Originally Posted by
hman0217
I think you're going to have to choose between one and the other pro/con if you must choose between the two you have.
The GT365s are a touring tire, built for durability and straight-line grip. They're not a performance tire where you can do tight cornering.
The others, as you mention, are slippery in certain situations.
That's why I LOVE LOVE LOVE the clement MSO xplorers. I can't post URLs until I have two more posts so please just google them.
They give the best of both worlds. Incredible stability and nimble cornering.
Other best-of-both-worlds options include the Kenda Small Block 8 & Happy Medium, as well as the Soma Cazadero. I think these are all available in the 38-42 range. I'm sure others can chime in with other best-of-both-worlds options.
By the way, there are two things that affect the max possible tire size: the clearance in the fork (front) and seat stays (rear) and the internal rim width. If you have a rim width of, say, 17mm or more, then you're totally fine to do a 42 mm tire. That said, not all companies measure their tires the same. You'd think a mm is a mm but the bike world seems to indicate otherwise.
Disclaimer: I speak only my opinion and invariably I suspect others will differ in their choice of tire for what you wish to accomplish.
Thank you for the recommendations. Right now I'm set with the GT 365. I really like them, especially since they were formulated for cold and wet surfaces. One last thing I will say is that the rolling resistance is not affected by the much larger size. It rolls just as fast as the H 35 mm. What is different is the effort needed to get up to speed. I would say it's like 30% more peddling effort. Once at speed there is no difference in peddling. On a 3 mile ride to the store what took me 15 to 20 minutes may now take 18 to 23 minutes. To me that is well worth the trade off in safety. Plus I get a little more aerobically fit.