Vittoria Mezcal Gravel Endurance tyre review: Perhaps the only gravel tyre you’ll ever really need

While I happily swap between many of the best gravel tyres depending on the upcoming conditions, I do appreciate that for the vast majority of you choosing which gravel tyre to run is as much about performance as it is getting a ‘fit and forget’ solution that can just stay on your bike until the sealant dries out or you wear through the tyre, whichever comes first. 

I am happy to report that the Vittoria Mezcal Gravel Endurance is just about the ideal sweet spot tyre if you’re looking for that jack of all trades solution. I’ve been running them on my bike for a while now (well over six months), and the only thing that is going to make me take them off is having to fit a new set of tyres for review, at which time they will be cleaned off and prepped for refitting down the line so I can enjoy them in my own time. 

The top line, for those of you without the time to peruse a full review, is that the Mezcal’s have been excellent. They roll fast, despite their knobby appearance, and provide enough grip in loose conditions that you are filled with confidence without really sacrificing any real speed, and in the grand scheme of things, they are also not that expensive either. They have also been totally puncture-free, despite plenty of rocky riding. You can very much tell they are descended from cross-country race stock. 

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Design and aesthetics

The Vittoria Mezcal Gravel Endurance is the gravel-going version of the well-loved Mezcal XC tyre, which is available in sizes all the way up to 2.6”. We are seeing a trend towards gravel bikes accommodating MTB tyres now, with the likes of the Lauf Seigla and the Allied Able both happily accommodating tyres that are better noted in inches than millimetres. 

The ‘Gravel Endurance’ and ‘XC Trail’ variants have different names, but are effectively the same. The XC version dispenses with the central puncture protection strip, but that's basically it, so just pick the size you want from a huge menu that also covers 26” and 27.5” wheel sizes. 

The tread itself is similar in many ways to that of the WTB Nano, a tyre I have also very much enjoyed using over the years. The lugs are well spaced, but effectively form a repeating pattern of forward-pointing chevrons. The central lugs are very closely packed, so as to form a near-solid band, while large, confident shoulder lugs run parallel to the direction of travel, with the aim of catching any off-camber mischief before it results in a sudden, unscheduled lie down. 

Unlike the Nano, the lugs themselves are slashed with sipes (the tyre-lingo word for grooves). These allegedly allow the lugs to more easily deform on rocky, technical terrain and therefore retain their grip. They also, though I suspect this is not the aim, cut some weight out of the tyre. At 530g for a 44c size, as I have here, the weight is competitive, though it’s not going to trouble any similarly sized tyre with a dedicated lightweight casing. 

The Mezcal only comes in the ‘Gravel Endurance’ casing, so you can’t go lighter, but for reference, the Terreno Dry, in the ‘Lite’ casing, even in a larger 47c size, is 15g lighter. Yes, I know it’s got a lower profile tread, but it’s just an illustration. 

As you might have already surmised from the name, the ‘Endurance’ casing is designed to be able to handle a bit of rough and tumble. The casing itself (the body of the tyre onto which other bits are bonded) is of Nylon construction, and 120 threads per inch. They are relatively supple - certainly not nearly as stiff as the likes of Teravail’s Endurance carcasses, or those of WTB durable tyres - but they are also not as wafty and ethereal as something like a Rene Herse superlight casing. They are, to all intents and purposes, in the Goldilocks zone in terms of suppleness.

You do get a dedicated puncture protection strip under the central portion of the tread, as well as reinforcing layers on the sidewalls. This may explain the grey colour, which I am not really a fan of. Tyres should be black, unless they are actually made of cotton, in which case fill your boots and have tan walls if you like. 

My set, in a 44c size, measured up at 44.8mm on a set of Fulcrum Sharq wheels, which have an internal width of 25mm. More or less bang on the money, which is great if you’re at the limit of your frame’s clearance. One thing that is common here and with most Vittoria gravel tyres I’ve tested is that they are absolutely covered in ‘vent spews’, or the little hairs left over from the tyre mould. I could have shaved them off, but life is simply too short. 

