Hutchinson Overide 700x38 tyre

The Hutchinson Overide is a tough tyre for use on gravel tracks and bridleways, with decent grip and rolling resistance on the road. The lack of tread makes it more suited to dry and hardpacked trails rather than wet and muddy stuff, though.

The Overide strikes me as more of a robust road tyre than an out and out gravel one, but it is a good solution if you like to change between the tarmac and off-road tracks.

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The tread pattern is near smooth for the central section with the diamond shaped tread pattern increasing in size and depth as it heads out to the shoulders. When I say gets deeper, it's still pretty diminutive compared to something with a more knobbly focus like the Continental Terra Speed.

In places like America where gravel riding is a big thing they have a lot of large, well-packed, dry and dusty forest fire roads and this is more the style of riding that I'd say the Overide is designed for, as opposed to over here in the UK where many of our gravel tracks are byways that are a mixture of hardcore and mud.

The Hutchinsons aren't going to be your choice for the wet winter months, that's for sure, but in hot, dry and sunny weather like we have been seeing here in the south-west of England they absolutely zing along. At just 425g a tyre the Overide is quite light as well.

> Buyer’s Guide: 25 of the best gravel and adventure tyres

On my local hardpacked gravel roads, country byways and canal paths, they have been great. Wide enough to aid grip, they have flown on the faster sections and as long as the stones aren't small and deep, grip in the corners is pretty good too.

Some of the tracks I ride are well packed in the middle but the smaller stones can get pushed to the outside by heavy military or agricultural vehicles, and if you find yourself in there then the Overide doesn't give you a lot of grip or traction because of the slickness of the tread. You'll need to be confident in your handling and balancing skills to keep yourself upright.

As I mentioned already, the Overide is a robust tyre. With these tubeless-ready options having bead to bead protection from their Hardskin reinforcement, they have withstood plenty of abuse on the trails and aren't showing any cuts or marks.

While full protection like that can make a tyre feel a little dead by reducing flexibility in the sidewall, the 127 TPI (threads per inch) construction allows for a bit of suppleness and comfort.

The bi-compound rubber is soft for added grip, which shows itself more out on the road than on the gravel. As far as an all-round tyre goes, the road feel is pretty good and on the tarmac sections between the tracks you can really push the pace along.

Even on the downhills there is enough grip to cope with the slower handling of a gravel/adventure bike compared to a road bike.

You can get a clincher version of the Overide, but as I mentioned, I have the tubeless version here and I would say it is one of the easiest tyres I've had the job of fitting.

On everything from wide gravel wheels to narrower road rims, they popped on easily with just a bit of thumb pressure and they also inflated quickly, locking the bead under the rim. The sidewalls aren't porous either, so they hold onto air pressure well even before sealant is added.

The Hutchinsons are available in 35mm and 45mm options as well as this 38mm, along with 650B x 47mm, with this 38mm and the 650B available in both black and tan wall options.

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At £32.95 they are competitively priced too. Vittoria's Terreno Zero TNT G2.0 is another smooth treaded road-cum-gravel tyre that'll set you back £44.99, while the Specialized Sawtooth 2Bliss Ready also comes with minimal tread and is a decent tyre – I've ridden it on quite a few Diverge bikes – and it'll set you back £40.

Overall, if you spend the warmer and drier months switching between road and gravel, you'll be impressed with the adaptability of the Overide, its ride quality and durability. If you like to dabble in the mud, though, you'll need some deeper tread.

Verdict

Robust and fast tyre for rough roads and firm gravel tracks, but not much grip in softer conditions