I'm contemplating good all-around 26" commuting tires for my new bad-weather bike. I want something that rolls well when it's dry, grips well in the rain and can handle a couple of inches of unexpected snow and slush. It's just not practical to ride with studs all winter long, I only throw those on when roads are snow-packed and icy - which is not really that often, even in Ohio. I used to swear by Conti Town & Countrys, but when I saw the set my LBS had in stock it was obvious that Conti got cheap on us...they were not the same tires as the last set I had. I have Serfas Drifters on now, which have a similar inverted tread design as the Contis and so far they are OK, but I am wondering about something like the Schwalbe Marathon XR or ATB. Any suggestions?

I'm currently sticking with the 700c Nashbar studded tires for my winter ride. I find that it is worth the inconvience of studded tires for the number of times we have snow between mid Dec to the begining of March. At which point I put on some slicks unless the weather reports start predicting heavy snows. I don't like changing tires or even wheels constantly and I only have one winter bike so the studs are what I use.
I've found that inverted tread tires are only slightly better in snow than slicks. I don't have much experience but I would guess a more agressive tread would be a little better especially if you deflate the tires some for snow. However at that point they roll nearly as bad as studs which work much better in the snow.
Craig

I havent found such a tyre yet-If there is snow I would stick with some aggressive studded tyres like the Nokians. Any tyre that grips well in snow though will be rubbish in the dry. I use Extreme 296´s (26 x 2.1) but this is probably overkill-but what the hell I love overkill.If you keep the pressure reasonably high then the efficiency loss will not be so great over a non-studded but aggresively profiled tyre (I think). Just dropthe pressure again when the conditions get worse.

When conditions are less extreme but not perfect I have some Schwalbe Big Apples (26 x 2.0 I think) which are quite wide and stable and very puncture resistant. I don´t want to have to fix a puncture in the middle of the forest at night. They are also slick so roll well in the dry but are not the lightest tyre of course.

In summer I switch back to the narrow Conti sport contacts (light, quite puncture resistant and roll very well)

I run with Conti Town & Country Tires

I have traveled thru snow and ice. They are doing very well so far.
I have studded snows ready to go on, but I like the rolling resistance of the Town & Country tires. They seem to be great on ice.

As far as cruising on Dry... they are great. Almost like riding on Slicks.
They have a "Inverted" tread.

I am building another Wheel Set... taking me forever...$$$$
I am half way there. Front wheel has a Stud on it, ready to put on the bike, all aired up! Not sure about the rear yet. Thats where is cost more grrrrrrrrr.

I also ride the Serfas Drifters. I like them.

Little did I know this morning that I would be encountering black ice. I successfully kept the helmet side up.

Sometimes sticky snow will get carried up over the tire. This is not great with close fenders. Widely spaced knobs will help a little with this. Tall knobs are very slow on the street. Something not too heavy with knobs on the side for the soft stuff but shorter widely spaced knobs in the middle. Some kind of off road semi slick. Semi slicks will work better with fenders in the snow and mud. There are quite a few that will do this. Get something with a wide pressure range so you can go down to 25 for loose snow and as high as possible for the road. I have some Maxxis worm drives. They don't make them any more but you could find a picture, they are very fast. And I use them in the snow all the time. They are surprisingly grabby in mud too.

Edit: The wormdrive is still on the Maxxis website maybe you can still get them. The wormdrive 430's are one model, they are very thin and light. They do go very fast but you can puncture them with a big sharp rock. They are fantastic in all conditions. Good in the snow good in the mud, but thin. There is a 495 gram version too. Did I mention they are FAST? If you get the Worm drives you should invest in some tire liners. I love the Kevlar spinskins liners. You may be surprised at how fast the Wormdrives are, depending on what are on the bike now. They are not the best for banging into holes and curbs really hard. If your the kind of rider that misses the big objects you would like these. FAST !!

I run with Conti Town & Country Tires

I have traveled thru snow and ice. They are doing very well so far.
I have studded snows ready to go on, but I like the rolling resistance of the Town & Country tires. They seem to be great on ice.

As far as cruising on Dry... they are great. Almost like riding on Slicks.
They have a "Inverted" tread.

I am building another Wheel Set... taking me forever...$$$$
I am half way there. Front wheel has a Stud on it, ready to put on the bike, all aired up! Not sure about the rear yet. Thats where is cost more grrrrrrrrr.

I agree, I loved T&Cs, but have you bought a new set lately? They have gotten flimsy and even the tread looks like it isn't as deep. It's been two years since my last set, but I remembered them being a little more solid and the tread being a bit deeper...is old age creeping up and making my memory play tricks on me?

I also ride the Serfas Drifters. I like them.

Little did I know this morning that I would be encountering black ice. I successfully kept the helmet side up.

The Drifters are doing OK for now. Inflated to 60 or so they seem to roll pretty nice and I can take them down to 25 or so in the snow...but I just haven't had them long enough to trust them.