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Performance

When I am contemplating how to review a product, my mind often reverts back to what I think of as ‘the pub test’. Essentially, this is my mental check on things, and boils down to ‘what would I say to my friend in a pub over a pint?’. If I happened to be having a pint with a friend looking to purchase a new set of gravel tyres, as I often find myself doing, I would probably tell them to buy a set of Vittoria Mezcals, unless they have some specific requirements that would dictate a different choice - be that surface conditions, weight, or puncture resistance. 

For almost all types of riding, the Mezcals have been close to faultless. On road (yes, they are a gravel tyre, but a lot of us will be riding mixed terrain) they were far less of an impediment than I anticipated, given the knob height (quiet at the back of the class!) and spacing. On the gravel sizes, they aren’t super knobby, though once you start getting into the XC sizes, the spacing and height do increase. 

On tame gravel, the same rings true. They actually ride more like a dedicated dry weather tyre than any other all-rounder I’ve ridden, and absolutely fly along. You don’t get the same pillowy, magic carpet ride that you do with superlight casings, but on the flip side, you also don’t find yourself standing at the side of the road with alarming regularity trying to plug yet another hole. It also means you have a slightly more predictable cornering experience on flat gravel roads. On some dry weather tyres, I’m thinking of the likes of the venerable Challenge Gravel Grinder, and I suspect the Vittoria Terreno Dry too, you have a main tread that is prone to cutting loose, with shoulder knobs that catch you should you overcook things entirely. With the Mezcal, it’s far more uniform, with similar grip levels at all lean angles. 

Locomotion is also aided by the extra grip - no wheel slip here ‘til you start getting both loose and steep, but at that point, you’re always going to lose to physics. 

On techy, rutty, and rocky surfaces - think singletrack blasts and those climbs where line choice is key - they really do excel, and you can tell they are basically a cross-country MTB tyre. If you want more grip than this, then it’s probably winter riding, and you’re going to be looking at something like a Teravail Rutland, but for year-round use, this is as grippy a gravel tyre as you’re ever likely to need. 

In durability terms, I am yet to puncture. I use decent sealant, and plenty of it, but even over a lot of rocky riding, they have remained staunchly intact without ever feeling like a drag. Given what I’ve seen the pros use at Unbound, it’s probably not going to cut it in anything flinty, but elsewhere it’s just fine. The carcass is also solid enough to hold air well and not leak sealant through the sidewalls, as I have found with many a lighter tyre. 

For gravel racing, or if your riding is predominantly hardpack, especially if you can accommodate a wider tyre, I can absolutely see why you’d want something slightly lower profile, but if you want a little more grip at the front then running it as part of a mixed tyre set would be pretty bomber. 

On the subject of setup, briefly, all I can say is that on these Fulcrum wheels, the Mezcals were very well behaved, seated immediately, and sealed perfectly, so no docked points there.

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Value

With the best road bike tyres hovering menacingly close to the £100/$150 mark, the RRP of $75.99 doesn’t seem all that bad, especially considering it’s a tyre that will stand you in good stead from ripping dusty descents in high summer all the way to churning through slop in the winter. The standard casing Rene Herse option in this width is ten dollars dearer and less versatile. It’s also about what you’d pay for a Teravail gravel tyre in the same size. 

If you’re after cheaper tyres, then options from WTB come up cheaper, but they don’t roll so well in my experience. The only thing limiting the value in my eyes is the limited size range in the more traditional gravel sizes. A 44c is great if you can clear it, but only a small handful of years ago, a 40mm max clearance was the norm for almost every gravel bikes, and a 35c is… well it’s too small, isn’t it, unless you’ve got a ‘cross bike. Having a 40mm option in the range would really bring some older bikes into the fold - if that’s you, then the WTB Nano is a great shout. 

Verdict

There are very few things to fault with the Vittoria Mezcal as a gravel tyre, and they’re trifling. I don’t like that they are grey, but I am willing to take the aesthetic hit for what the tyres offer out on the (gravelly) road. 

As an all-around, fit-and-forget tyre solution for more or less every gravel situation, I’d happily recommend them, whether that’s fast and loose gravel racing, all the way through to general bikepacking duties. 

They aren’t necessarily the outright fastest, or the most grippy, or the most durable, but they are the grippiest fast tyre, the fastest grippy tyre, and all while being durable enough to hold up to the abuses of general gravel riding. 

Basically, they’re excellent, and I’ll be holding onto my pair and slapping them right back on my gravel bike as soon as I can.