Tyres for 90% road use ride

davomrmac

OK, so I am doing a 60/80 mile ride, mainly on road, some short cuts through light trails. Can anyone suggest a good road tyre or what might be termed a combination tyre for this?

ratty2k

Size?

ride_whenever

how light? You can nurse 23mm off-road but obviously you have no grip!

I'd use something a bit fatter with good puncture resistance, a 28mm or 32mm tyre and let them down a fair bit for the off-road stuff.

davomrmac

ratty2k wrote:

Size?

Currently running the stock supplied Bontrager Jones XR, 26x2.2/2.25"

ride_whenever

Hmm, scrap what i said, I'd look for something large and very fast rolling.

Once again, how light are the light trails?

Something like the folding twinrails will play on and off-road particularly if you let them down for the off-road portions. The same goes for tioga FS100s

supersonic

Anything not a road tyre over that distance on the road will drag a lot.

likewoah

Schwalbe smart sam are pretty fast rolling for something that will have a little off road grip.
Schwalbe Super moto 2.3 will be the fastest for on road if your skills can handle a little sketchiness off road & off camber

Northwind

Some of the Schwalbe Marathons are supposed to be good on/offroad tyres... I've got the basic ones and they're horrendous offroad but there's about 500 different marathons and I can't keep track of them :roll:

I think the best compromise I've ever come across was the Kenda Small Blocks, run at high pressure, they're ace on dry trails and reasonable on tarmac but I still wouldn't want to ride that far on them. And they're not good in the wet in my experience.

I suppose the ideal would be something with a solid/slick raised centre and grippy sides... You see this quite a lot on really horrible cheap tyres on new bikes but I can't think of anything that fits the bill other than that.

davomrmac

What about the Shwalbe Hurricane, this looks like a good combo.

meagain

Just fitted a pair of Conti Dual Fighters for tarmac and river-side paths. Seem rather nice to me.

davomrmac

meagain wrote:

Just fitted a pair of Conti Dual Fighters for tarmac and river-side paths. Seem rather nice to me.

They look pretty nice, similar to the Schwalbe Hurricane.

Bikefotos

I've found Maxxis Ignitor's roll well on the road in the 1.95 size 62a compound and grip very well off road (after all, that's what they're designed for). I've done a 60 mile ride on them which was mainly trail with about 8-10 mile of road. Any xc tyre will drag on the road though. For commuting I use Conti sport contacts in a 1.3 which are good on the road but absolutely lethal with anything muddy!!

Whatever you go with it needs to be smaller than 2.2 :shock: By the way Is that a Fuel ex you've got there?

davomrmac

Bikefotos wrote:

I've found Maxxis Ignitor's roll well on the road in the 1.95 size 62a compound and grip very well off road (after all, that's what they're designed for). I've done a 60 mile ride on them which was mainly trail with about 8-10 mile of road. Any xc tyre will drag on the road though. For commuting I use Conti sport contacts in a 1.3 which are good on the road but absolutely lethal with anything muddy!!

Whatever you go with it needs to be smaller than 2.2 :shock: By the way Is that a Fuel ex you've got there?

Thanks for that. Re. the Fuel ex question... I have a Trek 6700.

Bikefotos

You shouldn't have any problem on a hardtail then, Trek's are nice light bikes as well - just go for a thinner size tyre. Used to use Panaracer Trailblaster's in a 1.8 which were nice and light , fast rolling and good off road, but, unfortunately, they don't make them any more. You'll find it a lot easier with lighter (and thinner) tyres, also go with minimal tread - just be careful of the punctures!

So many tyres - so little time........................

dunker

specialized crossroads armadillo elite.

fast rolling on the road and very durable, over 2k miles on mine and hardly look scuffed and that's with alot of dry hardpack, chalk stoney trails and road riding. 1 puncture in 7 months is'nt bad going too just keep them away from mud unless you like sliding around heh.

passout

A semi slick perhaps (Swalbe do them) - fantastic on the road but only marginal grip off road.

davomrmac

What about these;
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle ... tact.shtml

BlackSpur

davomrmac wrote:

What about these;
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle ... tact.shtml

Very good tyres, but will only cope with very light offroad i.e. no more than towpaths really.

davomrmac

BlackSpur wrote:

davomrmac wrote:

What about these;
http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle ... tact.shtml

Very good tyres, but will only cope with very light offroad i.e. no more than towpaths really.

Have you any personal recommendations.

BlackSpur

I was going to reccomend that actually - used one as a back for a while - rolled past on road (albeit not nearly as well as a full on slick) and was fine ridden fairly aggressively on towpaths. No idea what it's like as a front though. Specialized crossroads look good, too.