IN BRIEF
Silca, the American brand best known for its pumps and workshop tools, is adding five tyres to its catalogue. Four are aimed at gravel: the Protocol RCG-1, RCG-3 and RCG-4 in 45, 50 and 55 mm, from 460 to 650 g, plus an RCG-3 cut for the 32-inch standard. The fifth, the RCR, is aimed at the road in 29, 34 and 38 mm, from 290 to 350 g. For all five, Silca announces the same 120 TPI tubeless-ready casing and the same compound, named Pulsar. On Silca’s European storefront, served from France, all five are listed at €115 apiece, on pre-order since 20 August.
| Gravel models | Protocol RCG-1, RCG-3 and RCG-4 |
| Gravel widths | 700 x 45, 50 and 55 mm |
| Weight RCG-1 | 460, 510 and 535 g |
| Weight RCG-3 | 495, 540 and 590 g |
| Weight RCG-4 | 545, 620 and 650 g |
| 32-inch model | Protocol 32″ RCG-3, in 32 x 2.4 inches, 710 g |
| Road model | Protocol RCR |
| Road widths | 29, 34 and 38 mm |
| Weight RCR | 290, 320 and 350 g |
| Casing | 120 TPI, tubeless ready, CarbonBead BeadLock carbon bead |
| Compound | Pulsar |
| Price | €115 for all five models ($99 in the United States) |
Silca was known for its floor pumps, its valve core removers and its torque wrenches, and more recently for its tubeless consumables. The American brand is now moving to the tyre itself: on 20 August it opens orders for five models, gathered under the Protocol name. Four for gravel, one for the road.
The Silca Protocol gravel tyres, three tread patterns for three terrains
The gravel range reads like a ladder of knobs. The RCG-1 is the smoothest of the three: Silca intends it for “category 1 and 2 gravel races such as Gravel Worlds, SBT GRVL and Dust Bowl, where pace and comfort come first”.
The RCG-3 steps up a level. The brand describes its tread as “elongated centre knobs whose size and height increase as the pattern moves away from the centre” — a way of keeping rolling efficiency in the middle while gaining support on the shoulders.
The RCG-4 is the tyre for bad days, presented by Silca as “the ultimate off-trail tyre for soaked mud, sand and loose stones”. Its knobs are larger and more widely spaced, “to shed heavy soil and mud”. It also gets bead-to-bead SealSkin puncture protection.
A fifth tyre completes the range: the RCG-3 in 32 x 2.4 inches, to the 32-inch standard. Silca credits it with “rollover and stability that a 700c tyre cannot match”.
A Protocol tyre for the road, in 29, 34 and 38 mm
The fourth model, the RCR, leaves the gravel behind. Silca claims it as “the first road tyre in this size range designed and optimised with the same care as a race tyre”: the wording is the brand’s, and is worth what a manufacturer’s claim is worth. The intent is clear: to treat wide road sections as racing tyres, not touring ones.
What the five have in common is the compound. Silca names it Pulsar and describes it as “a high-performance race compound based on rubber and silica, designed to balance rolling efficiency, grip and durability”. The casing is announced as designed “around modern pressures”.
Silca places a third technology on the same level, one the range highlights on every product page: a carbon fibre bead, CarbonBead BeadLock, meant to keep “the tyre dimensionally stable for its entire life”. On the RCR’s page, the brand turns it into a safety argument on hookless rims: where Kevlar beads “stretch and creep over time, which increases the risk of blow-off”, its own “never stretch”.
How much the Protocol tyres cost in France
This is where the view from France differs from the one found elsewhere. The Silca store, browsed from a French address, shows €115 apiece, whatever the model. The American price is $99, just as uniform.
The five tyres have been on offer since 20 August, directly from Silca or from its partner retailers — as a limited pre-order: “Due to overwhelming demand, we have opened limited pre-orders on the next shipments”, the brand says, adding that it expects deliveries “by 20 September at the latest”.
