I've just been out into the forest on a wet autumn day to pick chantarelles with my GF and, because the forest is far enough away that walking is annoying we took bikes. Obviously the forest is no place for a road bike and, because I have no working brakes on the Stumpy, I took my slick-tyred commuter bike out into the wild.
This was not fun. Skinny slicks are not fun in mud and on roots and, as I now live out in the country full time, I'm likely going to be using it more and more as a general purpose bike, so I need general purpose tyres for it.
Q: What tyres for a 26" wheeled rigid fork hard-tail that have a bit of grip for muddy trails, a bit more grip on the sides for slippy root, but STILL roll fast when I need to go to the shops?
I was thinking Race Kings, but would they be too draggy for roads?
This is the bike's fourth (I think) iteration from the original Malt2 I bought new from Merlin in 2010. It's been original front sus trail bike, 3x9 hybrid in town, rigid carbon forked 1x9 commuter and now is going back to it's roots as a 1x9 country hybrid. I still love it to pieces and it still makes me happy. The stumpy might be more capable in rough stuff, but it is heavier more single purpose. The Malt2 just works.
I'm keeping the rigid fork, but I might put a longer stem back on to make it a little bit more relaxed.
WTB Nano (not too sure about how gnartec your "roots" are though).
Just to update... I finally found my login details for the Swedish equivalent of Wiggle and bought a pari of Conti Race Kings in 2.0". They should still fit under the mudguards and don't look too draggy.
Another small update... I took the plunge over the weekend to change stems from a 35mm commuter one back to something that was a little more relaxed for trail riding and, at the same time, took the mudguards off. The new tyres did fit, but the were a bit rubby and the guards were not attached amazing well in any case.
Roll forward to lunchtime today and I finally got to experience the really quite fun experience of a fully rigid hardtail for the firs time since probably the late 90's. It feels fast, it certainly grips more than than it dig before (and is slower) and, unfortunately, it feels a bit weird not having the SPDs on. I may need to bring my 5:10s back from the DZ and use them over winter for cycling instead of skydiving.
It was also wet and it's been a long time since I've been _that_ covered in muddy filth on a hardtail. Still grinning from it though.