DarKris

Hello,

I was looking into picking up some all-terrain, intermediate tread, cyclocross Tires for my bike.

I am currently running 32c Specialized Infinity Armadillos, and I like the puncture resistance, but hate the lack of compliance and traction off-road.

I want to get durable Tires with good traction on and off road, and in sizes between 35-38mm in actual width.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

fietsbob

It's in the Name: All Terrain | WTB




I have a 622-32 pair , its OK they were $20 each, when I Got Them ..

not as easy rolling as a light 33 Jack Brown Slick though..

thats because of the Tread Blocks, your dirt traction..

I dont ride My CX Bike Much .. No Mudguards.

DarKris

Have you used them? Are they durable? I'm not asking for links but for what people recommend based on experience.

Barrettscv 

X'PLOR USH | Clement Cycling, Cyclocross Tires, Adventure Tires, Mountain Bike Tires, Road Bike Tires

X'PLOR MSO | Clement Cycling, Cyclocross Tires, Adventure Tires, Mountain Bike Tires, Road Bike Tires

I'm using the 700x40 MSO. It's an excellent all-around tire. It's reasonably fast on pavement and firm gravel. It's also grippy on dry and loose surfaces, including sandy soil.

trailangel

I am using the x'plor USH 35mm on hybrid. Has a little more center tread for on road and still gives good grip on hard pack or hard gravel.

Those WTB All Terrain look good too.

tarwheel 

Clement LAS 33s are also nice. Mine measure 36 mm wide on Dyad rims.

Barrettscv 

Gravel Grinder

These look interesting. Haven't tried yet.

09box

These would get my vote:
continental bicycle Tour RIDE

You can usually find them pretty reasonable. How is the tire wear on the Clements? I've heard mixed on that..

DarKris

Those Continentals look a lot like my Infinity Tires. I wanted slightly more knobby Tires for better off road grip.

09box

continental bicycle Speed RIDE

continental bicycle Cyclocross Speed

Sammy Slick - Schwalbe Professional Bike Tires

Its a 32 but good tire: GravelKing SK 32 ? Panaracer Bicycle Tires

SpeedyStein

I just picked up a set of the WTB Cross Boss in 35c. Setup tubeless rather painlessly on WTB rims too. Will post further once I get a couple of rides on them.

I also ride a set of Kenda Happy Mediums in 40c. Great tire for everything except super loose sand/dust or wet peanut butter mud. Rolls pretty fast on pavement, gravel, hardpack, and does well in soft dirt too.

clydeosaur

If your looking for a cheap tire to commute / beat around on, give these a shot; Bontrager Connection Hybrid Tire | Bike tires & tubes | Cycling components | Equipment
I was burning up my nice Continentals commuting and still wanted something I could hit a trail or two on if I wanted to. I've been very happy with their performance both on road & trail.

ggpepper

My Nashbar SSCX came with Kenda Small Block 8 tires and they ride great on pavement and are grippy on gravel. Haven't used long enough to tell about durability.

gomango

Great, cheap tire.

Picked them up on CL for $10 a piece.

I got just over 2,500 miles on a set.

Kenda Small Block 8 Pro Cyclocross Tire > Components > Tires > Dirt Tires | Jenson USA

Tim_Iowa

I picked up a pair of those at the Madison bike swap, but I haven't ridden them yet. They'll go on my Rivendell Roadeo, once that frame arrives tomorrow. I doubt I'll be riding it any time soon, though.

jtbadge

My Nature Boy came with those as well. 100% recommended for pavement, gravel, dirt - definitely not mud, though.

handsthatcatch

How much off road traction do you need? My 38c Paselas have taken me through spots I never thought a (mostly) slick could. Let out a little air and they eat up gravel and dirt, and not too shabby on road either.

SpeedyStein

Just rode the WTB Cross Boss in 35c for the first time today. First impressions are good, they roll well on pavement, seem to hook up well on soft pack, and they fly on hardback. Definitely avoid mid though, that's not their thing - they got super squirmy in thick chunky mud. They didn't pack up though, which surprised me.

justin1138

The WTB Nano's are good. They're labeled as 40's, mine ran a little narrower. The Panaracer Comet and Ritchey Shield might be worth looking at too.

canklecat

Michelin Protek Cross Max. They run about 2/3 the price of comparable stuff such as the Specialized all terrain Armadillos and Schwalbes, if price is a factor. It was for me - I got a pair from Nashbar for $50, after discounts and bundling with other items. (And Nashbar is running another 25% discount as of this week.)

I've been riding a set of 700x40 (they're also available in 700x35) for around four months, very satisfied with the all terrain wet and dry grip including on surfaces that can barely be described as gravel. You know how a construction site looks after some heavy rains, rutted with heavy equipment, but just dried out enough to ride without MTB tires? Yup, it'll handle that too. One of my rural rides involves a shortcut through a construction site to bypass a dangerous highway merge. There's some gravel, but also a lot of rocks up to fist size. If I do my part (no stunts), the tires do theirs.

