I just finished my commuter/cross bike and put Vittoria Randonneur Cross tires on. Just this morning I took it out for a 16 mile ride that consisted of road, fire road and mountain terrain. This tires are awesome as far as versatility goes, the had no problems in any of the terrain. Now they are not as ggod as a mountain tire but not once did I feel like the tire was not doing its job in the dirt, keep in mind that I am running 60psi in these not 30 -35 like I would on my mountain bike. I cant speak for the flat protection but as far as performance goes I would give it an A+.

+1

Those are my tire of choice when my LHT is doing commuter duty. I run the 26x1.75 flavor and they are awesome.

Completely counter-intuitive and defying general cycling wisdom, but based on this Schwalbe test report any way you cut it a 700x42 slick (or fatter) like the Specialized Borough @ 80psi will have lower rolling resistance than anything narrower, bar none!

From the graph of energy input to perform the same amount of work, this equates to 20-30% more effort (or calories burned!!) to go the same distance. And that differential gets bigger if you let narrower treads run under maximum pressure.

What Schwalbe say is the optimum footprint is a circle, ie the diameter in the plane of rotation (the rim) is the smallest (for the same applied load). Therefore as narrower tires flatten out along the rim, not more evenly across it like fat tires, their rolling resistance is much higher.

Narrower tires will inherently suffer more wall damage caused by this kind of longitudinal flexing, much more so if habitually under inflated, or their cross-section is too small for the weight carried,

My experience with Borough is they're light, fast and very tough.

For flat-free commuting (and I've done thousands of miles without a flat stopping me getting to my destination) you must put in Slime strips or Mr Tuffy and load up (Schrader valve) tubes with Goop or Slime.

If you're over 160lbs/75kg (or carry heavy loads) and want a fast ride, the Borough tire which inflates to 80psi is best way to get it.

It goes without saying you should have (preferably) 622x19 rims, although 17.5mm width would do. And depending on your weight and the loads, double wall, double eyelets and heavy spokes to match.

I'm gonna a go ahead and reinvigorate this old thread. I used 35mm Conti Cyclo cross tires. They puncture too easily on tarmac but they roll surprisingly well (the tiny knobs are were very close together). When I said the they puncture too easily, what I meant was that they REALLY SUCK for punctures.

So I changed to Schwalbe Marathon 35mm and while I haven't ridden the bike enough to review the puncture resistance, the way they roll leads me to believe the other reviewers who say they are bomb proof. And when I say "the way they roll", they are the slowest tires I've ever ridden. For cyclo cross bikes used with commuting in mind, I was quite impressed with specialised Burroughs tires which came standard on my 2009 tricross in 32mm. If you want a comfortable ride, reasonable roll and ride quality, see if you can seek these out.

I will continue using the schwalbe for a while but if in get sick of them (or I'm not strong enough since I'm out ta shape these days), I will get the burroughs.

My wife rolls the specialized boroughs on her cross country touring cannondale, also her in-city distance bike. Tires continue to serve her very well. Couple of thousand miles, no flats at all, no probs at all.

However, still prefer the continental travel contacts w/ reflective sidewalls, 700X37's. What I run on my Origin8 CX700 commuter. Nearly perfect tire, IMO.

Also, wider rims are better for commuting purposes, or when durability is key.
Just moved my Origin8 Aero Speed wheelset to my old univega road bike in order to drop 24mm Velocity Dyads on my CX700.
Less sidewall curvature, better ride, stronger wheels w/ 36 spokes instead of 20 aeroblade spokes.

Actually I also have a Continental Travel Contact 700 x 35 - on the front wheel - with the Specialized Borough 700 x 40c on the rear where the weight is.

The Conti has done thousands of miles without any flats and I find 35 on the front and 40 on the back a great combination.