Not bought tyres in a while. Hardpack, gravel, rock. Less than 2″ wire or folding, 26″, what’s out there?

Fatter tyres and lower pressures are faster, which is why hardly anyone makes anything under 2″.
Lightweight tyre in 2.1″ or 2.25″ will be best.

Schwalbe Racing Ralph is hard to beat. Furious Fred if you want the fastest there is.

Yeah? I always thought narrow, harder tyres deflected less and absorbed less energy. Soft tyres are definitely slower.

Schwalbe cx pro. A surprisingly grippy 1.3.

I was looking at that. Now that’s a skinny tyre!

I thought thinner, harder tyres were faster because of less contact with riding surface?

I use Michelin Country Rock on my commuter bike. They’re pretty fast, but useless if you even think the words soft or loose.

However, they are surprisingly good on hardpack and gravel even when it’s a bit wet.

I rode Glasgow-John o’Groats on Country Rocks (love the name). Nice volume, roll fast! Could do with having a slightly more open tread for wet ground. But I digress…

Fire XC Pro 1.8. And can you still get Continental Cross-Country 1.5s?

Edit: it appears that you can’t. Shame…

Wider tyres have less rolling resistance than narrow ones (at the same pressure) due to the different shape of the contact patch. FACT. Narrow tyres are only faster above the point where air resistantance has more of an effect than rolling resistance.

which is why hardly anyone makes anything under 2″

Eh? there’s loads out there – for example WTB Vulpine 1.9, Panaracer Mach SS 1.95, Continental Double Fighter (a bit heavy though)- all of which I have used and are excellent fast rolling tyres but with good side knobs for grip in corners and rocky stuff.

Wider tyres have less rolling resistance than narrow ones (at the same pressure) due to the different shape of the contact patch. FACT. Narrow tyres are only faster above the point where air resistantance has more of an effect than rolling resistance.

Don’t know what thats all about! Sounds like NON FACT to me. Use higher pressures with narrower tyres and rolling resistance is lower and wtf has air resistance got to do with it??

The OP is asking for narrow, fast tyres for hardpack, gravel etc the ones i’ve mentioned above do that and on road too. And that’s from experience not some theory. And the WTB and Panas are light too.

I think you’re confusing a velodrome with a trail.
BTW why would a narrower tyre have a lower rolling resistance?

Kenda block 8 are available in 26×1.75.

Not used them but fancy a try…

Comments and perceptions about speed are interesting what is a ‘quick’ tyre? I find this very condition specific. E.g. Currently swamp thing 2.35 front and mud x 1.8 rear are fast as they actually grip in the slop I’m riding and therefore allow me to go faster. If I was riding my summer tyres (crossmarks) if be way slower, but that’s a faster tyre, right??

Obviously I will admit the rolling resistance of swamp things/mud x is huge! The noise they make on the road is incredible…

Actually crossmarks is another suggestion, don’t know if they make a narrow one but the 2.1s come up small I think

If narrow tyres at high pressures are fastest, why do pro racers use 2.0-2.2″ at 20-25psi?

I just don’t get why fatter tyres at lower pressures are faster? If your car tyres are under-inflated, your petrol consumption goes up. A fat tyre that’s at low pressure will have more surface area in contact with the ground than the same fat tyre at higher pressure- wouldn’t increased surface area in contact with the ground slow you down?

My other half has been trying to explain why fat tyres at low pressures are faster than narrow ones at hight pressure but I’ll have to admit that I really don’t get it….
Why don’t they have big fat squashy tyres in the Tour de France?!

If narrow tyres at high pressures are fastest, why do pro racers use 2.0-2.2″ at 20-25psi?

People always forget the terrain involved when arguing about the wide vs narrow tyres for speed. Quite simply, the rougher the terrain, the more you will benefit from a fatter tyre run at a lower pressure.

Looking at road cycling for example… If you’re riding on a billiard table smooth track, or the very best freshly laid tarmac, you can get away with 20c tyres pumped to 140+ psi and they will be the fastest option for you. Now replace that surface with the average potholed UK backroad, that has probably not been relaid in 20 years, and a 25c tyre run at 90psi will be quicker as it will ping you around less, giving a smoother ride and allowing for faster progress.

