Just bought a Pompetamine Versa, with the intention of linking up local bridleways with bits of road. Planning to change to cross tyres from the Schwalbe Marathons on there right now.

Question is, are cross tyres awful on the road, or will they roll well enough not to drive me mad?

Just like “MTB” tyres, there’s a whole variety out there. Marathons aren’t exactly the fastest rolling tyre, so you might not even notice the difference 🙂

I’ve currently got some Vittoria file tread pattern things on my CX, they’re fine on wet or dry tarmac climbs but for some reason they wheelspin like crazy on damp tarmac.

I’m using the Schwalbe CX comp – just about enough grip in the mud and roll excellent on the smooth and only £10 a ring from on-one 🙂

If you spend enough they can be light and pliable – see SB8s.

Cheap ones will be little different to your marathons.

I got a bargin pair of SB8s (35c) on eBay for £23 the other day.

Was out on them last night including about 4-5 miles on road and they were fine. Strangely enough they roll quieter than 100psi road tyres on the other pompino. Perfectly doable for long road stretches IMO. Also ace off-road to boot.

Oddly enough Ive always found the 29er version to be a bit draggy on the road, at least more draggy than Ignitors anyway, but I think I might be on my own there.

Been using cheap Schwalbe CX Pro’s, & they are lasting very well so far, for my 75/25 on/offorad use, not the grippiest out there mind, but do seem to last longer that the normal 4-6months I used to get.

Ditto on the 35 SB8s.

They roll fine on the tarmac. I replaced the 28 Gatorskins on my fixie with them for a bit more comfort and only realy notice the extra bit of drag when gurning up steep uphills.

CX tyres will wear out pretty quick if you do lots of road miles.

If it’s hard pack and not much mud, stick to the Marathons, or even road slicks.

I do a 50/50 0n/off road commute with farm tracks and bridleways and towpaths as well as back lanes. I use Michelin Trekkers, which are probably similar to (actually likely to be worse than!) Marathons. Slow and heavy. But they last ages, and are fine as I don’t get many sections of proper mud.

A Conti CX tyre (Race King?) lasted about 3 months on the rear.

I had CX Pro’s on my tourer/commuter for a couple of weeks, hated them, went back for CG4Seasons. I’ve since started using Scwalbe Blizzards which are supprisingly OK for a £10 tyre, certainly good enough that I won’t be commuting or ‘just riding’ on more expensive rubber again*.

Yes I am vain and will probably use more expensive tyres on a sunny summer Sunday’s club run, my justification is if I get a puncture in the same expensive tyres everyone else has then it’s not my fault, if it happeend with cheep tyres I’d think I was a cheepskate and holding everyone up.

Schwalbe CX Comps (35’s) here too – much less drag on the road than the Conti Speed Kings I had on before and only really noticeably worse in mud. In fact better on rocks, gravel and dirt.

for mainly road and light, non muddy off road I have found my Specialized cx Boroughs to be a very good compromise. also good for road touring

CX comps as well – hard to fault for the money and still going strong after being speared by a 6″ nail.

IME decent rolling CX tyres pumped up to 80ish psi are approx 1 to 1.5mph slower on road than road tyres.

Handlingwise, they’re fine too.

Cheers guys.. That solves the question I had. Just got a racing ralph from the classifieds (cheers Scant!) for the front, and I reckon a CX comp on the rear will keep things speedy on the road.

IME decent rolling CX tyres pumped up to 80ish psi are approx 1 to 1.5mph slower on road than road tyres.

Handlingwise, they’re fine too.

I’d agree with that. Some cheapish Ritchey tyres came as stock on my Boardman but they’re fine on road with a bit of air pressure in them. Only took them off for reduced wear (will swap back when summer comes and the local bridleways are less choked with clay).

Has anyone tried any of these tyres tubeless? I like the look of the Bonty cx0 or maybe the racing ralphs with the EVO sidewalls.