Hi, All:

I'm not actually a commuter, but I figured you folks could recommend a good tire on my cross bike. I use it mostly for night riding in the fall/winter or light trail riding the rest of the season, nothing too technical. In the Chicagoland area, we have miles of both paved trails and crushed limestone/gravel. I ride a Kona Jake the Snake that came with Conti Speed Kings. Ok tires, but they seem to have very high rolling resistance and lately I have been getting more and more flats. I've noticed that small flints are now imbedding and making their way through the shell.

I would like to get something that has a good center flat area for road and still has some more aggressive tread on the sides for trail use. Any suggestions? I only ride this bike around 1,500 miles a year, so I would like to keep the cost per tire down to a reasonable level.