These tires are somewhat heavy with the 5mm puncture resistant built-in liner (1,100 gr, and I run heavy-ish puncture resistant sealant filled tubes too). So they're not ideal for long rides on smooth pavement. But they're great for rough pavement, brick (several long stretches of brick boulevards in my town), unpaved paths and trails, just good all around tires. The Protek Cross (sans "Max") weigh about 1/3 less, but I wouldn't want to run without the heavy duty puncture resistant shields. I had my fill of flats on faster, lighter tires last year, mostly from goat head grass burrs and tiny shards of metal. With the Protek Cross Max I've deliberately run through pastures with grass burrs, over broken glass, etc. (although I avoid roofing nails and drywall screws). So far, so good, no problems. Sharp pointy pokey stuff doesn't even get embedded into the tread.

Now, I'm not gonna exaggerate. These aren't mountain bike tires. They won't climb muddy or wet grass slopes in the pastures and prairie areas I sometimes ride. But they lose traction very predictably, very user friendly tires. No idea about snow, we haven't had any this winter, but I'm gonna try first chance I get.

Overall, an excellent value and compromise between grip and durability. The tread still has most of the mold release nibs. Yet this isn't hard, slick rubber - it grips really well and doesn't sacrifice grip for durability. No idea yet about long term life, I've ridden 'em only four months.

Only minor nit I'd pick is they feel very slightly squirmy on hard cornering. The raised tread has a sharp shoulder and I can feel (and hear) just a bit of squirm on hard cornering. Not slippery, just ... squirmy, compared with the rounded shoulder tires I used to run. But it's a fair tradeoff for the positive characteristics.

FWIW, Michelin recommends around 76 psi for my weight (165 lbs), but after several rides at various weights and pressures I prefer the overall feel and handling at around 60 psi on the front and 65 psi on the rear. I'll decrease the pressure a bit for off road riding, down to around 50 psi. Sometimes I carry a trunk bag loaded up with camera gear and a tripod, and haven't needed to adjust the pressure for that. But I'm not doing any technical stuff or bombing down mountain trails, just riding in rural areas looking for stuff to photograph.

I was >>this<< close to ponying up for Armadillos a few months ago, but after chatting with the local Specialized shop mechanic I decided to keep looking. Nothing wrong with the Armadillos, but I wanted tires with beads tight enough to grip my bike's single wall rims when flat. My original Specialized Hemisphere tires would roll off the rim when uninflated, taking along the rim strip and risking damage to the rim. I wanted tires that I could roll the bike on when flat if necessary. The Michelin's grip just tight enough for that, but can easily be handled with a pair of plastic tire levers.

SpeedyStein

What's your opinion of the Nano in mud? A lot of my favorite trails in the summer here have peanut butter mud right now... I would love to find something with a little volume that can slice through the really sticky stuff without packing up.

SpeedyStein

Sounds like you would be a good candidate to try tubeless rims. When I mounted one of my WTB Cross Boss tires onto my WTB rim and got the bead seated, I realized that the tire label wasn't quite where I wanted it, and it took me literally 20 minutes of fighting it to get the bead broken to slide the tire over. Plus, when tubeless with sealant, you should be good to roll through goat head city and not have any problems.

canklecat

Tubeless is on my maybe-someday list, but not in the budget now.

BTW, I don't mean to imply the Michelins are difficult to get the bead over the rim. The bead is nowhere near as tight as the Conti road tires I ran on my Motobecane years ago. I dreaded flats on that thing because it took three levers, three hands and lotsa cussing to fix. The Michelins need only modest effort with a couple of levers, and that's with my moderate arthritis - no problem, really.

But the Michelins fit better than my Specialized Hemispheres, which rolled right off the rim when uninflated. First time I got a flat on the Hemispheres I'd left my pump home. I was surprised to find I couldn't even roll the bike home on a flat - I'd before encountered such a loose tire/rim fit. I was worried a sudden flat while riding would put me on the ground, as the wheels would be rim-to-road like ice skates. And the rim strip got tangled in the derailer. PITA.

SpeedyStein

I understand completely your frustrations! Continental tires are always a pain to get on and off - I have had like 6 sets of various sizes, and the only ones that slipped on and off easily were 26x2.2 MTB tires. Good rubber though, and they do loosen up a little after mounting/dismounting a few times.

I had to push my bike home once after encountering more goatheads on a trail than I had supplies to repair. That was with Kenda Happy Mediums 700x40 on a cheap Weinmann rim that came on my bike, and the bead stayed seated for about 3-4 miles of flat-tire walking the bike to the trailhead. Also of note, those tires slip on and off the rim almost effortlessly when I want them to. I think I ended the day with ~30 thorns in each tire, and I usually only carry one tube. I started running Stan's sealant in my tubed tires too after that day. Continental makes nice tubes with removable presta valves, perfect for adding just a little Stan's and not worrying about random punctures.

Good luck in your tires search, I know it can be tricky finding the perfect tire

justin1138

Meh... They don't clear mud well. Peanut butter mud would pack up nice and thick on these guys. If you're just dealing with small sections of mud, you could make the Nano work for you. If it's more like fields of mud, something like the Clement PDX would be more appropriate. Those tires run a little wider than the labeled 33mm too. ~35mm on my Archetype's.