Here’s a fun fact about SILCA: for years, they’ve made almost everything around your tyre – the pressure calculator you’ve probably used to dial in your PSI, the Ultimate Sealant, the tubeless valves, the rim tape, the TPU tubes – but never the tyre itself.

That changes with the launch of Protocol, SILCA’s first-ever tyre range.

Why a tyre company that didn’t make tyres decided to make tyres

SILCA’s pitch is basically: we spent years studying tyre pressure, rolling resistance, aerodynamics, rim width and sealant, and every one of those rabbit holes kept leading back to the same missing piece. They didn’t set out to add “another tyre” to a crowded market. They wanted to build the tyre they wanted to ride, built around the widths and conditions modern racers actually deal with.

The whole range shares one engineering philosophy, which SILCA frames as a “complete performance equation” – rolling efficiency, grip, ride quality, puncture resistance, pressure optimisation and rim compatibility all pulling against each other at once. More puncture protection adds weight. More grip can cost you rolling speed. Lower pressure improves comfort but changes handling. No single Protocol tyre tries to max out everything – instead, each model is tuned to balance that equation differently depending on what you’re racing on.

Every tyre in the range is built on the same foundation: Pulsar Compound for the rubber/silica blend, Race Casing construction, CarbonBead BeadLock for shape retention over the life of the tyre, and puncture protection via either Ghost Shield (lightweight, rolling-efficiency-first) or SealSkin (extra durability where you need it).

The gravel side: three treads, one naming logic worth knowing

Protocol Gravel comes in three directional tread patterns, and SILCA’s made the naming useful – it mirrors the same terrain categories used in the SILCA Tyre Pressure Calculator, so picking a tyre and dialling in pressure speak the same language.

• RCG-1 – fast-rolling, hardpack gravel and pavement transitions. Built for fast gravel race builds and all-road performance bikes. 45/50/55mm, from $159.95.
• RCG-3 – the all-rounder for mixed terrain, with more emphasis on puncture protection (SealSkin). Available right up to a 32x2.4″ option for high-volume race setups. 45/50/55mm and 32x2.4″, $159.95.
• RCG-4 – built to shed mud and hang on in loose, rough, technical terrain. 45/50/55mm, $159.95.

The road side: Protocol RCR

For road and all-road racing, RCR comes in 29mm, 34mm and 38mm, developed around today’s wider internal rim widths – basically spanning from the narrowest tyre that makes sense on today’s rims through to the widest most road frames (and the UCI) will allow. Directional tread, aero-focused, built for the reality that road racing has quietly shifted toward wider rims, higher volume and lower pressures over the last few years. $159.95 across the range.

One thing worth doing before you fit a set

Every Protocol tyre is tubeless ready, and SILCA has published minimum recommended sealant fill volumes per size – they range from 55ml for the narrowest RCR up to 135ml for the 32x2.4″ gravel option. Worth checking before setup, and worth topping up more if you’re riding in tougher conditions or running inserts.

If you’re weighing up gravel tread patterns or trying to land on the right road width for your rim setup, get in touch with the team and we’ll help you match a Protocol tyre to what you’re actually riding.