The mud-shedding big-treaded Tundra joins the Override and Touareg in the range
(Image credit: Road Bike Connection - Rupert Fowler)
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.
The Tundra features a tightly packed central spine, wide spacing either side, and tall 'Signature' knobs on the shoulders (Image credit: Road Bike Connection - Rupert Fowler)
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.
The 'Hardskin' material wraps from bead to bead and forms a mesh-like construction (Image credit: Road Bike Connection - Rupert Fowler)
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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Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
