Tyre inserts started in downhill and enduro racing, but can Rimpact’s Gravel/XC insert cut the mustard for those longer rides?
Do tyre inserts have a place in gravel? After a good 1500km of gravel grinding, here’s Jamie’s verdict.
Key features:
- Gravel / XC tyre insert
- 40mm Wide
- Compatible with 40c to 50c tyres / 1.5” – 2.35” Tyres
- Compatible with 20mm-30mm Rims
- 70g per 700c/29” insert & 60g per 650b/27.5” Insert
- Supplied with 2 x inserts, 2 x valves and graphics
- £52.99 RRP
- RimpactMTB.com
Let’s be honest. Gravel bikes can feel really sucky to ride. Narrow bars, papery tyres, toweringly tall seat posts. Your average ‘vanilla’ gravel setup is horrendously rough off-road, brutally prone to pinch flats, hammers your arse on anything remotely steep and is terrifying on anything rough or fast.
It doesn’t need to be that way.
Personally, and I’ll argue this one all day long, I think the best upgrade you can make to your gravel setup is tyre inserts. Hear me out on this one.
A decent set of gravel tyre inserts will absolutely transform that rigid, wrist-thrashing, skidding, skipping and sliding monstrosity into a fast, supple and sublime off-road machine. No more feeling like you’ve taken a wrong turn on a road bike, lots more feeling like you’re on a weird, drop-bar mountain bike that’s actually insanely versatile, capable and – yep – fun.
My experience of gravel bikes (clocked up over 6000kmish+ of riding them in the last couple of years) is that tyre pressures make all the difference.
Most folks start with 50PSI in their tyres and wonder why their bike handles like dog eggs on rough terrain. Then they get a load of punctures and get really, really sad. Especially in the winter, at night, in the rain.
Again, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Enter Rimpact’s Gravel/XC tyre insert.
Rimpact’s gravel insert is made of a high-density, closed-cell foam that, they say, is “Lightweight, Highly Impact Absorbent, Doesn’t Absorb Sealant, Can Withstand Repeated Impacts”.
The foam is designed to be firm enough to absorb impacts, but not so firm that the energy passes through into your rims. It’s strong to resist tearing.
It’s said not to absorb sealant and, so the brand says, it will absorb buzz and vibrations from the trail that would give you sore hands.
The shape of the Rimpact, a kind of flat-sided triangle, is something they reckon they’ve spent plenty of time testing and refining. In testing, the brand started by trying to fill the entire tyre with foam and then worked back from there.
The shape is, they say, the ‘sweet spot’ that feels good, offers plenty of grip, reduces buzz and allows the tyre to deform to the terrain. By not filling the entire tyre with insert you get the dampening and tuneable benefits that air provides.
The material also includes a dual-density property. Under force, it hardens to absorb and see-away big impacts. When it’s not being hammered, it stays soft making it easy to fit and impact absorbent.
A pack of Rimpacts costs £52.99 and includes 2 x inserts, 2 x tubeless valves (either Rimpacts or Peaty’s), 2 x decal sheets and comes in recyclable cardboard packaging. They’re available in 26″, 27.5″/650b and 700C/29″ and with 42mm, 44mm or 55mm valves. They’re 40mm wide and fit tyres from 1.5″ to 2.35″ / 40c to 50c.
Note, if you’re looking for narrower Rimpacts for more traditional gravel or CX setups, there’s also a Rimpact CX for 30mm rims.
Fitting the Rimpacts.
No problemo. If you’ve fitted a mountain bike tyre insert you’ll have experienced the particular sweaty sadness that comes with it. Rimpacts aren’t like that.
Pop the valves in. Seat the Rimpact. Push the Rimpact deep into Rim well. Fit your tyre. A decent tyre lever will help. Add +25% more sealant than without Rimpact.
On the single occasion I punctured in 1500km of riding on Rimpacts I was able to remove the insert with one tyre lever and my hands in a bus stop in the Rhonnda. No stress.
