Commuting - 3 .5 Season Tire? Avocet,conti, Schwalbe?

GOOD AFTERNOON,

I have new wheels comming for my Cross check and will be putting on new tires as well.

Im bewildered with all the tire choices, I agree with Sheldon that slicks work the best on dry and wet pavement but unfortunatly as we all know we have glass (Lots of it ), gravel, wet leaves, potholes,grates,
sticks,frost heaves...

my commute at the moment is 18 miles one way I start in a city , then ride on town backroads ,then a paved bike trail that has 1/2 mile section of moderate packed gravel/limestone then I finish up on nasty city roads again.

I know that no tire will perform in all conditions.

with my above commute dynamics and the fact that id like to ride in early winter (light snow upstate ny) what tire would fit best overall.

the avocets cross INVERTED THREAD has allways made sence to me from a practical point of view but ive never used them , too hard to find at LBSs cant find locally shoot cant find any decent tour tires localy.

On another note ive read nothing but good reports recently about the Schwalbe marathons.

im running Continental 32 mm "City ride" right now but Im not too happy with them in the gravel, or on rough stuff... there fine on the smoother pavement. the city ride were the only 32mm tire I could find locally and I would prefer a 35.

Many thanks

"John"

I'm fond of Schwalbe Marathons or Marathon Slicks. The Marathons are tough and have some tread for the trail. The Slicks are faster and almost as tough. If your paranoid about flats the Marathon Plus maybe what you want, but they are heavy.
Craig

I used some of Sheldon's nos avocet duro plus slicks in some very challenging conditions that included mud, gravel and rain-slick roads. These are a round x-section tire labelled 35 but actually are at 32. They worked as well as the Pasela 32 that I usually use. I was very skeptical but I really cannot argue....mud seems to fill anything that isn't a knobby in half a sec. and I don't care to ride knobbies on pavement.

I'd recommend the marathons. With the rough road surfaces you'll be pounded by the slicks. check out schwalbe, they have 6 different types of marathon tires. The marathon plus is highest level of protection at the cost of weight.