Originally Posted by
mdilthey
I run different tread patterns on front and rear. More grip (knobs) on front, longer life (smoother) on back. Makes for a better handling bike. Thus, I don't rotate, though, I do occasionally run a non-touring tire up front which wears faster, matching the wear rate of the rear.
For "gravel" touring, I have found that the Marathon Mondial rear and Smart Sam Plus front is a good combo.
Interesting. I have done the exact opposite on some of my gravel tours. I used a Schwalbe Marathon Dureme (now discontineud) on the front and Schwalbe Marathon Extreme (also discontined) on the rear. I wanted more traction on the rear for hills in wet weather. When touring, I take corners pretty slow, especially in bad conditions. So lack of tread up front is not too big of an issue for me.
The Dureme was a good mixed surface kind of tread, the Extreme has a deeper tread for better off road grip, but it also has siping in the knobs for better wet grip on pavement.
