The big news from Donnelly is the upcoming EMP gravel tire, which pulls its name from the airport code for Emporia, Kansas, home of a kinda popular gravel race that crushes souls every year. The tire is a departure from their usual tread design, getting a tighter tread block pattern without a well-defined center strip like most all of their other tires.
It’s still designed to roll fast, which is key if you’re racing the Dirty Kanza or any other long distance gravel bike event, but with bigger side knobs to handle more aggressive cornering. Inside is a puncture protection belt to keep you riding no matter what you hit (hopefully).
Look for it in 700×38 and 700×45 in two casing options – a 60tpi folding bead for $47, and a higher end tubeless-ready version for $72. They should be shipping by mid-October.
New Tan sidewall options for their CDG (most sizes), Strada USH (650×42 TR, 700×32/40 TR), Xplor USH (700×35) and MSO (650×42/50 TR, 700×40 TR) models are coming mid-October, too.
Orange tire down as a fun project for the team riders to use in non-UCI races. It says it’s a 700×33, but they say it’ll measure wider on most rims, probably around 35mm, which wouldn’t fit inside UCI guidelines. It was also a test piece to help them get their manufacturing process down for the tan walls, getting a clean line between the two colors. It’s shown here, sitting in front of the limited edition Amy D Foundation cyclocross bike, which is a project they helped get started from the beginning by offering logo design and other support services as the Foundation was getting off the ground years ago.
