Looking at different options for the commute, do have a road bike but dont fancy all road through the dark winter morning and so have an option of half quiet roads and the rest on canals ,
Question is how do crossers perform on the road with cross tyres ?

much faster than an mtb, a bit slower than a road bike.

A little bit slower, predictably. Will depend on your choice of CX tyre as well – lots of different tread patterns and sizes to choose from.

I got a couple of strava top 10 spots today without really trying with some Maxxis Muds today. I’d probably go for the ubiquitous Lancruisers though. They roll fast on the road and would be great on towpaths.

With cross tyres they are as above a bit slower, but not as much as a mtb.

But why would you commute on a canal bank and quiet roads on cross tyres? You could use slicks or a semi slick.

I use some cheap Michelin City Tyres £10 each and my cross bike is faster than my old road bike

Stybar’s not bad 😀

I use Schwalbe Marathon Plus on my CX for a road / towpath / gravel lanes / occasional singletrack commute. A 6 mile road commute takes 25 minutes on a CX, 40 on an SS MTB (32:16, 26″ wheels, yes I know that 25 mintues for 6 miles is not fast but I’m not a racer, I just use the CX so I can go off road on the way home)

I used to reckon that my 25 mile road commute was about 10 mins slower on a CX with knobblies than on the road bike.

Depends a bit on the tyres of course.

Just like the option to be safer off the road and there is a option of canals, small section of bridle way and quiet roads … thinking more slick based tyres but with some off road capabilities ..

For “half quiet roads and the rest on canals” you probably don’t need knobbly cross tyres.
My commute is mostly roughly tarmacced bridleways and quiet roads, I run Conti 4-Season 28s.