Cyclocross/Trail Tires
 

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.

Kenda Happy Medium
Ritchey SpeedMax
Michelin Transworld Sprint

Those are all similar to what you've got with a side lugged tire with a file tread center line. They're pretty good for dry trails, grass, and CX races with lots of pavement, but not so much for general riding on crushed stone trails (IMO). They're sort of overkill unless you're racing and doing a lot of hard cornering.

For general stone trail riding I like a 28 - 32mm street tire with decent puncture resistance.
Panaracer Pasela TG (I did a 300k with over 25k of loose gravel service roads on a pair of 32mm)
Panaracer Urban Max (My current commuter tire, 32mm)
Conti Contact
Conti Touring Plus
Schwalbe Marathon (Commuter tires on an old bike I no longer own)

I just bought these for my commuter/touring bike and am so happy with them, I'll never buy another tire:

Vittoria Randonneur Cross Pro Touring
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026ND2UO

Thanks, Clifton. The Michelin Trasworld Sprints look like they might be ideal for my type of terrain, plus Biketiresdirect has them on sale right now for $18.69. Any experience with Performance Forte Gothams?

By the way, forgot to mention I am running 700 x 35 right now.

Unless you're riding in soft/loose dirt or gravel, you don't need much tread. My commute has a 3-mile section of dirt that's mostly hard-pack, and I ride it on Panaracer Urban Max or Conti Contact Extralights. Both tires roll well on pavement, and have enough grip on dirt roads/trails.

Somewhat less bling than the others, but I've had good luck running $20 Kenda Kwick 700x30s this year. The tread seems to help on grass and gravel, and the sidewalls are thin enough to give a comfortable ride on harder terrain. I've put over 2000 miles on mine without a flat, but that may be due to luck and my weight of 150 lbs as much as anything. ;)

EDIT: Here's what the rear tire has worn down to. It sounds a lot like what you (the OP) are looking for:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../kenda2000.jpg

- Scott