A new tire protocol has arrived. For years, the cycling industry has treated gravel tires like oversized road tires, adding thick, heavy rubber casings with inefficient tread patterns as volume increased. This came at the expense of speed and ride quality. At SILCA, we've decided to take a fresh approach to tire design by starting with an XC mountain bike variant and distilling it down to essentials while adding a few clever features based on years of cycling performance expertise.
Our widest tires use the thinnest casings and, throughout the lineup, add material as tires get narrower. By shedding the bulk and weight of a thick rubber base and relying on high-volume 120 TPI casings, our design approach delivers industry-leading rolling efficiency, enhanced traction, and lively ride feel without sacrificing structural integrity.
The real innovation comes from how our tires handle modern gravel pressures. Traditionally, people thought that wider tires needed tough carcasses to resist punctures. However, we discovered that high-volume tires at lower pressures are inherently protected through distributing impact forces over a larger area. It’s like the strands of a mop: when they’re loose and relaxed, it’s tough to slice through them, but tension makes them more vulnerable. By reducing tension in our casing threads, we can use a thinner, faster-rolling compound that's more resistant to flats due to the natural deflection from lower air pressures.
Our proprietary Pulsar Compound used throughout the Protocol lineup tackles the age-old compromise between low rolling resistance and solid grip. By combining solution-polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) with silica reinforcement, we reduce energy loss while rolling, boosting traction during braking and cornering. Plus, our casing geometry helps stabilize the tire under load and minimize deformation for better power transfer and optimized rolling efficiency.
When it comes to gravel riding, many traditional off-road tires struggle during cornering. Their uniform lug heights cause the casing to deform, pinching the tread blocks until they lose their grip. Our variable-height tread design, with outer blocks taller than the center knobs, gives you better cornering traction much earlier and at gentler lean angles. This keeps those crucial biting edges engaged with the ground, reducing casing deformation. Our tread patterns are also asymmetrical, designed specifically for independent traction during braking and acceleration, with tracks that help minimize rolling resistance and outer knobs angled for optimal grip while in corners and loose surfaces.
We applied a similar philosophy to road bike tires. As road tires have gotten bigger, many manufacturers simply scale up existing designs, making them unnecessarily bulky and heavy. Realizing that the perfect road tire didn’t exist, we created the Protocol RCR. It’s a volume-centric tire focused on width and speed without the excess weight. By maximizing air capacity to absorb impacts and lower the risk of flats, we stripped away redundant layers, resulting in a tire that’s lightweight, supple, and fast.
And we’ve innovated down to the bead. Our carbon bead technology ensures that SILCA tires stay in shape for life, no matter how long they’re on the rim. Traditional Kevlar beads often absorb moisture over time, leading to issues like shrinkage, lumps, and annoying wobbling. By using carbon fiber instead of Kevlar, we’ve eliminated material stretch and moisture retention, ensuring a perfect fit with the rim for the entire tire’s lifespan.
Our tires are optimized for modern wheel standards, ensuring they measure perfectly true-to-size on wide rims within twenty-four hours of inflation. For each size within every model, we’ll always indicate the rim spec it was measured on. To guarantee tubeless performance, the casing is treated with a proprietary, latex-friendly mold release agent that actively bonds with sealant for better puncture sealing, rather than repelling it like can happen with standard manufacturing chemicals.
