For years the gravel-tire approach was to bolt heavier rubber onto a road carcass and market the extra weight as durability. Silca's Protocol RCG-3 takes the opposite route, distilling fast XC mountain bike design down to essentials and building the casing around modern low-pressure dynamics. This is the mixed-terrain tire in the Protocol gravel range, sitting between the hardpack-focused RCG-1 and the loose-conditions RCG-4, and it's the one to reach for when a course throws hardpack, loose gravel, and rocky sectors at you in the same day.

If your race calendar reads like Unbound, Big Sugar, or The Rift, this is the tread Silca points you toward. Silca engineered the RCG-3 for the harsh, unpredictable terrain of Category 3 gravel events, where the fastest tire that won't flat is the one that wins you the day. The directional tread balances rolling speed with grip when the surface turns loose, and the moderate knob profile keeps rolling resistance in check without giving up bite when you need it.

The build starts with Silca's supple Pulsar casing on a high-volume 120 TPI construction, then adds an under-tread puncture breaker that Silca selected through repeated testing for its impact resistance. That layer is part of Silca's SealSkin protection, the more robust puncture package used on the RCG-3 and RCG-4 where durability is treated as part of being fast, rather than the lighter GhostShield layer found on the speed-first RCG-1. The Pulsar compound combines solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber with silica reinforcement to hold rolling efficiency, grip, and durability in balance. Carbon fiber beads hold the tire dimensionally stable through its life, so the width you measure at install is the width you keep, and they aid retention on hookless rims.... Read More