Schwalbe G-One R Tires – A Peer Review

BIKE Magazine aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

When it comes to gravel tires, I’ve only properly experienced a handful of options over many years. I’m certainly not an expert, but not one of them spoke to me. I’d wear them out before replacing them, but it probably says enough that I’d never bought the same rubber twice until I tried these G-One R tires from Schwalbe. When I first converted my Waltworks V1 into an ATB*, I skipped straight to mountain bike widths – clearance is not an issue. I set it up with much more voluminous 2.2”, 2.4”, and even 2.6” rubber for a comfort-over-speed take on the commuting and errand-running that is this bike’s raison d'être.

I rarely rode it. Yes, even with my sweet 1x6 drivetrain and custom YGWYGAYDGU rack by WZRD Bikes. I’m just never really in a hurry. I was happy to coast along on my single-speed, massive 29x3” front tire, e-MTB CushCore inserts, etc. I wear a backpack all the time to mountain bike, so it’s not much of a deterrent for my commute unless I want to load things up.

Then, three things changed. My daughter started asking about occasionally riding to school (an hour or so of pedaling each way on a mix of gravel, pavement, and light trails – then to work at the shop – then vice-versa). I started doing more rides with my WZRD rack loaded up. And, I had a great chat about tires with the bike-industry-eminent Alvin Wai .

*All Terrain Bike, Any Type (of) Bike, Another Thoroughfare Bike, Annoying Trendy Bike – take your pick.

A Jury of My Peers

I should disclose a few things about Alvin quickly. First, he works at one of Canada’s Schwalbe distributors – Orange Sport Supply. As such, take his Schwalbe recommendation sprinkled with as much salt as you like to taste. I don’t know that anyone could be intimately familiar with every one of the good groad (gravel-road) tire options on the market, but I’d pick Alvin first for my team if I was entering a gravel-tire trivia competition. I’m positive he recommended the ‘R’ in the best of faith.

Like all the folks I talked to about my groad tire aspirations, Alvin comes to the loose-over-hard sport surface with performance in mind. That was by design. I was aware that gravel tires essentially evaporate, but I didn’t want the ride of clunky commuter rubber. He helped me settle on the 700x40c option, rather than the narrower 35c or wider 45c, and when I found out that they were only available in a ‘Transparent’ AKA tan sidewall colour and went looking for a different tire, he told me these would look especially good mounted on my polished VelocityUSA Quill rims.

I still haven’t come to terms with the appearance (all-black tires for me, thanks), but I’ve received some nice compliments, so I’ll give Alvin the win there too.

Good groad tires aren’t inexpensive, so I shopped Alvin’s G-One R recommendation around to a pile of folks I know grinding gravel – in competitions, group rides, solo, or just commuting and running errands like me – and everyone who tried the ‘R’ agreed that I would love it. Quiet and fast rolling on the road, surprising grip carving turns or hard braking on loose descents.

Folks who didn’t think the G-One R would be an excellent option fell perfectly into two categories. People who had never tried the tire and couldn’t comment on it. The other group is people who don’t get why someone chooses gravel tires over just riding fast mountain bike rubber. To the first group, you should add this tire to your list. To the second group, it’s a different experience mixing almost-road speed with surprising off-road capability, but if you’re still not sold that’s cool too, I guess. Wait, they may just all be one group – people who haven’t tried the G-One R?

I’ll clarify one more time, that I’m not out on gravel group rides or mixing it up in races, and I have no aspiration to do either. I just love riding my bike around my community running errands and just for fun, and this is a great vehicle to accomplish that. I groad ride with flat pedals and don’t care for gram counting. I’d have told you I’d take a tire biased towards descending stability or maximum road speed, but when it comes to gravel tires, I’ve tried, I don’t find these Schwalbe’s are a compromise.

Alvin aside, I did want to mention one other friend by name whom I talked gravel rubber with. That’s not meant as a slight against all the many other folks that I chatted with (thank you), it’s mainly so I have an excuse to share this photo of him absolutely eating it , with a smile, for the camera at the BCBR Gravel Race. My friend Cooper Quinn and I have a friendly competition going on to see who can write the most about groad riding this year. I’m losing, badly. I’m at a decided disadvantage since I don’t race or groadie-group-ride, don’t review gravel bikes or kit, and don’t even own carbon rims or anything made by Rapha. But I’ll keep chipping away at it if folks are interested.

On that note, if you’re keen to see more (or, I suppose, less) ATB, groadie, commuter, etc. content on BikeMag be sure to let the powers that be know.

