René Herse Hurricane Ridge gravel tyre review

René Herse’s Hurricane Ridge is the mud-specific offering in the brand's extensive gravel tyre range.

The tyre is offered in four casing options, meaning you should be able to find one to suit your riding style. Even with this standard-casing version, the quiet rolling and reasonably supple ride quality are to be admired.

However, considering the hefty price tag of £82 / $78, I found the tyre's performance didn’t stand out from the crowd. The experience was also dampened by a troubled tubeless installation.

René Herse Hurricane Ridge tyre details and specifications

Named after one of the biggest climbs in the American Northwest, the Hurricane Ridge uses a dual-purpose knobbly tread with chunky, even-spaced knobs.

René Herse claims the layout of the knobs means that, no matter how you’re riding, the tyre’s contact patch remains the same. The brand says this construction gives you uniform grip at all times.

René Herse has never been a brand to follow convention. Rather than offering its tyres in a range of sizes, the Hurricane Ridge is only available in 700 x 42c, albeit with four casing options.

René Herse also has the Manastash (44mm-wide), Oracle Ridge (48mm) and Fleecer Ridge (55mm) in its catalogue. While the Hurricane Ridge shares the same knob design as these tyres, it has a more open tread pattern that’s claimed to better clear mud.

It also lacks the noise-cancelling technology the aforementioned tyres have.

As such, the Hurricane Ridge is more distinct in design than its wider siblings.

I tested the Standard-casing version. This is the most affordable option in the Hurricane Ridge range. René Herse describes this as comfortable and fast, yet strong enough to withstand considerable abuse.

The Extralight casing is claimed to take the performance, comfort and suppleness to a more premium level. The Endurance casing is reinforced for extra sidewall protection and puncture resistance. Each of these options costs £97 / $92.

The most expensive Endurance Plus casing (£101 / $98) is claimed to provide the ultimate sidewall protection for extremely tough conditions.

Opting for the Extralight casing drops the weight to a claimed 465g, with the Endurance version at 536g and Endurance Plus 547g.

My Standard tyre weighed in at 494g – 21g less than the 515g claimed weight.

The tyres are manufactured in Japan and the brand recommends a maximum 60psi (4 BAR) pressure when running them tubeless. All of the Hurricane Ridge tyres are optimised for rims 17 to 28mm wide.

René Herse recommends using Panaracer SealSmart sealant (or Orange Seal as an alternative).

René Herse Hurricane Ridge tyre installation

I installed the tyres and set them up tubeless on my Marin Headlands’ stock wheelset.

Prising the tyre onto the aluminium rim was done by hand, with no need for a tyre lever.

Setting the Hurricane Ridge up tubeless proved much more challenging. The tyres wouldn’t seat using a tubeless inflator (let alone a standard track pump).

I tried adding sealant before seating to act as a bead lubricant, helping the tyres move as they inflated, but this didn’t improve things.

After multiple attempts at manually holding the tyre in the well of the rim, the tyres finally seated with the help of an air compressor.

Fortunately, once installed, the Hurricane Ridge tyres held air well with no wobbles or misalignment in the bead.

The tyres measured 42.16mm on the hooked 21mm-wide Marin rims at 30psi / 2.07 BAR.

Not wanting to draw a negative conclusion from one sample, towards the end of the test period, a second pair was sent for me to re-test the setup process.

I was advised by Sven Cycles (René Herse’s UK distributor) the setup was likely problematic because I was using an OEM rim – these were claimed to be slightly undersized in terms of ERD (effective rim diameter) and I was advised to install the tyres on a branded rim.

I tested two new tyres on two rims – the first on a 24mm-wide DT Swiss GR1600 25 wheel.

The tyre was tighter to fit, requiring two tyre levers. Although it didn’t seat with a track pump, it seated successfully on the first attempt with a compressor.

I had a near-identical experience setting the second tyre up on a 25mm-wide Mavic Allroad S wheel.

These easier experiences led me to reasonably conclude that I had unfortunate luck with the test Marin rim, and there is still some way to go for widespread easy tubeless tyre and rim installation.

That said, it’s worth pointing out that I managed to seat both the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel RC and the original WTB Byway tyres on the Marin rims without issue.

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René Herse Hurricane Ridge performance

I tested the Hurricane Ridge through predominantly wet and sloppy British winter conditions. There was a brief period when the temperatures plummeted into minus figures, with the trails becoming icy.

Testing culminated in a 100-mile (161km) bikepacking trip on the King Alfred’s Way.

Performance is highly dependent on running the correct tyre pressure – notably more so than other gravel tyres I’ve tested.

I would typically run around 30psi in a 42mm-wide tyre.

After a fair amount of experimentation, including dipping down as far as 25psi / 1.7 BAR, I found the tyres performed best on muddy trails at 28psi / 1.9 BAR on the front and 30psi / 2.07 BAR for the rear.

However, the compromise was on the road – where they felt a little squirmy, not something I’ve experienced with some of the best mud-specific tyres.

While the Hurricane Ridge tyres work fairly well in muddy sections, I never felt them dig into the mud, unlike key rivals such as the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel S or Vittoria Terreno Wet.

Instead, the tyres gave the impression of skimming through mud – they’d get me through these sections, but compared to those reference tyres, the Hurricane Ridge didn’t feel as sure-footed.

That said, the tread pattern sheds mud easily.

I wasn’t overly impressed by the performance in the wet (and there was no shortage of wet rocks and roots around Bristol to test them on). They’re not easy tyres to correct a mistake on if you accidentally take the wrong line and I found I had to take more care on rockier sections.

That said, the Hurricane Ridge feels reasonably fast for a mud tyre.

The Cinturato Gravel S, by comparison, felt sluggish and required a lot of effort to get the bike up to speed, but the Vittoria Terreno Wet felt significantly faster than the Hurricane Ridge.

I had to put a little more effort in on group rides to keep up on drier terrain, but they were comparatively faster-rolling as soon as mud was involved.

On the plus side, the tyres are supple and damp vibrations nicely.

Sadly, I’ve experienced three punctures – all on the rear tyre – during the test period.

Of course, there’s a significant amount of misfortune involved here, but I don’t normally puncture so often, indicating that the puncture resistance of this Standard-casing version may be limited.

In terms of wear, the front tyre still looks new after 900km, but the rear has lost some of its tread height.

Given that the tyre doesn’t stick its head above the parapet in terms of performance versus alternatives, it’s hard to justify the £82 / $78 cost.

It’s more expensive than both the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel S (£57.99 / $82.90 / €66.90 / AU$116.90) and Vittoria Terreno Wet (£50 / $64 / €60 / AU$93), which both outperform this tyre. In the US, the Pirelli is a little more expensive, though.

Vittoria’s Terreno Wet, especially, is a better mud-specific gravel tyre – with the added benefit that it works across more surfaces, more of the time.

René Herse Hurricane Ridge bottom line

The René Herse Hurricane Ridge is a good tyre, but isn’t a roaring success for the boutique American brand in the face of competitive opposition.

Its plus points are its quiet-rolling and reasonably supple ride quality, as well as the fact the tyre is offered in different casing options to suit your riding.

But the cost and unpredictable tubeless setup pull the score down, as does the fact the ride quality doesn’t stand out from the crowd.

Ultimately, there are better options out there at less of an outlay.