My rain commuter is an old, rigid MTB. Can anyone recommend tyres that are fast on pavement, but can go over hard packed dirt occasionaly? Pavement where I ride is pretty rough (potholes, craked pavement, bumps), so I'm looking for 40 mm width at least, while fenders can fit up to 55 mm wide tyre.

Though the impetus for this thread- https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/...-apple-vs.html is different from yours, most (if not all) of the ones mentioned should work for your purposes.

I'm still rolling on the OEM Tioga City Slickers in 26x1.5" and handles crap roads and packed dirt and grass just fine- mud, snow, and sand not so much

Robot Check

Schwalbe Smart Sam ... they rolled quite well on payment.

I got about 10000 km on the rear tire with mostly payment (roughly 3 of Frankfurt commuting and some mountain riding).

This is quite useful as well but I must apologise that I've only seen it in Swedish ... hope that's OK

Bike2014-Swedish

No specific recommendation, but here's the best collection of them that I've found in one place.

I put a pair of these super cheapos on my bike just to see if I'd like a MTB around town. I haven't found any reason to replace them yet!!

What about something like this
Hurricane HS 352 | Schwalbe North America
CX Comp HS 369 | Schwalbe North America

^^ This ^^

Agreed, a great collection of tires. I purchased the Continental Country Plus (47mm but 50mm may also be available to you) just this summer for exactly the type of conditions you describe and I am well pleased with them. I had been considering the Big Apple and the Freedom Cruz as well, all 3 of which are listed above.

I'd probably pick the Sefas Drifter.
I had them in 26x1.50 and they seemed to be a pretty decent tire. I opted to go to a skinnier 26X1.25 for my 100% pavement riding.
The Serfas appeared it would provide very high mileage with good flat protection.

Amazon.com : Serfas Drifter Tire with FPS : Bike Tires : Sports & Outdoors

I run a Specialized Nimbus and a Michelin City on my commuter and they roll fast on pavement and do OK on occasional forays onto dry hardpack. Since they have no knobs mud could be problematic.

conti travel contact? 559-47

You didn't say how much clearance your frame had, but would you be willing to buy new fenders for a bigger tire? I just love my Maxxis Hookworm tires for urban commuting. I wouldn't ride singletrack on them, but they handle any conditions the road throws at me.

I recently went through the same decision process, I ended up going with Schwalbe 26 X 2 Kojaks. They roll very well, have great traction wet or dry, do fine on gravel and hard pack, and are comfortable on rough surfaces.

I use 26" x 2" Serfas City Drifters on my rain bike, they work great in rain, pavement, gravel, grass and hard pack dirt.
On my 2nd season with no flats and they give a nice beach cruiser type ride.

https://www.amazon.com/Serfas-Drifter.../dp/B003BYUL2E

Yeah.

For occassional dirt that's packed down, and also rough pavement, a fatter slick tire is the best. Knobbies are slower, and while they'd have a little better grip on 5% of the ride, fat slicks would work much better on the road and only a little worse on the packed dirt. Fat tires are best for really rough road as well - the air in the tire acts as both suspension, and it keeps the bike having firm contact with the road as it deforms over obstacles.

Thanks for tips. My fenders have more than 1 cm room now, with 47 mm tyres. Shortlist for now is: Schwalbe Kojak 50mm (20 euros), Schwalbe Marathon Racer 47 mm (26 e), Continental Comfort Contact 54mm (13 e), Continental Sport Contact 50 mm (25 e).

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My favorites:

Vittoria Randoneur Pro 26 x 1.5"

Panaracer T-Serv Pro-Tex 26 x ~1.5" (their 1.75" is closer to 1.5)

Schwalbe Big Ben's 26 x 2.15"


I've used all of them on rough roads, dirt paths, light singletrack, gravel, loaded touring, all perform well in those conditions as well as smooth streets.