Editor's Note: Julia Tellman does regularly enjoy gravel group rides, and gravel races, and is actually on her way to one right now. She doesn't own anything by Rapha (yet) but she'll be back next week with more traditional gravel-based gear writing.

Tire Talk

As I picked the brains of anyone who’d ridden gravel rubber and would listen to my ramblings, my actual requirements were simple. I wanted something that rolled smooth & silent on fresh pavement like a slick. But, also gripped wet sideways roots like a MaxxGrip Assegai. It had to dig into loose-over-hard sports surfaces on standing-steep climbs with no knobbly gobbly feeling on the road. It would stay forever fresh with the timeless hard-rubber durability of an IRC Kujo. Oh, and preferably all that for the price of some take-off tires stashed in the back of the shop. At least I didn’t ask for them to weigh next to nothing.

It will hopefully come as no surprise that the Schwalbe G-One R tires don’t deliver on any of those requests. I mean, the off-road traction is unbelievable – just look at these things. Even when I’m riding on greasy roots. As long as I’m ultra-focused, keep speed in check, and I’m feather-light on the brakes. I’m sad at how quickly the micro-knobbies wear out, but also very impressed with how long they last and how well they maintain an edge. It’s the same juxtaposition I go through with many bike parts. Good tires aren’t cheap; cheap tires aren’t good. Light and supple tires don’t last forever, tires that last forever aren’t… you get it.

I’m generally running between 40 & 50psi front and rear. Usually closer to 40psi, but that pressure is not a recommendation and is skewed by the fact that I run CushCore Gravel/CX inserts both front and rear. These inserts are 112 grams each, and worth every gram thrice over when I hit a set of stairs – up or down – without being as smooth as I ought to be. They are not run-flat-friendly like truly beefy CushCore options but the tires wouldn’t survive that treatment anyway. All the same, the inserts help keep tires on rims and rims running true and dent-free.

Mountain biking, I love the combination of a supple lightweight casing and inner sidewall support of an insert, not to mention the change in how tires ramp with the addition of the rubbery volume spacers. This is a case of what’s true on the trail also being true from my gravel and commuting experience.

On that note, I have not run the G-One R tires without CushCore, so I can’t qualify the extra traction boost I think I’m getting when pitches are especially loose and steep. That’s true both in terms of eking out that last few magical millimeters to crest a brutal climb, and experiencing the shocking braking traction even when my bike is loading up and I’m hauling hard on my Magura MT-7 front brake and 180mm rotor combo.

No one else I’ve talked to rides these tires with inserts, and they all describe similar joy at the climbing and descending traction, so maybe in this case, with the pressures I’m running, any traction gain is overstated. I do not doubt that the extra support from these inserts prolongs my tire & rim life substantially, with how I ride this bike. That’s a net cost saving that can add up fairly quickly since the inserts will last for many pairs of tires and most groad tires are notorious for wearing out very quickly.

When I load up my rack with all our supplies – chairs, cooler, clothes, books, towels, matt, etc. – to ride down to the river I’m pushing a decent amount of weight. The same goes when I have my work clothes and my daughter’s backpack, plus all the usual tools and spare gear, strapped for our commute to school and work. I manage the steep hills in North Vancouver with a pair of 180mm rotors and a Magura Trail brake setup, with their powerful 4-piston caliper up front and a 2-piston system for the rear. Braking is balanced and the feel is light, which I find helps when it comes to balancing input at the lever with the maximum amount of bite available at the ground. It did take some practice to get used to it, with me barking or skidding the front G-One R a few times on, loose, pitches.

This is me reusing a system I already had, but money aside I can’t see myself taking a big step down in braking power. I imagine most groadies could justify the weight savings of downsizing to 160mm rotors, and the corresponding adapters, front, and rear, but loaded up on my steel former-mountain bike, I’m not stressed about it.

I’ve been offered a few other tires to try, by friends who’ve taken them off their bikes, but I’ve demurred. The G-One R tires arrived as the number one recommendation of a pile of people and they’ve served me fabulously, so the easy choice is to buy another pair when the tire comes. Always too soon, but we talked about that.

The G-One R tires are available in three sizes (35c, 40c, 45c = 1.35”, 1.5”, 1.70”), and exactly one sidewall colour, which is not black, and they sell for US$88 a tire which is both a lot of money and justifiable, to me, based on my experience with them. They’re smooth, they’re quiet, they’re fast, and the grip they deliver is supreme (until it’s not).

The folks who recommended them come in all shapes and sizes and I have to give them top marks – five out of five stars. There’s solid value to be derived from buying the right thing the first time. And, in my case here, just choosing to stick with it. So, if you’re one of the many folks who suggested ‘R’ was the best option for me, thank you!