johngwheeler

My Giant TCX came with Schwalbe X-One tires, which although very grippy on grass, seemed to roll slowly on pavement. I swapped these for Schwalbe Marathon Supremes because most of my riding seemed to be on pavement or hard-packed tracks.

I'm now looking for more gravel / single-track routes, and am considering tire choice again. The Marathons will probably be OK, but they do slip a bit on sandy surfaces, and I have the feeling (but the not the experience!) that I should probably have a bit more tread on the tire. I'm happy to be corrected if this assumption is wrong!

So I've been looking at my X-One tires again. My question is whether these are a bad choice for gravel which is likely to have much sharper surfaces than a typical Cyclocross course, for which the tires are intended. I recall reading that many CX tires are actually very thin between the knobs, and can be easily punctured when riding on anything other than grass/mud or smooth roads. Is there any truth in this?

Would I be better off with one of the many gravel-specific tires (like the Schwalbe G-One - to compare ranges for the same manufacturer)?

I'm already looking at getting a separate wheel set for road use, and now it seems I may need a total of 3 sets: road, CX and gravel :-)

Thanks for any advice!