American Classic has updated its road and gravel tire collection with the popular Timekeeper and Torchbearer. After the relaunch last September, the brand said that its team of engineers has been working to update the products with the goal of "providing riders with even faster road and gravel tires."

Among the updates, such as support for hookless rims and improved armor to prevent punctures, American Classic offers road and gravel tires that "both show measurable improvements" over the 2021 model, with third-party testing supporting the claim by claiming to be faster.

The Cycling News review team has yet to actually use these tires, so we can't say for sure if these are the best road bike tires and the best gravel tires in the military, but let's take a closer look at the updates.

As part of the redesign, American Classic has beefed up the armor on its road and gravel tires and introduced several protective layers. Timekeeper and Torchbearer tires receive this enhanced protection in addition to hookless rim compatibility. [Timekeeper road tires now come in 30mm widths in addition to the current 25mm and 28mm, with Stage 3 and Stage 3S armor on the clincher and tubeless models, respectively. Meanwhile, the all-season Torchbearer features Stage 4 and Stage 4S armor on clincher and tubeless ready models.

The breakdown is as follows:

In addition to this, American Classic has updated all of its gravel tires with a new Stage 5S armor consisting of 120 TPI casing and Nylon 105 skin, while the tread pattern remains the same on each model The tubeless-ready series now features the new Stage 5S armor, which consists of 120 TPI casing and Nylon 105 skin. This consists of a 120TPI casing and a nylon 105 skin, which is said to provide best-in-class puncture protection and light weight. These tires will be offered in 700x40, 700x50, and 650bx47, with the Kimberlite also offered in 700x35. All tires will be available with new brown sidewalls in addition to the current tan and black options.

Along with these improvements comes a slight price increase, making the tires $10 more expensive than before. This means that all clincher road tires will increase from $30 to $40, and tubeless-ready gravel tires will increase from $35 to $45.