Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss Ready tyre

There's an increasing choice in tyres designed for mixing it up on and off-road as the gravel and adventure market grows, and this new Pathfinder Pro from Specialized is a fast-rolling tyre that is good for tackling rough roads and dry hardpack gravel trails.

• Pros: Fast on road and hardpack, easily tubeless
• Cons: Not so good in muddy conditions

With its smooth centre section surrounded by tightly packed diamond-shaped blocks, it's obviously a good choice for lots of road riding.

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When riding in a straight upright position, that smooth centre line is all that contacts the road, and as a result provides low rolling resistance, allowing you to zip along the road at a decent pace. It really feels little slower than a slick tyre of similar width.

Feel adventurous and want to get off the road and onto some gravel and dirt, and the remainder of the tyre provides good grip. The diamond-shaped tread combined with bigger and spaced out shoulder blocks gives you the capability to let fire into loose gravel or dirty corners, knowing the compound and blocks will find grip. You won't be tackling any muddy bogs, it's not quite that capable, but for gravelly surfaced tracks, canal towpaths and dry bridleways, it offers more grip than a slick tyre.

The tyre is constructed with a 120 TPI 'Endurant' casing intended to be rugged for dealing with off-road shenanigans, and a BlackBelt puncture protection layer minimises the risk of puncturing. The tread is made from the company's own Gripton compound which strikes a good balance of rolling resistance and traction.

Specialized's 2Bliss play on words indicates it's a tubeless-ready tyre. So I fitted them to a suitable tubeless-ready rim which proved painless, and enjoyed many happy rides of tubeless bliss. I suffered no flats, leaks or burps during that time. I've experienced good results with various Specialized tubeless tyres over the years and these did not buck the trend.

For where I live at this time of year, this is a good tyre for 80 per cent road and 20 per cent off-road exploring. But for areas with more gravel roads to explore, that ratio leans closer to 50/50. I can see this being a very rapid choice for an event like Dirty Reiver, which models itself on the famous Dirty Kanzas, an event incidentally which this tyre has apparently racked up victories at.

Specialized offers the Pathfinder in a choice of 38 and 42mm widths in 700C size or an on-trend 650B x 47mm option for those liking the small wheel movement. At £42 RRP it's reasonably priced. Not cheap, but you can easily pay a lot more for a similar tyre: the £73 Compass Switchback, for example.

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Whether it's the right one for you really comes down to the type of riding you're doing and how much road and hardpack gravel you're mixing together. It really excels on the road but there are better and more versatile do-everything tyres, like the Panaracer GravelKing SK which offers a bit more grip off the road. And there are better choices for really muddy conditions, but steer clear of the bogs and it's a decent tyre.

Overall, I like these tyres and for a lot of people they will be well suited. There's a lot of choice in this sector of the tyre market, you just need to decide what you want and need from yours.

Verdict

Fast on the road and hardpack and good cornering grip, with easy tubeless setup; not great in the slop though