Hi

We’re off on holiday in a few weeks with another family

My kids = MTBers
Other family = roadies
Me = swing both ways 🙂

The MTbing is likely to be on French trails/bridleways rather than the Alps and doesnt look massively technical

My mates are pretty hardcore roadies and I plan to get out with them once or twice for some merciless road miles/kms

So the obvious bike to take is my crosser currently kitted out with Vittoria Cross Pros which are bearable on the road but definitely feel like they give a few km/h away to Pro Race 3’s and the rest

Any opinions on things like Kenda Small Block 8’s on the road would be appreciated
They seem the obvious one to look at but this isnt a market Ive looked at before

Basically I still want a bit of off road capability but am hapy to sacrifice for some more road ooooomph

Cheers

🙂

Some cheap Vittoria Randonneurs? Probably do fine off-road, but will be better on road?

depends on these: “pretty hardcore roadies.”

I’d want road tyres if I was out with them.

Can’t you take 2 sets of tyres? Travel with the CX tyres fitted + 500 grammes of folded road tyres in your luggage.

I’d just take some fat slicks with you and change the tyres if you’re going out with someone else on the road on a road bike. I recently pottered round some sportive in the northern Lakes with a friend thinking my cross bike on basically semi-slicks would be fine, which it sort of was, but it absolutely trashed me. P

eople will tell you there’s only a small percentage difference in overall speed between a fast cross tyre and a slick, but if you have to make up that percentage difference, you’ll know all about it. That’s my take on it anyway. If you’re riding alone it really makes no odds, but keeping on it with road bikes is tough unless you’re super hard.

Ned has your answer!

Flat slicks or these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/continental-cyclocross-speed-bike-tyre-wire/rp-prod39398?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gclid=CJmIjPeYpL8CFYrJtAodL0YAsA&gclsrc=aw.ds

What Ned said, if it’s just a couple of rides then I’d swap tyres, only takes a few minutes the night before. Just take a track pump in the bike bag unless someone else has one.

I like Maxxis Raze for mixed road / offroad stuff. Nice block pattern but with a nearly continuous centre tread. If you run them at quite high PSIs they roll pretty well. They’re actually alright in mud or proper CX racing so you’d get use out them at home.

Maxxis Raze for me too.

Another Maxxis Raze fan here.

Kenda Small Block 8′

great CX alrounder but not quick enough to keep up with roadies on road bikes imo.

personally i’d go for a 32c slick: 80 psi for the road rides 55 for the off road. some kind of marathon would suit.

Two sets or fat slicks is my opinion.

try planet X they do some cheapfat slicks and also something very similar to the small block 8 called the uncle john.

If it is dry and gravelly then I find knobbles actually offer little extra grip over a file tread.

Not SB8s, good but still to draggy. Set of slicks seems the sensible option.

~unless its sticky mud why have a treaded tyre?
I use some puncture resistant Contis in 38mm year round. I stuck some knobblies on for the HONC as it seems the done thing but wished I hadn’t. Gravel etc needs not tread and decent touring commuting tyres have much better puncture resistance than CX tyres and roll much faster. I would though take two sets of tyres for the 10 mins it takes to change them