Creo 2 Tires Alternatives for Road

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

I am another vote for the S-Works Pathfinder, it's what I run on my Creo 2 on Hunt Gravel Race wheels. I run them as road tyres that can helpfully do light gravel in dry weather that some of my local rides include. Noticably lighter than the Pro version I have on my non e-bike gravel bike both 42mm version. They were easy to install on the wheels, I haven't had a single puncture yet and have been holding air as well as any other tubeless set up I have. I am very happy with mine if they came out with a 47mm or larger version i'd probably buy them instantly.

 

[Twowheelxtc]

On my Creo 2 I have Schwalbe Efficiency and have been very impressed. Perhaps they don’t have quite the off road capability of the Pathfinders but roll really well on road. They are tough too. Rolling Resistance Review is a great site to compare tyres and reports on rolling, puncture resistance and wet grip.

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

I agree about Rolling Resistance site, helped me decide which tyres to go for.

 

[mschwett]

I agree about Rolling Resistance site, helped me decide which tyres to go for.

yes. great site, and eye opening how much higher the resistance of many tires marketed or referred to as “fast rolling” are.

a pair of GP5000 TR S 28mm road tires, 17 watts. if you’re riding a leisurely 15mph on a road bike, that’s 17% of the total power it takes to keep going.

a pair of 42mm pathfinders, 40 watts. more than twice the drag and 20% more power needed in total! or, 20% less range on your e-bike. of course, if you’re riding off road the story is completely different but the idea that there is no drawback to riding gravel or hybrid tires on pavement is just completely false. a pair of fat bike tires at low pressure can be close to 100w, pretty much double the power required at 10-15mph!

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

yes. great site, and eye opening how much higher the resistance of many tires marketed or referred to as “fast rolling” are.

a pair of GP5000 TR S 28mm road tires, 17 watts. if you’re riding a leisurely 15mph on a road bike, that’s 17% of the total power it takes to keep going.

a pair of 42mm pathfinders, 40 watts. more than twice the drag and 20% more power needed in total! or, 20% less range on your e-bike. of course, if you’re riding off road the story is completely different but the idea that there is no drawback to riding gravel or hybrid tires on pavement is just completely false. a pair of fat bike tires at low pressure can be close to 100w, pretty much double the power required at 10-15mph!

Umm the S-Works Pathfinders 42mm are 20.2 W, Pathfinder Pro 42mm are 20.3 W, Pathfinder Pro 47mm are 21.4 W, the 38mm Pathfinder Pro is the worst performing at 23.0 W.

My understanding with Fat Bike tyres is they are designed for snow and sand and bloody useless everywhere else, not sure where the fashion for using them as a normal everyday bike came from.

 

[mschwett]

yes. great site, and eye opening how much higher the resistance of many tires marketed or referred to as “fast rolling” are.

Umm the S-Works Pathfinders 42mm are 20.2 W, Pathfinder Pro 42mm are 20.3 W, Pathfinder Pro 47mm are 21.4 W, the 38mm Pathfinder Pro is the worst performing at 23.0 W.

My understanding with Fat Bike tyres is they are designed for snow and sand and bloody useless everywhere else, not sure where the fashion for using them as a normal everyday bike came from.

i said a pair, making the pathfinders you mention from 40w (the figure i quoted) to 46w.

i assume your bike has two tires

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

i said a pair, making the pathfinders you mention from 40w (the figure i quoted) to 46w.

i assume your bike has two tires

Ah yes I had missed pair

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

yes. great site, and eye opening how much higher the resistance of many tires marketed or referred to as “fast rolling” are.

Umm the S-Works Pathfinders 42mm are 20.2 W, Pathfinder Pro 42mm are 20.3 W, Pathfinder Pro 47mm are 21.4 W, the 38mm Pathfinder Pro is the worst performing at 23.0 W.

