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I really like the Racing Ralph Evo Tubeless Snakeskin tyre. It's fast rolling on tarmac and good enough on most other surfaces, light and is reasonably durable but I'm sure there's something faster.
I'm looking for tyres that will be good on tarmac mainly, and that can handle a fair bit of gravel, off road and even hard packed sand. I've been looking at Vittoria Saguaro 2.2 which seem to fit the bill and also the Specialized S-Works Renegade 2Bliss Ready but are there others? They'll be for a hard tail so my preference is for a 2.2-2.3 width tyre.
Used an Ikon all last year on mine. Worked well on all surfaces and never flatted once (run tubeless). Not sure how it compares on tarmac to the RR but I got on well with it.
Conti Race Kings in 2.2 and come up quite big foe a 2.2 at that.
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7250/7567842568_47543dc819_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7250/7567842568_47543dc819_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/cwKaWh ]phone 035[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/82598458@N05/ ]jamesanderson2010[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/clement-lxv-29er-folding-tyre-29-x-21-inch-53-622-prod31865/ ]These[/url] might be worth a punt - good price at the moment too.
If it wasn't for the size requirement I'd say WTB Nano - they're 2.1 but very fast rolling tread but way better off road than you'd expect. Do you really need a 2.2+ tyre if its mainly road use?
The Saguaro is a very good tyre, and comparable in terms of protection to the Snakeskin version of the Racing Ralph. The Ikon's are very good too, but a little flimsier than the Saguaro.
The Spesh tyre is very flimsy, wouldn't trust it at all IMO.
+1 nanoraptor
Bontrager XR1 and XR2 both in 2.2
Either Maxxis Ikon or Bontrager XR2 or XR1. Quite a few in the ITT crowd use the Ikons, the XR2 is roughly equivalent in tread while the XR1 is a lighter tread (there's also an XR0 which is nearly slick)
Saguaro's are good - I had 26" version. Quite similar to Ralph though I would have thought
You'd be surprised how grippy the [url= http://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/big-apple.html ]Big Apples[/url] are...well, I was anyway.
Race kings are good, but I find x-Kings almost perfect for 99% of my riding....mainly long distance cross country.
Thunder Burt 2.25".
I've got XR1s, and don't find them all that fast, they're not light. Used them on the SDW for a bit of extra reinforcement, but wouldn't otherwise.
Specialized 'control' carcass is flimsy enough, I'd not go any lighter on their tyres to be honest.
I've got Conti X Kings (the cheap oem ones, they came on some wheels I bought off here) on my Scandal 29er, they're 2.2's come up a reasonable size, and considering what everyone says about low end Conti tyres - I've been really impressed with them, they're good on tarmac, and although I've not ridden them in deep mud, they've never let me down off road either, perfect mixed use tyre for me. Mine are running tubeless with tape, valves and Stans jizz on Arch Ex rims, but aren't the tubeless ready version, went up fine, and stay up ok.
The Bontrager's look fast rolling mind, always like the look of them.
Schwalbe Thunder Burt
I have the sugauro's on my 650b its a real do it all tyre, apart from really deep mud.
It has an almost solid middle strip which rolls really well on tarmac.
I run them up tubeless no problem and leave them on the bike year round, I commute on them most days and they don't drag and have a predictable breakaway.
They were not too expensive either.
I would recommend them for what you need, I had racing ralphs and was very underwhelmed by them, absolutely dangerous in mud or wet slimey surfaces.
Xr2 would be my choice, maybe with XR1 on the back. Ground control is also quite fast-rolling but a little grippier than a ralph if you need something for the front.
I'm really pleasantly surprised with the Ikon (3c, exo, TR, 2.2) I just put on the back of my Yeti Arc. Serious amount of grip in all conditions for a tyre that looks like it really shouldn't... including the triple whammy of icy-snowy-mud we've been having here recently. Yet it still manages to roll really fast on tarmac even at low pressures (24psi). The Onza Canis (2.25, 120tpi) it replaced was great while it lasted, but unfortunately that was only about 3 rides, before it came completely off the rim in dramatic fashion - and that was at 28psi 🙁 Canis sidewalls are noticeably thinner than the Ikon, but maybe that's just the 120tpi version - I believe there's a 60 now too. To be fair; the one on the front is holding up a lot better (at 21/22psi), so maybe I was just unlucky.
Geax AKA sound just the ticket.
Really cheap if you can find the stock, think JeJames had some.
This might be of some help:
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/xc-weight-weeenie-table ]tyre info[/url]
An interesting site. Looking at this page http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/mtb-reviews/continental-race-king-racesport-tubeless-2014 where he compares the tubed and tubeless version of the same tyre he notes a 5W improvement in rolling resistance for the tubeless setup at a typical tubeless pressure of 25psi. That's a 22% improvement though you should probably compare the figure with the RR at a more typical tubed pressure, even so the RR at 35psi tubed is 20W compared with 17.4W at 25psi tubeless, still a 12% improvement.
X-Kings roll fast but in my experience the cheap ones are very susceptible to cuts.
Maxxis Crossmark is ace @ 2.25in, enough grip and rolls super fast, might not want one on the front though.
Bit slow to respond here but thanks guys. I've decided to give the Race Kings a whirl. There's a lot of good suggestions but I must buy only two.