 1.1 and am pretty confident saying there's no way you're be able to fit 35mm tires in that frame/fork.
> 
> Depending how smooth the gravel is and how heavy you are you may not really need tires that big though.


Gravel is smooth and I'm only 160lbs. Maybe a 28mm gravel tire would fit?


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## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

So did I.

OP, there's many different types of gravel. On the nice hard packed fine stuff, you just need heavier duty tires that won't puncture. Your bike now has 25 mm tires. Maybe you could fit 28 mm. It's easy enough to eyeball all the potential contact areas with your current tires and see if it looks like you can add another 2 mm all around. Not foolproof, as the only way to really know is to try it. Tire dimensions can vary considerably between brands. I'd doubt that anything bigger will fit.

Loose gravel needs bigger tires, I need 40 mm to feel comfortable, and that requires a 'cross frame.


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## HyperCycle (Sep 5, 2012)

Thanks for the replies!

The rail trails I was referring to have fine, smooth packed gravel... so slicks would probably do fine on that surface. In conclusion, it probably wouldn't be worth the $250 for wheelset, tires and cassette... just to have a little more grip on fine gravel surface. I've looked around on the net and the smallest width size cyclocross tire available is 700c x 28mm. 

It would be a lot easier and less hassle to buy a cyclocross bike with race geometry and knobby tires....and then buy wheelset and slick tires at 700c x 32mm.


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