My understanding with Fat Bike tyres is they are designed for snow and sand and bloody useless everywhere else, not sure where the fashion for using them as a normal everyday bike came from.

Coastal San Diego County is crawling with ebikes, and most are fatties (4" or wider) of one kind or another. Not my cup of tea, but after 1.5 years of observing the phenomenon, I think I understand some of the drivers.

1. Fat tires tap into the strong beach culture here. Few people actually ride on the beaches, but if you live in or near a beach town, you should at least look like you do.

2. Everybody loves (and many spend big money on) big, badass wheels and tires — on trucks, on cars, on motorcycles, and now on bikes. Inevitable form-over-function drift.

3. Fat tires give a cushy ride and support curb-jumping — handy in this largely urban and suburban setting.

4. The rolling resistance and handling issues are either unknown or irrelevant to the vast majority of buyers.

And I mean genuinely irrelevant. At least 80% of the ebikes I see are being used for short-trip transportation or cruising/posing. Most of their riders seem to enjoy being out on a bike but show little interest in pedaling beyond ghost pedaling. (Their call. Most are cars not on the road.)

They also have little interest in long, fast rides and technical offroad. (Again, their call.) For most purposes, their ebikes are powerful enough — and their trips short enough — to make any added resistance the motor's problem.

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

Coastal San Diego County is crawling with ebikes, and most are fatties (4" or wider) of one kind or another. Not my cup of tea, but after 1.5 years of observing the phenomenon, I think I understand some of the drivers.

1. Fat tires tap into the strong beach culture here. Few people actually ride on the beaches, but if you live in or near a beach town, you should at least look like you do.

2. Everybody loves (and many spend big money on) big, badass wheels and tires — on trucks, on cars, on motorcycles, and now on bikes. Inevitable form-over-function drift.

3. Fat tires give a cushy ride and support curb-jumping — handy in this largely urban and suburban setting.

4. The rolling resistance and handling issues are either unknown or irrelevant to the vast majority of buyers.

And I mean genuinely irrelevant. At least 80% of the ebikes I see are being used for short-trip transportation or cruising/posing. Most of their riders seem to enjoy being out on a bike but show little interest in pedaling beyond ghost pedaling. (Their call. Most are cars not on the road.)

They also have little interest in long, fast rides and technical offroad. (Again, their call.) For most purposes, their ebikes are powerful enough — and their trips short enough — to make any added resistance the motor's problem.

Thanks very enlightening!
I've only seen a few of them in my nearby city used by delivery riders. My rural, coastal part of Britain is mostly road bikes, touring bikes and mountain bikes. I can understand the lack of interest in long technical rides, i find myself less drawn to long fast technical mountain biking than i was as a kid, just enjoying being out on a bike rather than searching for a challenge. You have gotten me to think I might swap my wheels over and try a couple of my loops but ride along the beach rather than the paths beside them, possibly some nice variations of a few loops. Thanks!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Thanks very enlightening!
I've only seen a few of them in my nearby city used by delivery riders. My rural, coastal part of Britain is mostly road bikes, touring bikes and mountain bikes. I can understand the lack of interest in long technical rides, i find myself less drawn to long fast technical mountain biking than i was as a kid, just enjoying being out on a bike rather than searching for a challenge. You have gotten me to think I might swap my wheels over and try a couple of my loops but ride along the beach rather than the paths beside them, possibly some nice variations of a few loops. Thanks!

You probably already know this, but you only need the fatties to ride the loose, dry sand. I have no trouble riding the packed, damp sand exposed at low tide with these 2.3" hybrid tires:

With no center lugs, also good on pavement.

Nothing quite like communing with the ocean up close on a beach ride! Just make sure you rinse off the sand and salt spray when you get home — especially the drivetrain.

I get a very surgical, low-pressure rinse with the fan spray pattern on a pump-up garden sprayer filled with plain water. No high-pressure hose. Get the whole chain (rollers and side plates on both sides) and everything it touches. Turn off the bike's power first, and stay away from the controller and battery. No need to dry or relube.

