🚀 Elevate Your Ride with Kimberlite!
The AMERICAN CLASSIC Kimberlite Gravel Bike Tire is designed for adventure enthusiasts, offering a fast-rolling experience with exceptional grip on various terrains. With its innovative Nylon117 technology and specially-tuned RubberForce G compound, this tubeless-ready tire ensures durability and performance, making it the perfect choice for gravel biking.
Tread Type | Directional |
Bike Type | Gravel Bike |
Tire Type | Tubeless |
Item Width | 1.57 Inches |
Item Diameter | 700 Millimeters |
Material Type | Rubber |
B**B
Appears to be a high quality tire!
I'm kind of a tire nut. I have a dozen or so tires from different brands for my 2 bikes. I swap them out on my bikes depending on the type of ride I'm doing. I picked these up for my gravel bike because they were inexpensive and to see if they were any good. These Kimberlite tires appear very similar to those of other brands, such as WTB. Sidewalls don't seem stiff or too hard to me - they seem very similar to my other Kenda, Terravail, and WTB gravel tires with supple sidewalls.So far after 10+ rides and ~150 miles of mixed surfaces thus far I'm very impressed. Good traction on pavement and loose dirt trails - they are not made for very much mud. No punctures so far. Certainly worth the $35 per tire.I'm running with butyl tubes currently, but will have latex tubes in them before my next ride. No plans at this time to go tubeless with these tires just yet. When I did switch eventually from butyl to latex inner tubes I was able to get the tires re-mounted with just my fingers - no levers needed! Don't understand why other reviewers have reported difficulty getting them on and off rims. Maybe a different batch or something?? Also, they are measuring right at about 40mm wide on my wheels.I will be putting a lot of miles on different surfaces with these tires and will update this review from time to time.Update: 3/12/22Just finished a 2 day, 150 mile bike tour on these 700x40mm tires with latex innertubes. Was only loaded with one trunk bag, but it was an additional ~20 pounds nonetheless. Route was mostly pavement, much of which was chip seal pavement in poor condition, and there was a few miles of loose sandy gravel. Ran 44 psi in the front and 47 psi in the rear tire. These tires handled everything perfectly. I'm impressed.Update: 4/21/22406 total miles now with these Kimberlites including over 100 miles of gravel recently varying from large coarse crushed rock (like railroad ballast), large smooth river gravels, to sandy and hard packed dirt. This tire has handled them all for me with pressures around 40 psi. Smooth and fast. They did well enough without bogging down in deep loose sand, but I'm sure the 50mm version would have been better - I'm staying away from mud. There's probably a better tire out there if you're needing a more aggressive bite and certainly for mud, but this tire is working well for me so far. No punctures yet and hardly any noticeable wear. 1st photo is front after 150 miles. Last 2 photos are rear tire after my last ride at 406 miles.Update 8/21/22; 665 miles on 26 rides so far with no punctures.Last 250 miles I've tried these tires out exclusively on my regular road routes. Some smooth asphalt and concrete, sidewalk style bike paths, and lot of patchy and chip seal pavement. In a word, the ride was "plush". Stable too. Smooth and comfortable at 42/46 psi. No real noticeable drop in speed to me, but without a doubt these tires have to have a little more rolling resistance than my Conti GP5000's on my other bike. Had section of a concrete bike path that had a thin layer of wet mud deposited over it - and I had some traction loss. Might not have been so bad if it had not been concrete under it, but these are definitely not the tires for mud. Still hardly any noticeable wear.2/24/2023; 1014 miles now over 37 rides with no punctures.So far so good. I prefer this tire when riding rougher surface roads. The 40mm size soaks up the bumps well making the ride much more enjoyable. The only wear I see is the very fine file pattern in the middle portion of the tread has worn down on my rear tire. Happy that I purchased them.6/29/2024. Total 1627 miles and 56 rides. Still loving these tires. No punctures, issues, and not much noticeable wear since last update. Just smooth rolling mostly over patchy and bumpy pavement.Will continue to put miles on them and evaluate these tires. With my experience with the Kimberlites I'd tempted to look take a look at American Classic's road tires next time.
J**R
Inexpensive and BEAUTIFUL tire for poor quality pavement
I really like this tire. The increased width and decreased pressure means a much more comfortable ride on rough pavement. The tires feel quality too. The subtle silver lettering on the tan sidewall was an unexpected esthetic benefit. :) There is one "issue" that you might need to figure out though. The tire is VERY tight on the rim. I live in mesquite country and punctures are expected and frequent. Though I never needed tire irons for my Gatorskins, with the Kimberlites I do. What I have found helps is in addition to moving the tire's bead into the center of the rim, I have to put 2(!) irons under the bead two spokes apart. Then I hook the first iron under a spoke (easy) before pushing the tire bead off the rim with the second. And this second operation comes with a pop! So far I haven't pinched a tube, and I don't think I will, but it is a concern. Overall, I am in love with these tires, and the exceptionally good price.
M**S
good quality
i bought these tires to put on a 29r mtn bike. the tires were easy to mount tubeless no problems...i have ridden about 2 months with the tires on a daily driver bike. i was skeptical that they would hold up to mixed terrain used but these are great tires. i mean mixed as in fire roads, pavement, jumping off curbs type riding...i haven't ridden trails with these yet but don't see an issue now that they have proved very tough. the one conditions they don't do well in is sand, no surprise there they knife in pretty fierce so you have to kick up the rpms to try to plow through...i have ridden like 30 mph downhill on fire roads and these held up well...have no problem popping off rocks and roots to catch air, no burping on landings...i do keep the air pressure on the higher side, prolly 35 psi and above...to protect rims...pleasantly surprised with these tires, thought they would fail in a week or so....the low rolling resistance is very real, i can coast prolly 5 times farther on these than the mtn tires....i may try to xc race with these tires later this year
A**D
About 90% perfect
I purchased the 700x50 version in December 2022 to mount on the Velocity Quill rims of my Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross. They have always been setup tubeless with Orange Seal Endurance.After roughly 3000 miles of urban pavement, gravel, and singletrack trails I've had zero punctures or issues at all. The tires show no discernable wear and I imagine I'll get at least another year out of them. They roll fast, exhibit good braking performance and are solid all-road tires.Downsides? Just a couple, and not enough to take a star off. For one, they're undersized. Even on my 21mm quills they've never plumped up beyond 48mm, which is fine, but they aren't true 50s.Also, remember that these are primarily road tires. They can certainly handle smooth gravel and dry dirt, but be very careful when things get loose. These are slicks.Bottom line : 90% as good as tires double the price. I'd buy them again.
C**Z
Excelente calidad
Muy fácil instalación, poca resistencia al rodamiento en pavimento, hasta el momento no se ha utilizado en otro tipo de camino , muy cómoda inflada a 40 ,buena estética... todo bien hasta el momento
Trustpilot
2 days ago
2 weeks ago