On the topic of race kings, I’ve abandoned my experiment with the G-one speed 2.35’s and I’m back on race kings. The g-one speeds definitely rolled fast, but I never got used to the handing. They just felt floppy and didn’t track great (particularly on road) and pretty low confidence cornering on loose/fast turns. I then switched over to the g-one RS 50’s for about a month and did a race on them last weekend. I liked them OK, but still not as much confidence in the handling compared to race kings and didn’t seem to roll any faster than the Race Kings. I switched back to the Race Kings yesterday at a regional race. The race was pretty fast (22+ average after neutral rollout) with mostly tame gravel, but with a bunch of loose corners. I saw multiple wrecks on the corners, but the RK’s were all confidence while others were sliding around. My experimenting is done, I’m on RK’s for the rest of this season, regardless of course. They may not be quite as fast as some other/smaller options on smooth straight stuff, but the handling and speed over the chunk are good trade offs for how I race. I bought a couple pair of them late last year, so I’m set for this season, but will likely be switching to the 2.2 dubs after that (which I’ve used in the 2.4 version for my MTB).
If you don’t want to make a change, I believe Race Kings are still available for now. Always tough to find, but they are out there and I assume Conti must still be producing them. The Amazon conti store has them for ~$90/tire and biketiresdirect shows them on backorder but expect more inventory on 2/16.
Side question as I’m trying to get a little serious about racing gravel…
what type and size of tubes do people carry for gravel racing– Latex, butyl? Also do you carry presta extension valves for the short valves, or do you try to find the longer valve tube? BTW I’m using the XPLR S wheelset.
Will a CX size tube (700x30-35) work in the larger gravel tires 700x45+? Or do people carry a MTB size tire?
I carry a TPU tube as my emergency tube for MTB and gravel racing. They take up less space than butyl and save a little weight. And I use valve extenders also, again mainly about saving space since I don’t put the extender on the tube for storage.
I don’t know about size, I use the same tube for MTB and Gravel but my tire sizes are pretty close. When I was running smaller gravel tires, I used to carry butyl tubes, but that was years ago and major flats were more common with small tires.
Thanks! any particular brand of TPU? Does Vittoria or Silca make one? Would be nice to carry 1 TPU for both MTB and gravel so I like this idea as I’m racing both now.
There are a ton of brands making them now. It’s probably been 5 years since I bought one, I should probably replace the one I have. But I have no idea if they are all the same or if it makes sense to pay extra for a name brand. Hopefully someone else will chime in.
I would make sure u have plugs, Co2s (multiple) and another way to pump up if u use all of them… ask me how i know - electric pump would be a good shout.
Long valve tube, TPU for space/weight. just get a MTB sized one. Aliex and amazon have plenty. they’re expensive but really a last resort as you should have tried:
- Letting it seal
- Pumping if low but sealed
- plugged + pumped if low
- if all else fails, tube it. Tubes mean you have to nurse your bike home unfortunately.
This. Ive been saying forever its not all about straight line speed. Glad to see someone else mention it.
You averaged 22 mph on race kings 
What frame are you running to run (I am assuming) 2.2’s?
Most of the races around central Texas have relatively tame gravel and have evolved into road races (with most of the good and bad that comes with road racing). I like the speeds and some of the pack dynamics, but I don’t love rolling into the finish in a pack of 20. Sprinters hiding until the end, shoulders and bar bumping for position, some of stuff I didn’t love about road racing. Most of the races are only ~60 miles, so not really long enough to turn into races of attrition. But I don’t fault the road racers for racing this way (I used to race road also), it’s still fun and there are still way more splits/breaks compared to road racing.
Lauf Seigla. Plenty of clearance for 2.2’s.
Awesome bike and awesome to know the RK can roll in the pack like that. Do you feel they keep up on the pavement ok as well?
They aren’t gp5000’s, but they aren’t noticeably slower than other gravel tires I’ve run on the road. I run those race kings on the road for fast-ish group rides and it’s workable. When pulling in the aero bars, I’d say it’s close to a wash between aero gains with the bars vs the extra rolling resistance and aero penalty on the race kings.