Enjoy!

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

You probably already know this, but you only need the fatties to ride the loose, dry sand. I have no trouble riding the packed, damp sand exposed at low tide with these 2.3" hybrid tires:

View attachment 179308
With no center lugs, also good on pavement.

View attachment 179307
Nothing quite like communing with the ocean up close on a beach ride! Just make sure you rinse off the sand and salt spray when you get home — especially the drivetrain.

I get a very surgical, low-pressure rinse with the fan spray pattern on a pump-up garden sprayer filled with plain water. No high-pressure hose. Get the whole chain (rollers and side plates on both sides) and everything it touches. Turn off the bike's power first, and stay away from the controller and battery. No need to dry or relube.

Enjoy!

Thanks I shall give it go! Lovely photos!

 

[MCWeber]

My wife and I took delivery of Creo 2 Comps in early May this year. After about 1500km on the stock tires, I switched mine out to Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass extra light 44mm with TPU tubes. These have transformed my bike on pavement where we do most of our riding; faster for the same effort, more straight line stability and easier turn-in on pavement. No noticeable change in odometer reading due to slightly smaller diameter. These tire are sticky; I was able to take the fasted corner that I’ve ever taken on any bike at 45km/h. I startled myself.

On the well groomed gravel roads around here, the new tires are just fine, too. I love em.

On the stock tires I had one puncture flat right smack in the middle of the tread. Time will tell how durable these new tires are.

As a bonus, the new tires and tubes shave about 1.6 pounds off the bike.

Quieter, too.

 

[mschwett]

My wife and I took delivery of Creo 2 Comps in early May this year. After about 1500km on the stock tires, I switched mine out to Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass extra light 44mm with TPU tubes. These have transformed my bike on pavement where we do most of our riding; faster for the same effort, more straight line stability and easier turn-in on pavement. No noticeable change in odometer reading due to slightly smaller diameter. These tire are sticky; I was able to take the fasted corner that I’ve ever taken on any bike at 45km/h. I startled myself.

On the well groomed gravel roads around here, the new tires are just fine, too. I love em.

On the stock tires I had one puncture flat right smack in the middle of the tread. Time will tell how durable these new tires are.

As a bonus, the new tires and tubes shave about 1.6 pounds off the bike.

Quieter, too.

wow, just looked that up. 1,190g (2.6lb) for a pair of tracer pros. 670g for the snoqualmies. 1.15lb just in tires!!! throw some carbon rims on, run them tubeless and you’ll be another pound lighter

 

[mfgrep]

I like my gravel king slicks for exclusively street riding. I'd buy them again. I switched from Pathfinder Sports and am never looking back.

 

[MCWeber]

The reason I purchased a set of Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass 44s was to increase battery range. According to Bicycle Rolling Resistance the Snoqualmie Pass had close to the lowest resistance of all the gravel tires.

For example, the SP Extralite has a rr about 8watts less than the specialized 44mm tire. Two tires is 16 Watts, over 5 hours that’s 80Wh or about 1/4 of the bike’s internal battery capacity.

The shop I purchased the tires from recommended TPU tubes, and not to try these tires tubeless. That appears to be good advice so far. I really didn’t want the fuss of a tubeless setup. So far TPU tubes hold air just as well as the original butyl tubes, if not better. I inflat the tires to 40psi according to the Silca tire pressure calculator.

 

[mschwett]

The reason I purchased a set of Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass 44s was to increase battery range. According to Bicycle Rolling Resistance the Snoqualmie Pass had close to the lowest resistance of all the gravel tires.

For example, the SP Extralite has a rr about 8watts less than the specialized 44mm tire. Two tires is 16 Watts, over 5 hours that’s 80Wh or about 1/4 of the bike’s internal battery capacity.

