Do it all bike tire size

[p nut]

I love riding my bike. Riding it to the trails, on the trail, and back home. I guess I get pleasure of not relying on motorized transportation on my outings. Because I am riding through various terrain, tire choice becomes an issue. Over the last few years, I've been testing out various tires to find the best balance of on-road speed and off-road prowess. Progress has been slow, because I wait until the tires are worn out be fore changing.
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I started with 2.2" tires (Ikon). These roll fairly well but after switching to my cross bike with Clement MSO (700x40), they felt too sluggish. Off-road, they were great, but just too slow on-road. I then tested out WTB Nano 29x2.0. Felt much better/faster. Off-road performance didn't diminish much and felt on-road speed improved. Great, moving in the right direction. Then went down a few more notches to Bruce Gordon's Rock n Road 700x43mm (1.75"). Felt ok on pavement but not so great off road. Speed on trails was greatly reduced, along with level of comfort after 60+ miles. Ok, so the porridge is now too cold. That's where I'm at now.
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I think the best balanced tire size for me is somewhere between 1.8-2.0 size. I'm going to test 29x1.8 Kenda SB8 and Kenda Slant 6 29x1.9. I was hoping for a 1.8-1.9 tire with a more solid center tread with almost a continuous strip of tread (like Nano's), but doesn't exist. On paper, SB8 seems like the best candidate.
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For those of you riding similar type of terrain, curious what your choices are. Thanks.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Kenda's small knob tires are great...for about a week. I loved the Small Block 8 for tacky hardpack racing (rare), but liked the Slant 6 better for general riding. Unfortunately, they fall in that category of tire that's really only good for about the first 15% of the tire life. After that...not so great.

 

[ihatemybike]

I generally love my Kenda K-Rad tires everywhere, however there is no 29er version.

I had Halo's Twin Rail 2 tires on my 29er. Really liked these tires. High psi and they flew on the road, drop the pressure and they were great for the off road riding I did with them.

 

[p nut]

Found a couple of others worth a look:
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Kenda 24Seven. Looks pretty robust and has a good center strip for road riding.
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Specialized Renegade S-Works. Probably not the most durable or long-wearing, but man, 430g for 29x1.8 and 470g for 29x1.95. Not bad.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I actually really like the Specialized Ground Control 1.9 tires on my Awol. Pretty good on/off the dirt.

 

[goodtimes]

Kenda's small knob tires are great...for about a week. I loved the Small Block 8 for tacky hardpack racing (rare), but liked the Slant 6 better for general riding. Unfortunately, they fall in that category of tire that's really only good for about the first 15% of the tire life. After that...not so great.

Wait - you burn off 15% per week?!?!?!

I feel like such a slacker - I'll never tell you how long the front tire has been on my MTB.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Wait - you burn off 15% per week?!?!?!

I feel like such a slacker - I'll never tell you how long the front tire has been on my MTB.

Hahaha. Hmmm...maybe I should say a few weeks. Seriously though, not much discussion is paid to how tires perform over their lifespan. Some tires, like Nevagals, seem to be good to the bitter end, but aren't ever great, even at the start. Schwalbe Racing Ralphs go from super awesome to instantly bad when they hit a specific amount of wear. I think that's why they call them Racing Ralphs. One race...get new tires.

 

[jayspies]

Hahaha. Hmmm...maybe I should say a few weeks. Seriously though, not much discussion is paid to how tires perform over their lifespan. Some tires, like Nevagals, seem to be good to the bitter end, but aren't ever great, even at the start. Schwalbe Racing Ralphs go from super awesome to instantly bad when they hit a specific amount of wear. I think that's why they call them Racing Ralphs. One race...get new tires.

Funny that you say this. I had Rocket Rons on my hardtail for a very little while, until the knobs started shredding apart. Maybe it's just my personal experience, but Schwalbe tires seem to consistently sacrifice durability at the foot of the weight weenie altar. At least they did. I'll probably try out a set of Jumbo Jims when my current Panaracer FBNs wear out.

That being said, if you want a tire that has a low center tread count for your tarmac portion, but some cornering and traction for the off pave' bits, you may want to take a look at the Schwalbe Thunder Burt, if you don't mind stepping up to a 2.1. Seems like it may be a good fit for your application. Not the cheapest tire in the world, and I can't speak to durability, but a 29x2.1 is 515 grams and has a pretty unique tread pattern. You can get down to 435 grams for the liteskin version, but I think those would get destroyed in short order if you weigh much above 170 or so. Linky below:

http://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/off-road_tires/thunder_burt

 

[dman93]

Did I miss something? What kind of bike, what rim width? But anyway, friend who can ride almost any surface and conditions on anything (Flow trail on fat bike? Sure. Rock gardens on road bike? Why not?) loves his Nano's.

 

[p nut]

Did I miss something? What kind of bike, what rim width? But anyway, friend who can ride almost any surface and conditions on anything (Flow trail on fat bike? Sure. Rock gardens on road bike? Why not?) loves his Nano's.

This is on a Fargo. Crest rims. But that's just me and my bike set up. Just curious if others were doing the same type of rides (on and off-road) and what their set ups were.

 

[Co-opski]

I've been running the Kenda K-west in 26x2.25 on my drop bar Trek 930 do it all bike. I've used Continental Town and Country, some Michelins and I've been eyeing the Schwallbe Big Apples for my next set.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Schwalbe Big Apples are super smooth. Nice tire.

 

[Theprofessional]

I like 2.3"
My big rigs have 2.3X26 Spec Butchers but my commuter hardtail has as Spec Ground Control which are far more adept at low-speeds than the Butchers.

 

[tacollie]

I commuted on my mtb for years. I it saw 50/50 single track and pavement. I ran the the 2.25 Ardents. The big thing that mad it better for me was airing up on pavement. I ran 60 psi on the road and 30 on the trails. If you haven't played with tire pressure that might help some.


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[madmax718]

GEAX Evolution (more road than off road but can handle some hard pack)
Continental 26-in X King (i had an imitating cheng shing one, and it was pretty decent.).