Riding the Rimpacts
No complaints at all.
I’ve stuck nearly 1600km into the Rimpact Gravel/XC inserts to date, including riding North to South Wales over 4 days taking in the famously rough-and-rocky Sarn Helen Roman Road, Elan Valley trail centre and sections of the Coed-y-Brenin trail centre.
So far I’ve had one single puncture, caused by stoving my front wheel into a massive rock whilst descending a Sarn Helen Rock Gardens down into Swansea.
I was giving it plenty of gas, my bike was fully loaded for a 4-dayer and I was tired enough with 300km in my legs to be very, very lazy with my line choices.
My enthusiasm earned me a very small hole in my sidewall and a slow puncture that gushed when I leant the tyre over in corners. Thanks to the Rimpacts I was still able to ride a white-knuckle fast fire-road descent for another few km and then another 10km on the road before I stopped and switched in a tube. I could have certainly plodded on well enough on the Rimpact if we didn’t have another 30km to ride and a deadline to hit for a lift home.
All that said, you will still need to be careful with your tyre choice. No insert is going to protect against a ride-ending slashed tyre. There are plenty of crap gravel tyres around and I’ve seen heaps of riders swearing and covered in sealant, even with inserts fitted.
I suspect the Rimpact will help a little against side-wall slices, but, they’re not a miracle cure.
You can also see from the photos that my Rimpact (front) has taken a bit of damage over its time – showing they’re not completely resistant to tearing as stated, but, I can’t see any impact on the performance. I’m hoping the visible damage is a sign of them doing their job and taking a beating instead of my rims.
In terms of reducing tyre pressures, the Rimpacts allow me to run pressures down to somewhere around18-20PSI depending on the ride and conditions. I’ve not tried any lower.
My tyres don’t squirm, don’t feel slow or draggy on the roads and there’s a noticeable increase in my confidence and comfort on rough, rocky trails. I can grab the drops and just point the bike at some surprisingly rough, nasty and very MTB-suitable terrain, getting through most of it with a feeling of relative suppleness. No horrendous chatter through the bars and relatively few harsh BANGS! through the wheels.
Sure, you’re still on a terrifyingly under-gunned bike with silly handlebars… but, it starts to make sense and become crazy fun rather than just terrifying.
I should also add that I spent nearly 3000km of riding on CushCore’s gravel inserts on my previous gravel bike. I had a great time on these with an almost identical experience, finding them to achieve very similar results.
Very few punctures, comfortably low pressures, easy to fit, good customer support. The punctures that I have experienced on both inserts have been almost identical – small pinches to the sidewall at the point where they overlap with the rim.
The switch to Rimpact came because I moved from a 700C Orange RX9 to a 650b RX9. With no 650b version in the CushCore range, I sought out the UK-made Rimpact 650b gravel tyre insert.
The difference in price between the two and availability in the smaller size might just be what you need to swing you onto Rimpact.
What do we think?
If you’re riding a gravel bike I promise you that gravel tyre inserts will improve your experience.
If you choose the Rimpact Gravel / XC inserts you’ll find them easy to fit, you’ll almost certainly experience fewer punctures and you’ll be able to get your tyre pressures down to a level where rough, nasty trails feel a lot more fun.
Buzzing along on fire tracks, rough roads and trails will feel more comfortable and – as you’d expect from lower pressures – grip and line choice will come far more easily. Large impacts won’t smash through to your rim so easily and you’ll feel a decent amount of support on rough, rocky, harsh trails.
They’re also cheaper and available in a wider range of sizes than the competition.
You can experience a lot of that with tubeless without inserts, but, the added peace of mind and puncture resistance just seems too good to miss.
I don’t see any reason not to run them.
We Love:
- Available in loads of sizes, including 650b
- Price feels like good value, especially compared to other brands
- Easy to install
- Get those tyre pressures right down (I’m running around 20PSI)
- Punctures are few and far between
Could Do Better:
- Not totally flawless – punctures do still happen occasionally