The same is true offroad. If all you’re doing is riding canal towpaths and the like, a CX tyre pumped to 80psi is likely to be faster than a 2.25″ MTB tyre. If you’re riding much rougher terrain, a fast tread pattern on a 2.25″ tyre run at sub 30psi will allow you to make faster progress as again, it won’t ping you about so much slowing your progress down.

Aero has NOTHING to do with it, at least on anything except the most serious of TT bikes, and even then, narrowest isn’t necessarily the fastest as the shape of the tyre and the way it deflects air around the rim is more important than the width (but they’re almost negligible to be fair).

Why don’t they have big fat squashy tyres in the Tour de France?!

Because roads are smooth. They don’t need to absorb the trail surface.
In rougher road events, such as Paris Roubaix they use fatter tyres, up to 28mm and even in road races 25mm are becoming more popular.

There have been several well performed test that have been done on the matter.

I get the whole ‘riding through bumps not over them’ thing, but we’re forgetting the factor of suspension. Doesn’t this negate the need for soft tyres?

My 2.5″ big Earls were nice at low pressure but were a bit of a slog. I’m now running 2.2 z-max’s which are noticeably faster, even on full rigid bike.

Thanks for the explanations! I get the bit about terrain, which was missing from some of the earlier explanations. I ride a lot of rough rocky trails in the Peak District and I can see that it’s obvious how a fatter tyre will increase your speed over very rough terrain.
I know they use thicker tyres in Paris-Roubaix, because they ride over cobbles and stuff, but 28 mm is still WAY thinner than a big fat mtb tyre!
Anyway, I shall just continue to be thick when it comes to how things work 🙂

I know they use thicker tyres in Paris-Roubaix, because they ride over cobbles and stuff, but 28 mm is still WAY thinner than a big fat mtb tyre!

And Paris Roubaix is still way smoother than a MTB trail.

My 2.5″ big Earls were nice at low pressure but were a bit of a slog. I’m now running 2.2 z-max’s which are noticeably faster, even on full rigid bike.

2.5″ Big Earl will be a heavy tyre, the weight will have a big impact on the effort required. It is a compromise between weight and size. Personally I find Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25″ a good compromise.

Paris-Roubaix is a bit different because a). It’s almost all on roads and b) they’re all fookin’ nails.
About rolling resistance, there’s a techy sort of explanation here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_resistance
Seems that on a smooth surface, more tyre deformation = more rolling resistance so more pressure = less deformation = less rolling resistance.
Offroad, I understand it’s more like the “rolling resistance” is from losing forward momentum by getting pushed upwards whenever you hit a bump. Soft tyres with supple sidewalls are the quickest, most sensitive suspension you can get for small bumps, ergo, you and the bike keep going forwards. Bigger tyres can take bigger bumps and comfort = speed.
Obviously, there’s a sweet spot between ‘real’ rolling resistance going up as tyre pressure goes down and bump resistance getting better, so go softer as the terrain gets harder but not so soft you ding a rim, burp or pinch puncture.

Big Earls come in around 750g each, but don’t feel ‘heavy’. I found they felt ‘slow’ due to the volume and deformation; great in the rough as they moulded around the terrain, but sapped energy and momentum on the smoother hardpack and rock.

Interesting views, will have to re-educate myself on the physics of mtb tyres 🙄

i’m using panaracer mach ss 26×1.95 on the hardtail at moment for commuting duties…pumped up to 65psi, they are seriously quick and the tyre is pretty light at around 500g…
having said that it is a semi slick tyre so would be best suited for dry summer off road riding….given the current weather situation i’ll be in for a long wait… 😯

One more thing: fatter tyres have more air resistance, just by presenting a larger area to the wind, and that becomes more important as speed goes up, hence another reason for skinny road tyres.

A big tyre at the same pressure as a small tyre has lower rolling resistance.
Road bikes use narrow tyres so it is possible to get high pressures.
ever tried pumping a 2.2 to 100psi??

Weight is also a factor