Hutchinson launches its most rugged gravel tyre yet
The mud-shedding big-treaded Tundra joins the Override and Touareg in the range
The Hutchinson gravel tyre range is expanding as the brand has today unveiled the third tyre in its drop-bar off-road lineup, the Tundra.
It is designed as the most rugged and capable tyre in the brand's gravel range, sitting alongside the Override, which is designed to remain fast on the road while being capable on light gravel, and the Touareg, which is aimed at more conventional gravel and dirt roads and features in our guide to the best gravel tyres.
When designing the Tundra, Hutchinson says it took inspiration from its Black Mamba cross-country mountain bike tyre, featuring large knobs to bite into soft terrain, wide spacing to quickly clear mud, and tall shoulder knobs for predictability and grip in the corners. However, it hasn't completely ignored the faster nature of gravel rides, with a central spine of tread that is more closely spaced to help maintain a lower rolling resistance on roads and hardpack surfaces.
It will be available in a choice of black and tan sidewalls, but the difference between the two goes beyond just the colour. They both use a bi-compound rubber, which puts a softer compound at the shoulders to aid with deformation and grip, they are both made with a 127TPI construction too, but while the Black colourway gets Hutchinson's 'Reinforcement Plus' puncture protection breaker, the tan sidewall is given a layer of 'Hardskin' grid material, which wraps from bead to bead and forms a mesh-like construction with the aim of preventing larger slashes to the tyre. Being a gravel tyre, it will only be available in a tubeless guise.
According to Hutchinson, the launch comes in response to an upward shift in the technicality of terrain that gravel riders are willing to tackle. As bikes become more specialised towards 'fast gravel' at one end of the spectrum and 'adventure gravel' at the other, the capability of those adventure-focussed bikes is increasing, and in turn, the technicality of the terrain they can handle is increasing too. The launch of gravel suspension, for example, further increases the off-road capability of those adventure-focussed gravel bikes and as such, there becomes a need for an equally capable tyre.
The Tundra is Hutchinson's answer to that need, and it is available for £49.95 / €54.99 in the tan colourway, or £39.95 / €44.99 for black. Both options are available in sizes 700x40 and 700x45, which weigh in at 490g and 580g respectively.
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As the Tech Editor here at Cyclingnews, Josh leads on content relating to all-things tech, including bikes, kit and components in order to cover product launches and curate our world-class buying guides, reviews and deals. Alongside this, his love for WorldTour racing and eagle eyes mean he's often breaking tech stories from the pro peloton too.
On the bike, 32-year-old Josh has been riding and racing since his early teens. He started out racing cross country when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s and has never looked back. He's always training for the next big event and is keen to get his hands on the newest tech to help. He enjoys a good long ride on road or gravel, but he's most alive when he's elbow-to-elbow in a local criterium.