Off road/on road tyre compromise

tag33

Hi, i am looking for some advice on tires - I live 6-7 miles away from most of the trails I ride which generally means riding half the route down country lanes/poorly maintained back roads. I have been using the stock Maxxis Ignitors @ 50psi that came on the bike (Kona Kula Deluxe) until recently. These are just about adequate for the trails I frequent although not very fast rolling and slow on the road sections.

The trails are generally hard packed routes over the Lincolnshire Wolds.

I have recently tried some semi slicks, the Continental Travel Contact 1.75 which roll amazingly well on the road, but get very sketchy (scary) once you start to push it offroad, especially when there is some loose gravel around and you certainly feel all the bumps!

I guess a lot of riders will have a similar scenario unless you are lucky enough to live near a trails centre so what sort of tires are people using as a dry weather compromise?

I've noticed the Maxxis Crossmark, Ranchero and WTB Nanoraptors have almost continuous central tread patterns - Would these fit the bill?

Ransaka

I use my big fat knobbly off tyres for all of it. I ride to work and back, 4 miles in on the road, 8.5 home with most of it off road. Yeah they drag like buggery on the tarmac but think of the extra workout Personally wouldn't want to do any offroad singletrack type stuff without off road grippy tyres but that's my preference.

cee

to be honest......over that short a distance....you are not going to notice much difference....

the time saving will literally be in a small number of minutes...

I commmute to work on my bike with 2.35 schwalbe nobby nics.

if nothing else...the harder road section will be better for you?

Raymondavalon

I've done a few "challenge" events that have included a few miles of blacktop.
I run Panaracer Rampage 2.35 and my attitude is "what slows a person down can only make them fitter"

Slack

I also run Schwalbe Nobbly Nics - not in the depths of winter though.

In my view they are terrific when it comes to rolling along the black stuff, so I think they make a good allround tyre.

tag33

"what slows a person down can only make them fitter"

hehe true I hadn't thought of it that way!

Ah yes forgot about the Nobby Nics - have heard people mention their low rolling resistance before!

timpop

The Panaracer Cedric Gracia XC 2.1 is a good option though. It rolls really well and is fantastic on the trails. check it out: http://www.panaracer.com/mtb.php#cg_xc_21

I had it on my last bike (before it was stolen) and I was very happy with its performance.

njee20

Ralphs are significantly lower rolling resistance than Nics, they'd get my vote. No point going for a road biased tyre for that little distance. I do about 8 miles on the road to/from the trails and still do so on mud tyres in winter.

cee

njee20 wrote:

No point going for a road biased tyre for that little distance..

+1

armymankin

i share the same problem.
i used to ride everything with my Nevergal, i have to say they are true all rounder tyres. however, as the knobs thin down, it is easily get punctures on city road as broken glass and other crap around.

The ideal compromise tyres I can suggest is the Continental Traffic (see my bike's picture under my signature ) not as smooth as I imagined on road (it is not full-on road tyre at the end of the day). but it does mostly everything like a pair of XC tyres on dry and damp dirt track.
The (very) soft rubber has pro and cons. it is surprising grippy even you run on 1.9" , cons are they wear quick and they are pretty heavy, again, 'slow' in speed.
oh... one more bonus point: They are dirt cheap!!!

Right now I am running Continental Town & Country at the rear but keeping the Traffic at the front to overcome the durability and speed issue, but the the same time maintain the grip i need for turning corners. So far so good, just that the Town & Country does drift abit and not climb as well on loose terrain due to the less in profile.
and again , they are pretty cheap too!

I have this set up because I ride mainly on road now, but the tyres wont hold me back of having a quick shot ride in the woods. but if you not going to ride much on road then i would just stick with the all-rounders

happy days. 8)

phz

Maxxis High Roller semi-slicks.

Bigger volume than your current semis (so a bit comfier on the rough stuff), and as long as you're brave enough to really lean on the side knobs when cornering off-road (and careful enough not to really lean on the side knobs on the road) then they are a decent compromise on mostly dry, hard trails. I use them on my Trailstar at the minute for mixed road/mild dirt commuting.

slainte rob

tag33

Thanks for the ideas guys - More options than I though out there. Managed to blag an older pair of racing ralphs on loan for the weekend so will give them a shot and going to have a look at the Maxxis high rollers that a local bike shop has in stock later on.

MountainMonster

I have nobby nics and racing raplhs on my bike, and to get to where the decent trails are I do about 50% of the riding on road. I say just hustle through it on the road, as a. you will get fitter and b. you have the tires for the most important part of the trip, the trails.

I would much rather take longer getting there, but have the right tires for the trails with no worries, than get there 5 minutes faster but be a bit sketched.

njee20

I would much rather take longer getting there, but have the right tires for the trails with no worries, than get there 5 minutes faster but be a bit sketched.

This

I wouldn't consider using Conti Traffics or anything, it won't make a massive difference on the road.

Northwind

It does make a massive difference on the road. But still not worth it for the difference it makes off road. And after all you're riding on the road so you can ride off road not the other way round.

Come summer you could try a smallblock or similiar, mine aren't much slower than my road slicks.

tsenior

yar , been told the small blocks are good for this

IMO a great option for the OPs situation is the specialised fasttrack, these came on a bike and i took them off as they are not much use in the muddy rocky stuff round here.

i stuck them on my commuter and for a mix of tramac and hardpack they are great, cope with some easy wood sections as well if its dry. they last well and can be had for £15 as well 8)