Two WTB gravel tires that look similar on a product photo and are built for different surfaces. The tread in the middle of the tire is the whole difference, and so is 4mm of width.
Buy the Byway if your rides are more pavement than dirt, and the Vulpine if they are mostly hard-packed gravel and you want to go faster on it. The Byway publishes a smooth center strip with knobs only at the edges, so it rolls close to a road tire until you lean it into a loose corner. The Vulpine is WTB’s fast-rolling race tread in the most common gravel width, with less tread to drag and less tread to grip.
If your local ground is genuinely loose — soft gravel, sand, mud, or wet dirt climbs — neither is the right tool and the Maxxis Rambler is. It is the only tire on this page that publishes sidewall protection, and the sidewall is where gravel tires actually cut.
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Quick picks
Ranked on published specs, what the listing does and does not tell you, and who each one actually suits. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We have not ridden these — here is exactly what we do instead.
#
Bike or gear
Best for
Price
1
WTB Byway 700 x 44
A smooth center strip with grip only at the edges — fast on pavement, secure when you lean it into a dirt corner. If your riding is mostly road with dirt sections, this is the shape you want.
WTB's fast-rolling race tire in the most common gravel width. Lighter and quicker than the Byway, with less tread — this is the one for hard-packed dirt and long days.
The all-round gravel tire most people end up on. Knobs across the whole tread and Maxxis's EXO sidewall protection, which is the difference between finishing a ride and walking home.
A smooth center strip with grip only at the edges — fast on pavement, secure when you lean it into a dirt corner. If your riding is mostly road with dirt sections, this is the shape you want.
Who it is for: Mixed rides that are more pavement than dirt.
What is good
+Smooth center rolls almost like a road tire on pavement
+Side knobs give you grip when the bike is leaned over in loose corners
+44mm is wide enough to be genuinely comfortable on rough surfaces
+Tubeless-ready, so you can run it without an inner tube later if you want
What you give up
−The smooth center is exactly wrong in deep mud or loose gravel climbs
−44mm will not fit every gravel frame — check your clearance before buying
−No published weight or thread count
Skip this if. Skip this if your local riding is genuinely loose — soft gravel, sand, mud. The smooth center that makes this fast on pavement is the thing that will slide out from under you, and the Maxxis Rambler is the better tool.
Published specifications for the WTB Byway 700 x 44
Size
700 x 44
Tread
Smooth center, side knobs
Tubeless-ready
Yes
Folding bead
Yes
Weight
Not published
Specifications read from the retailer listing on July 23, 2026. “Not published” means the listing does not state that figure — we do not estimate it.
#2Best for hard-packed gravel
WTB Vulpine 700 x 40
WTB's fast-rolling race tire in the most common gravel width. Lighter and quicker than the Byway, with less tread — this is the one for hard-packed dirt and long days.
Who it is for: Hard-packed gravel and fast riding.
What is good
+Light and fast-rolling, listed for racing
+40mm is the width most gravel frames are designed around
+Tubeless-ready folding bead
What you give up
−Less tread means less grip when the surface turns loose or wet
−A race-oriented tire usually means a thinner casing and more punctures
−No published weight or puncture-protection layer
Skip this if. Skip this if you ride in wet weather or on loose surfaces. A fast-rolling race tire gives up grip and puncture resistance to be fast, and in the wet that is not a trade a beginner should be making.
Published specifications for the WTB Vulpine 700 x 40
Size
700 x 40
Tread
Fast-rolling race tread
Tubeless-ready
Yes
Folding bead
Yes
Sidewall protection
Not published
Weight
Not published
Specifications read from the retailer listing on July 23, 2026. “Not published” means the listing does not state that figure — we do not estimate it.
#3Best for loose or wet ground
Maxxis Rambler 700 x 40
The all-round gravel tire most people end up on. Knobs across the whole tread and Maxxis's EXO sidewall protection, which is the difference between finishing a ride and walking home.
Who it is for: Real gravel and dirt where grip matters more than pavement speed.
What is good
+Full tread pattern grips on loose surfaces where a smooth center will not
+EXO sidewall protection — the sidewall is where gravel tires actually cut
+40mm fits more frames than 44mm does
+Dual compound: harder rubber in the center for wear, softer at the edges for grip
What you give up
−Slower and noisier than a smooth-center tire on pavement
−Costs meaningfully more than the WTB Byway
−No published weight in this listing
Skip this if. Skip this if most of your miles are on pavement getting to the dirt. You will feel the tread buzzing under you for the whole road section, and the WTB Byway gives up very little off-road for a much better ride on tarmac.
Published specifications for the Maxxis Rambler 700 x 40
Size
700 x 40c
Tread
Full knobbed gravel tread
Sidewall protection
EXO
Rubber
Dual compound
Tubeless-ready
Yes
Weight
Not published
Specifications read from the retailer listing on July 23, 2026. “Not published” means the listing does not state that figure — we do not estimate it.
The three tires, from the listings
Read straight from the listings recorded in each product’s entry above. Two rows do most of the work here — tread and sidewall protection — and the weight row is empty on all three, which is standard for this category and still worth stating.
