Looking at running a more road friendly tyre set up for my 29er hardtail on a spare set of wheels and toying between those two options. Will be mainly road use with occasional fireroad thrown in and mainly across the winter months. The Big One appeals with its wider section and low rolling resistance but I’ve heard wear very quickly on tarmac. Thunder Bert is more durable but overkill for mainly road use and would it be much quicker than the XR1s I currently run on these wheels?

Any experience of either option is appreciated.

Very dissapointdd by the wear rate on the tb i fitted this spring- already looks more worn than the 3 summers down small block it replaced.

TB will wear quickly on tarmac. Will be a little faster than XR1, but marginal. For your intended use i’d probably be looking at touring tyres rather than mtb tyres

Agreed. TBs are lightweight race tyres, durability will be poor. Good tyres though.

I run TBs on my rufty tufty bike (rigid weenie 29er)

Good tyres, although you can’t push them offroad in any real sense but fine for towpaths and the like. Fine on road. I commute on them 50/50 road/rough stuff.

I’ve also tried a Fast Freddie, for weenie purposes, but that was just too fragile and even with loads of sealant just couldn’t handle anything tough/thorny.