IRC Boken 36mm gravel tyre review

With a file tread and high air volume, the new IRC Boken tyre works well on dusty bridleways

Cycling Weekly Verdict

The IRC Boken tyre provides a subtle ride over rough terrain and plenty of grip in the dry or with surface dampness. But it’s not up to muddier conditions, such as you’d find through the UK winter.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Tubeless ready

  • +

    Good tread pattern for dry off-road and gravel rides

  • +

    High sided for plenty of air volume and lower pressures

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Tread runs out of bite when it starts to get muddy

  • -

    Expensive

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

The newly released IRC Boken is a classic gravel bike tyre, with a file tread across its centre coupled to a row of more widely spaced knobs at its edges. Unwrapping the tyre, the first thing you notice is how tacky the rubber feels. IRC emphasises its ultra-gummy compound, designed for added traction.

>>> Gravel bike buyer's guide

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.