These are fantastic gravel tires. Great on tarmac as well as on gravel. I needed something that excelled when climbing in loose gravel conditions, and these are excellent. The only downside is they are an absolute bear to put on your rims. I had a lot of tires on my wishlist to try, not anymore - these are it!
I had previously been riding the Maxxis Rambler 40 gravel bike tires. I was preparing for the Unbound Gravel in Emporia Kansas the end of May and wanted to go with a wider tire and read several reviews on the Panaracer GravelKing X1 Plus tire and ordered a pair of the 45mm. After getting the put on my rims, I did several gravel rides locally and immeditely could tell the difference in ride feel, cornering, and most of all how much faster these tires were than the 40mm Maxxis I'd been riding. Rode the Unbound Gravel 50 mile race with my youngest son (his first gravel or even bike event) and had a set of the X1's put on his bike as well. These tires were incredible on Unbound. Not a single flat, rolling resistance was outstanding and super ride feel. I'm a believer in these tires and highly recommend!
Now on my second set -Bentonville chunk and single track, Unbound 200 last month, couple thousand miles of random Missouri gravel -used to use Rambler 45s for these types of rides, but these do the same but faster. If my bike could take a 50 X1+, I'd try them too.
Used to use this brand, but after getting flat one time out on the open gravel road, I could not get the tire off. So I have not used since 2018 ish. I need a tire I can get off and on by myself quickly and get back to riding.
I'm a 240lb rider, and I chose the X1 Plus in 700x45 for UNBOUND 100 because I was concerned about punctures on such a rocky course. These tires had a lot of grip/stability, and I think the puncture protection gave me the confidence to ride more aggressively. I haven't seen official tests yet, but I think it's fair to say that the additional bead-to-bead puncture protection makes the X1 Plus slower than the X1 R variant (e.g. test data shows the GravelKing SS Plus are slower than the SS.) I took the X1 R to the 200k Rift in Iceland, and it turned out that course's risk for punctures was even worse than Unbound's. Even so, the X1 R's never flatted. All around, the X1 series is a great tire with a lot of grip. I'll be sticking with them.
Have had these on the bike for over a month before reviewing. They are pretty amazing, super grippy and fast rolling - faster than the semi-slicks I had before from another brand. Have been through gravel, sand, dirt, sharp rocks etc. and they never skip a beat. Haven't had any punctures yet either (knock on wood), which is almost unheard of for me... I always seem to find the one sharp thing in the road. They also don't throw small gravel/stones like the SK's. Packaged nicely as well.
Really like these Panaracers. They feel great on both fast, hard packed gravel as well as the chunky, rocky, single track. They survived 2024 UnboundXL and lots of single track mountain bike trails, and still manage to feel at home on the group ride. They were a bit of a pain to muscle on the wheel the first time, but once there they are so stiff they seat immediately. The plus casing feels bomb proof. Despite hard, fast descending on rough terrain I haven't seen a single puncture. That being said, if I was mostly taking these on good gravel roads, I'd probably drop down to the regular casing. Only note is that they feel a smidge slippy on long descents, however that may be the stiffer casing.
These roll great and have decent traction. What's not to like?
