Hey all. I got my cross bike this spring and it's time to replace the tires already. I ride primarily gravel and paved trail with the occasional single track thrown in for good measure. I'm not a racer(yet!) so I don't need racing tires. I was looking at Schwalbe Marathon Extremes, but they are way out of my budget. I'm thinking 700x35 is what I want. What would you recommend for a good gravel/road tire? Trying to keep it under ~$30 a tire. Thanks.

ETA: After looking through the Schwalbe website the Marathon Cross HS334 is topping my list at the moment.

Look into "Dry Pack" tires. They have a sparse aggressive tread, yet do well on pavement. Don't forget that pavement will eat a lugged tread much faster than it will a smoother tread.

This tire won't fit your rig, but is an example of a Dry Pack tread. Notice the lugs are short in height, although the tire thickness supporting the lugs is generally thicker than totally off-road treaded tires.

I bought a set of these
last year and decided I want to use them on a ride I'm doing today. Paved trail and crushed stone trail is the conditions. Let you know how they do. Look pretty good for this purpose. These come in 700x38.

I use some Kenda Kross Pluss tires. They are bigger than what you are saying 700x40 but they work well on the road and hard packed sand (I ride on the beach every once in a while). Plus they are super cheap at like 5 bux a tire.

check nashbar.com for the nashbar transition tires. they are cheap and work great. i have them in 35c and they have lots of other well priced tires.

I'm using a 700x32 Vittoria Randonneur Pro for the same kind of riding:

https://www.vittoria.com/index.php?op...101&Itemid=122

I got the Michelin Cyclocross Jets in 700x30 (which ends up being way wider once mounted...more like 34c or 35c). Coming from the stock Kenda Kwick's, I wanted smoother rolling resistance without sacrificing too much singletrack capability. It definitely feels easier to maintain speed on pavement, but haven't gotten out to the singletrack yet. Will let you know.

FWIW, these are generally considered too soft for pavement (wear out fast), and better suited for off-road use. Whatever. I got a good deal on them, and will conduct my own testing on the matter.

I have been running Kenda Small Block 8's for awhile now. I usually don't even bother swapping my wheels with slicks on for road rides anymore.

Those are some nice looking tires. So you are saying they don't have that much resistance on the road?

Update...still haven't gotten a chance to go offroad.
But in other news, I had a blowout on Saturday. The tube burst to shreds, so it wasn't a puncture. I filled it to max (~70psi) on Thursday, when it was considerably cooler. Saturday was maybe 15 degrees hotter, and at high noon, I got about 2.5 miles before the explosion.

What sucks is that, in the 10-15 feet it took me to roll to a stop, the rim cut right through the sidewall of the tire.

So, one down, one to go. I swapped the better of my old Kenda Kwick's back on and will leave it be for the foreseeable future. Can't blame the Michelins for the blowout, but I was disappointed how easily it cut through the sidewall.

I have kenda kwest on my bike as my "road" tires and I go on gravel, fire roads, hardpack trails etc. and they work really well, and there's no knobs to slow you down on the road. They're cheap too. At least I found 'em cheap, like $30 for a pair, folding.

I'd go with Panaracer Pasela's, the non-TourGuad version. And one of the fastest tires you can get, too (see: Bicycle Quarterly tire test). The WTB AllTerrainasauraus is a pretty fair tire as well.

I have a se tof the Kenda Kwick's in 35c and those are pretty good. Richy SpeedMax's aren't bad, a bit easier on pavement, but more expensive and wear faster.

The only time I prefer something over Pasela's is when the hardpack gives way to loose dirt, mud, gravel, or off-camber dirt corners at speed.

I love the Michelin Transworld City in 32 or 28. I review them for off road and on road use here https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=transworld

I regularly take them off road with serious mountain bikers and they hang just fine. At the same time, I was riding most of my 14 miles home tonight at over 25 mph so they are plenty fast.

Not sure how good they are, but kenda kwicker tires are like 24 dollars a pop shipped from bikeisland.com

I'm probably going to go with those since they're cheap.

OP indicated interest in Marathon Extremes-
I've had great success with regular Schwalbe Marathons on gravel and dirt roads;
have used the 37 and 42 mm sizes - plus these are less $ than Extremes.