The Peak is Goodyear’s most aggressive gravel tire, sitting in a compact range alongside the virtually slick County and the intermediate Connector. Even so, it’s still a pretty standard-looking tread pattern with small, closely packed knobs along the center line and larger, more open lugs on the shoulders. This design gives decent rolling speed on tarmac or hardpack but still offers cornering grip in looser, off-road conditions. The tire’s profile is more rounded than that of a mountain bike tire, giving a smooth transition between the center line and the shoulders.
It’s at the knobblier end of gravel tires, “with widely spaced blocks to aid grip and forward drive in wet or very loose conditions” according to Goodyear - perfect for year-round UK use then!
Goodyear Peak Tubeless Complete Gravel tire: Construction
The Peak's casing is 120tpi, promising a fairly supple ride. Puncture protection is in the form of Goodyear’s R:Shield cap, a protective layer that sits under the tread but doesn’t extend down the sidewalls at all, allowing them to remain pliable. Goodyear calls the rubber compound Dynamic Silica:4, and says that it balances rolling resistance and traction with longevity, suggesting again that the tire is an all-round model that might not excel in any one area but should offer very good performance across the board.
The Tubeless Complete moniker denotes that Goodyear has added an extra layer of ‘multi-compound material’ that improves the air retention properties of the tire, making tubeless use easier. The idea is that as sealant isn’t required to make the tire airtight, there is more sealant left sloshing around in the tire to seal any punctures. In my experience with a couple of tires with this concept, it works very well.
It's available in 35mm, 40mm and the 45mm version that I opted for with all black or black and tan as the color choices.
Goodyear Peak Tubeless Complete Gravel Tire: The ride
I fitted the Peaks to Fulcrum’s Racing Red Carbon gravel wheels and the process couldn't have been easier. No tire levers were required to mount them and yet once inflated, the tires didn’t lose any air even before sealant was added. The Fulcrum’s solid rim bed no doubt helped, but Tubeless Complete worked flawlessly. A tubeless-ready version of the Peak is also available at a lower price than the tubeless complete option, although it only has a 60tpi carcass.
It was a nice surprise that the tires weighed significantly less than billed, coming in at just 550g and inflated to bang on the promised 45mm, giving plenty of volume for cushioning.
Whether by design or just happy coincidence, the Peak gravel tire seems, on paper, perfect for riding in the Peak District. My local ‘gravel’ riding bears an uncanny resemblance to the trails I used to ride on my XC mountain bike, with a healthy mix of tarmac, singletrack, rocky moorland tracks and even some quite technical descents. What I don’t have much of is mile after mile of hardpack trail save for a few disused railway lines so smooth, narrow tires aren’t always ideal. Deep mud is rarely a problem either as the sandy gritstone is very grippy even when wet and it drains well too, so slopfests aren’t frequent, but a bit of extra grip is always handy, so the Peak looked perfect for the Peak District.
And so it proved. The Peak was an excellent go-anywhere, ride-anything tire that was able to tackle all the terrain and conditions that I threw at it. As much as I love my Gravel King SKs, the Peaks infused extra confidence in my riding at points that the Panaracers would have been a bit sketchy. Pleasingly, they didn’t suck my will to live out of me when forced onto the inevitable tarmac connecting sections on a ride - the close-packed central knobs coupled with the rounded profile kept the bike rolling along nicely. The rounded profile also helped when cornering on asphalt, so there was no sudden change in grip levels or too much squirming as the shoulders of the tire connected with the ground.
Grip levels remained high whether on wet rocks, sandy trails or wooded singletrack. The 45mm width gave plenty of scope for running low pressures for added traction and comfort whilst I had no issues with punctures or the tires losing air over time. The tread and sidewalls (which can take a bit of a battering on my rocky trails) look to be unscathed so far, so durability is looking good too.
Value and conclusion
The Peaks worked flawlessly for me, from their ease of mounting and air retention to their assured performance across the mixed terrain in the Peak District. Considering the price of many road tires and the extra rubber involved in making a gravel tire, I’d also say that the Goodyear Peak is a bit of a bargain. Even though summer is (hopefully) on its way, I’m in no rush to take these off the bike and I think that they could be happily left on all year round for a lot of riders.
