Tire advice

cpper

Hello
I'm looking for a 27.5 front tire which would work decent on asphalt and hardpack+rocky(loose) terrain. I'll only use it in dry conditions. The images say it better:











My budget is pretty narrow and I only have these 5 options:

Schwalbe Rapid Bob
Schwalbe Though Tom
Continental Mountain King 2
Continental Trial King
Continental X-King


What would you recommend ?

LimitedGarry

If I'm wrong, correct me, anyone! But I'm going to state that a tyre that works well on both loose over hard and tarmac doesn't exist. The really tacky AM tyres wear down on tarmac like crazy and tarmac friendly stuff is typically XC oriented and doesn't play well on loose over hard.

Also, what's on the pictures isn't something I'd call loose over hard, but a bullshit road made for cars. If you've got this many big stupid rocks on the road, then it's not as much about the tyre holding up, but the rocks not moving around. It's not even like you could pick a good line, unless there's a patch of ground exposed. You simply gotta trust the rocks to stay where they are.

The only thing I'd suggest is getting a higher volume tyre and running it at a low-ish pressure. I don't think a tread pattern will make much of a difference, if any.

cpper

LimitedGarry wrote:

Also, what's on the pictures isn't something I'd call loose over hard, but a bullshit road made for cars. If you've got this many big stupid rocks on the road, then it's not as much about the tyre holding up, but the rocks not moving around. It's not even like you could pick a good line, unless there's a patch of ground exposed. You simply gotta trust the rocks to stay where they are.

It's not that horrible, when the rock layer is not too thick, like in the second and third pic, it's quite fun actually. Sometimes when I hit the right speed and angle both tires are slightly sliding across the entire curve. It feels like the tires cut through the rock layer and use the outside rock wall like a mini berm.

cooldad

I gave up after only dry conditions. That's alien to me.