The shop I purchased the tires from recommended TPU tubes, and not to try these tires tubeless. That appears to be good advice so far. I really didn’t want the fuss of a tubeless setup. So far TPU tubes hold air just as well as the original butyl tubes, if not better. I inflat the tires to 40psi according to the Silca tire pressure calculator.

so true, people really disregard the impact of rolling resistance on range. at low-ish speeds it makes a really big difference.

keep us posted on your experience with that combo, i got sooooo many flats with lightweight tubes and tires that i don’t do tubes any more, period.

 

[SolarPoweredCyclist]

The weight loss is definately a noticable improvement. I dropped 1.5kg from my Creo Comp changing the wheels and tyres set up tubeless, a few grams from shorter cranks as well. I'll have to look at the Rene Herse when I wear out my current s-works pathfinders. +1 for keeping us posted on how the tyres tube combo holds up please.

 

[mschwett]

The weight loss is definately a noticable improvement. I dropped 1.5kg from my Creo Comp changing the wheels and tyres set up tubeless, a few grams from shorter cranks as well. I'll have to look at the Rene Herse when I wear out my current s-works pathfinders. +1 for keeping us posted on how the tyres tube combo holds up please.

definitely. on my comp i did new wheels, tires, cassette, chainring, bar/stem, cranks, saddle, axles... took more than 5lb off if i recall. the new ones are better in this regard but the original comp had some very heavy parts for no good reason, like the sunrace cassette, the praxis chainring, etc. made a big difference!

 

[P1254]

Hello All,

First off let me explain that I'm very new to the cycling world and loving it so far. I have had my Creo 2 Comp for about a month now and have almost 500 miles racked up already. That being said, I am trying to soak in all of the information I can and to learn all the parts, nomenclature, etc... I have been on a few 30+ mile group rides thus far and have really enjoyed them and wish to keep diving further into this world....

Now the question -- It is my understanding that the Creo 2 is setup more like Gravel/MTB like than the original Creo. Is that understanding correct? The shop I bought the bike at told me to take off the gravel tires and put on some Gravel King Slick tires if I will be doing mostly road biking. That is fine and all, but I feel like there is a lot I have to understand. In the "Specialized Creo" facebook group there are several Creo 2 owners who are just buying a set of Creo 1 wheel sets. Is that the way to go?

As you can probably tell, I'm suffering for analysis paralysis and need some experts to help guide a new person figure out how to make my Creo 2 more of a Road bike than a gravel bike. I will 99.9% being riding on roads, so have no use for the huge gravel tires that come stock on the bike.

Hi,
I just bought the Creo 2 and I am in the same position you were in June, I want to use the bike for road and would like to change the tire.
What tires did you finaly choose ?

 

[Kyle Bieda]

@Lithona:
As Eddie has just said do not attempt to replace the Creo 2 wheels with the Creo 1 wheelset: incompatible.

Your tyres are Tracer Pro, which are ideal for (loose) gravel but not for the road. Your best replacement would be Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss in the same size (700 x 47), and possibly converting the wheels to tubeless. Pathfinder Pro (or, the more expensive S-Works Pathfinder) are silent, very fast rolling supple tyres with a tons of grip, especially on the cornering. I recommend staying at the 47 mm width as (a) it will keep your e-bike computer at the proper speed and the distance ridden (b) your motor is to overcome the slightly higher rolling mass of the wheels (c) big, tubeless tyres can be ridden at a pretty low pressure, which greatly enhances the riding experience.

If you really must go with skinnier tyres, go for Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss 700x42. I have tried all the mentioned tyres (only not the lightweight S-Works ones), so can say a word or two on the experience!

There is yet another aspect: The inner rim diameter. While it is OK to go from 47 down to 42 mm, further reducing the tyre width would result in the wrong tyre profile on the rim!

Well holy cow - I didn't know what I did with my settings, but I just thought no one ever responded to me! And here I am a few months later looking at this and I see a whole conversation has been had for my benefit and I didn't know! Thank you so much for your reply!