WTB Byway
WTB Vulpine
Maxxis Rambler
Published size
700 x 44
700 x 40
700 x 40c
Tread
Smooth center, side knobs
Fast-rolling race tread
Full knobbed gravel tread
Sidewall protection
Not published
Not published
EXO
Rubber
Not published
Not published
Dual compound
Tubeless-ready
Yes
Yes
Yes
Folding bead
Yes
Yes
Not published
Weight
Not published
Not published
Not published
What the tread in the middle actually does
On pavement you ride on the center strip of the tire and nothing else. Knobs there buzz, slow you down and wear out; a smooth strip rolls quietly. The moment the bike leans into a corner, the contact patch moves to the shoulder of the tire — which is why the Byway puts its grip exactly there and leaves the middle alone.
The failure case for that design is the straight-line loose climb, where you need grip in the center and the Byway has none to give. The Vulpine has a shallow all-over tread that works on hard-packed dirt and starts to struggle in the same conditions. The Rambler’s full knobbed pattern is slower everywhere and the only one of the three that keeps working when the surface gives way.
Punctures and sidewalls, which is where the Rambler wins
Neither WTB listing publishes a puncture or sidewall protection layer. The Maxxis listing publishes EXO. On a road tire the belt under the tread does most of the work; off road, the cut that ends your ride usually arrives on the sidewall from a rock edge, and a sidewall layer is the only thing standing in front of it.
All three are tubeless-ready, which is the other half of this problem: sealant turns most small punctures into a hiss and a top-up rather than a roadside repair. It is also a job and a consumable rather than a free upgrade — tubeless versus inner tubes is the honest version of that decision, and setting tubeless up is the procedure.
Pressure matters more than the tread choice
A wide gravel tire run too hard skates over loose ground and beats you up on washboard; the same tire 10 psi lower grips and soaks up the surface. WTB publish their own pressure guidance for high-volume gravel tires and it is much lower than most riders coming from road bikes expect. Our gravel pressure guide works through finding your own number by weight and width, which will change how any of these three feels more than swapping between them would.
Which one for your riding
Road to the trailhead, dirt in the middle, road home. Byway. The smooth center is the reason, and 44mm is genuinely comfortable on rough surfaces if your frame takes it.
Hard-packed gravel roads, long days, you care about pace. Vulpine. Accept thinner protection as the price of a race tire, and run sealant.
Loose gravel, sand, mud, or wet riding. Rambler. Full tread plus EXO sidewalls, and you will hear it on the pavement sections.
Mostly pavement with occasional dirt paths. None of these. Our pavement-biased gravel tire page is the right shortlist, and a narrower tire is likely the right answer.
What we would buy
For a first gravel bike ridden on mixed surfaces, the Byway in 44mm if the frame takes it — it is the tire that makes a gravel bike pleasant on the road sections, which is where most beginners spend more time than they planned. For a rider whose local gravel is genuinely loose, the Rambler, every time, and the extra rolling noise is the cost of not sliding.
Do not replace one tire at a time unless you have a reason. Mismatched grip front to rear is a real handling problem on loose corners, and a pair bought together wears together. The full gravel tire shortlist has the rest of the options with live prices.
We have not ridden these bikes. Every site in this category says it tested twenty of them. We have not tested any, and we say so. What we did instead: read the manufacturer listings and manuals, compiled the published specs, worked out the real out-the-door cost, and checked live availability and price. Here is exactly how that works.
Questions people actually ask
Is the WTB Byway or Vulpine faster on pavement?+
The Byway, because of its smooth center strip — on pavement the center is the only part of the tire you ride on. The Vulpine is the lighter race tire, but its tread runs all the way across, so you feel it on tarmac.
Will a 44mm tire fit my gravel bike?+
Not always, and the listings cannot tell you — frame clearance is published far less often than it should be. Measure the gap between your current tire and the frame and fork, and check your rim width against WTB's own tire-and-rim fit chart before ordering 44s.
Which gravel tire is best for a beginner?+
If your riding mixes pavement and dirt, the Byway. If it is mostly genuinely loose gravel, the Maxxis Rambler, for the full tread and the published EXO sidewall. The Vulpine is the one to buy when you know your surface is hard-packed and you want pace.
Do these tires have puncture protection?+
Neither WTB listing publishes a protection layer. The Maxxis Rambler publishes EXO sidewall protection. All three are tubeless-ready, and running sealant is the practical answer to small punctures regardless of which you choose.
Can I run these with inner tubes?+
Yes — tubeless-ready means it can run without a tube, not that it must. A tubeless-ready tire with a tube inside works normally; you just lose the self-sealing behavior that makes the design worth the setup effort.
What pressure should I run in a 40mm gravel tire?+
Lower than you think, and the right number depends on your weight and the actual tire width. WTB publish pressure guidance for high-volume tires, and our gravel pressure guide turns it into a starting point you can adjust by feel over a few rides.
How long do gravel tires last?+
Neither WTB nor Maxxis publish a mileage figure for these tires, so we will not invent one. The wear limit that does get published across the industry is visual: once the puncture belt or the carcass threads show through the tread, the tire is done.
Sources
Specifications come from the manufacturer or the retailer listing, dated. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than estimating it.
WTB — Tire and rim fit chart — Manufacturer chart of approved tire width to rim width pairings (accessed July 23, 2026)
