Schwalbe G-One

If you can fit the Schwalbe G-One tyres in your frame, you should get some. As genuine all-rounders they're impossible to beat right now: fast rolling on tarmac and properly capable off-road. They're really, really good.

Schwalbe is a company that has fully embraced tubeless technology. "We at SCHWALBE believe that tubeless is the tire technology of the future!", it trumpets, and to prove what a great technology it is, it's knocking out super tyres like this. The G-One is a gravel tyre, according to Schwalbe. It's available in 35mm and 40mm widths and uses Schwalbe's Tubeless Easy construction, which the company claims makes them – you've guessed, right? – easy to set up. And they are. They went on first time every time with a Bontrager Flash Charger pump. And I even fitted them with a track pump, just so I could say I did. And that was fine too.

> Find your nearest dealer here

You really have to run them tubeless. Well you don't, clearly, but they're much better when you do. The carcass of the tyre is very supple and they have an excellent ride feel. The close-packed knobbly tread, round profile and sticky tread compound give them prodigious levels of grip on all sorts of surfaces. You can lean them right over into the the bends on the road, and they'll grab all sorts when climbing off-road.

The lack of a tube means no pinch punctures, which means you can drop the pressure for more grip and comfort. Schwalbe states a range of 45-70psi but for the most part I ran them at the bottom of that range, or below. On the road, 50psi was good for back lane riding and 60psi was the most I ever put in them. For off-road and mixed surface rides I ran them at 30psi with no problems at all.

And they're fast. I mean, really fast. Not just fast for a big tyre, fast full stop. If you're battering around on well-surfaced A and B roads then you'd expect them to be a fair bit slower. In reality, they're not: my best time on this 50km/h smashfest of a segment on a proper road bike on 25mm tyres is just under four and half minutes. My best time on the G-Ones was only 15 seconds off that. And that's on a gravel bike with a more upright position – you could argue that the extra drag from the rider is easily worth the difference.

Once you're off the good roads and onto the average ones – and we have plenty of them – any conceivable difference in rolling speed is easily outweighed by the comfort of the big air chamber, and the fact that you don't have to ease off and pick your line: just batter on through. I've not managed to put a hole in them that the sealant hasn't immediately coped with. And that's with some deliberately risky line choices through all kinds of back-road detritus.

I've taken them off road too, and they're great for unsurfaced fire roads and farm tracks, blasting along with aplomb. The more technical things get, the more you're thinking that a bigger air chamber might give you a bit more margin for error, but even crashing into rocks with enough force to ding a rim didn't manage to flat them, and on most off-road surfaces they still offer fantastic levels of grip. Once things start to get really claggy the tread fills up and you'd be better off with a proper off-road tyre, but you can get away with most conditions.

> What width tyres should you have?

The only downside, really, is the wear rate, but that's a double-edged sword: it's the soft tread compound that gives the excellent grip and it's not as hardy as some. Personally I'll take the longevity hit for the feel and grip while they last. And it's not like they'll be done in a couple of weeks, I'm six months into this test pair and they're still going strong.

I know plenty of people who've tried these tyres now, and I don't know anyone who doesn't love them. Try them. You'll love them.

Verdict

Fantastically capable all-rounder tyre for roads, ruts and rocks