Hi All,

My 700c 40mm winter tyres are a getting a bit excessive for the trails now, I am after some nice fast rolling thin tyres, probably 32’s at most.

I have been thinking of the following:

Schwalbe CX Comp
Panaracer Cross Blaster
WTB Cross Wolf Race
Schwalbe CX Pro
Maxxis Larsen Mimo CX
Kenda Small Block Eight DTC
Michelin Cyclo Cross Mud 2
Michelin Cyclo Cross Jet S

I am ignoring cost for the moment I just want to know what is the best option out there for hard packed, dusty and pine needle covered trails.

Dom

Anyone?

I run Kenda Small Block 8 on mine..

Hutchinson Pirahna CX are pretty fast rolling for the summer.

small block 8s

Michelin Jets… Good on dry, hard-packed, smooth woodsy trails – used them for 3 Peaks last year, they were very fast on the dry, hardpack and rocky trails and roads, although a bit fragile for the battering they took on the technical stuff, lost best part of 40 minutes fixing punctures… 🙁 Land Cruisers for me this year…

I’ve been impressed with conti speed kings.

I’ve been impressed with conti speed kings.

I had the Conti speed kings during the winter and was pretty happy with them, now running Small Block 8 32cs which were going cheap on CRC.

Can’t really say I notice much of a difference TBH! Good tyre though, pretty tenacious on anything try, entertainingly hopeless in anything wet.

I have pairs of the Michelin Cyclo Cross Mud 2, Michelin Cyclo Cross Jet S & a new pair of Kenda Small Block Eight DTC sitting in my shed, make me an offer for the lot if you want to try them.

Email in profile if interested.

Cheers.

small block 8 does the job for me. I see CRC are selling them for £15 now, rather than a tenner.

I’ve also gone from speed kings to sb8s. Surprisingly considering the lack of tread on the sk, I think they grip better than the sb8

v impressed with rolling speed of racing ralph 35s…

Cheers guys,

I thought this thread had died a death!!!!

2unfit2ride: How much use have you had out of the tyres?

Larsen Mimo aren’t bad, I’ve even still got some Green Wildgripper sprints which are really fast & v light.

davetrave: I am running land cruisers at the moment, they have been an outstadning tyre in the winter, very happy with them. But at 40mm wise I reckon they are a bit overkill for th esort of trails I am now on.

I think part of the problem was running the bike with 23mm road tyres a few weeks ago showed me how fast tyres can roll, the difference was absolutely incredible. Obviously I don’t expect the same roll with a thinner CX tyre, but I thought something like a 28-32mm tyre would be a good half way house.

DrDomRob – probably go for the 35mm version, it’s what everybody else seemed to be using at 3PCX and seems to be the general consensus on the 3 Peaks forum that it’s the perfect tyre for that event. Not had problems with the MIchelins on normal CX riding but then there’s a bit of a difference between muddy parks and fields and hooning up and down rocky peaks in the Dales…

There ain’t gonna be much difference on tyres that narrow, **** all grip in mud etc.

Conti speed kings are puncture prone after a bit of wear and given the hard pack soil/gravel round here it wears them really fast. I ditched them in favour of some schwalbe CX’s as their wear rate is mu much improved over the Conti-softies.

35 Racing Ralphs here, worked pretty well trail riding in the winter mud too

Conti Twisters?

I’ve had a set of those Schwalbe CX comps since last summer.I even raced a MTB marathon on my CX bike with them on in torrential rain (and got on the podium) and I find them superb considering how cheap they are.

challenge open xs files…very good

Land cruisers are heeeeaavy man

Landcrusiers are heavy, but very robust if you intend to do MTB’ish stuff.
Speed King wires do wear very quickly, but are a good GP tyre with excelent off camber abilities. You’re right about them being puncture prone as they get very soft. That said I’ve never punctured one in an actual race.
I might stick Landcruisers on my trail going cross type thing.