What's a good on/off road tyre?

I do a mixture of on and light off-road riding (mostly on-road) on my mountain bike and am looking for a tyre that will work well for both. I've got some Panaracer Razer XCx to try but wondered if anyone does a similar mixture of riding and what they'd recommend. I'd like something in the 2" range and not too heavy – around the 500-600g range (some touring type tyres can be nearer a kilo each).

Conti travel contact

Panaracer Mach ss

I'm a big fan of the Maxxis Wormdrive I've just fitted. Spec Crossroads are however horrible; they're made from a very hard compound and have no grip on cobbles or wet manhole covers.

Schwalbe Marathon XR.

Brilliant tyre. Surprisingly capable off-road.

I'm looking for something similar and was considering the Kenda Smallblock 8 – I've not used them but from what I've read they seem ideal. Is anyone using them for this mix of riding and if so, whaddya think of them?

I use some pretty worn out Michelin all-mountains. slickish in the middle and knobbly on the outside. Perfect!

How about Specialized Crossroads?

Great on the road as you can pump them up quite high and not too shabby off road either. I've ridden the canal tow path around Skipton all year round and apart from when it's really muddy they are great.

Hard wearing too!

Check out the CLICKY

I've tried Smallblock 8s but found them rather draggy compared to the traditional semi-slicks I was running (even though they were lighter). I've also tried Schwalbe XRs but when I bought them they only did a steel bead version, a 1.95" tyre weighed over 800gs! Either way any on/off road tyre is going to be a compromise so a lot probably depends on where the bias lies.

Has anyone tried Razers on the road? They're nice an light but I'm not sure about the widely spaced block.

Ive just ordered a 2.1 kenda small block eight for my local mixed riding during the week. The huge knobly 2.25 Cinders that are on the bike at the minute are being worn down at an alarming rate by the asphelt, although I didnt think they rolled to bad at 60psi. Anyway, whislt I had a couple of night shifts to kill at work I spent countless hours reading all the reviews etc. I came across the following.

Maxxis wormdrive – looked good, maybe a little narrow
Conti travel contact – bit narrow, slipy if trails greasy
Intense tyre systems system 3 xc – seem to fail read this
Conti double fighter – Plauged by punctures comented by many people.
Maxis High roller semi slick – Nearly bought this, nice and chunkey!
Nokian Gazzut – good looking pattern, available in 2.1, but looked a bit too cheap and no reviews.
Nokian NBX lite s – looks good, nice and chunkey 2.2, puncture protection.
Schwalbe black jack – Wide, cheap, good reviews, should roll quick and still give loads of off road grip
schwalbe land cruiser – similar to above but with faster center rib, bit narrow
schwalbe marathon plus atb
shwalbe smart sam – again good reviews, wide, fast rolling, good off road grip, cheap!
WTB Vulpine race tyre – 2.1, light, looks good?
Continental traffic – 2.1, good reviews, fast roling knobly, good reviews, maybe a little heavy
Kenda small block eight – light, grippy as, rolls well, duel compound rubber wears well, half a chance on the muddy off road sections i ride.

Yeah, the Intense System 3 thread was mine. They're the best tyres I've found to date for the sort of riding I do but I've had 3 fail with bulging treads. Intense have said that there was a faulty batch and if they're marked inside with white LOT number stickers they should be fine (so I might try again).

I really fancy having a go with some Maxxis Oriflammes but I can't find any in the UK, if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be pleased.

I have a set of maxxis crossmarks that seem to be ok for mixed road/offroad rides. the centre strip is pretty quick and they still have decent side knobbles.

They are not that great in mud/wet stuff though (but they are reet fast!)

Bontrager Revolt Super X tubeless ready.

Pretty quick on tarmac and great in most conditions off-road. Come in 2.0 or 2.2. Minimal centre tread and decent size shoulder knobs to corner with confidence.

2nd the Panaracer SS-cheap,fast and enough shoulder tread to keep you the right way up.

I'm looking at a pair of Panaracer SS for the missus to use on her coast-to-coast mission in a few weeks time – anyone got any experience of them on the road in the wet? Bit worried they might get a bit sketchy if she hauls on the anchors too 'enthusiastically' – particularly on a lakeland descent? 😕

Anyone tried mach SS on the back and a mach sk / razer xc on the front? Actually – have they stopped selling the sk – can't find it anywhere except panaracer's site? 🙂

I'm looking at a pair of Panaracer SS for the missus to use on her coast-to-coast mission in a few weeks time – anyone got any experience of them on the road in the wet?
always been fine for me. I guess any tyre's going to give you problems on a wet road if you put the brakes on too hard, mind… 😉

2nd crossmarks if you want to nail it round corners offroad like any other tyre and roll well on the road its not a bad choice.

Maxxis Ranchero. Really fast on roads pretty good in majority of off-road conditions unless it's really gloopy. I've run them 2 years now. I only had to change them to get through the snowy week, they are now my all-year tyre.

I tried Mach SS, draggy as ****, maybe there is a better model with lighter casing?

I'm on some michelin small knob things at the moment. Fast on road, OK off, came a cropper on a gravelly corner recently but that was more likely "user error".

What's wrong with NN or RR?

Not sure if they still make em, but the WTB All Terrainasaurus tyres were quite a good compromise. Rolled nice and fast on the road, knobbly side bits for off, and quite cheap too.

I am in same position as Op and searched this thread out.

Also looking at the Panaracer SS, anyone run these on the back – most of the product descriprtions seem to say front only, although I can't see why ?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Panaracer_Mach_SS_Tyre/5300001631/

I did the HONC on Small Block 8s (half road, half offroad). I found them alright, they're alwasy going to be well draggy compared to a semi slick but then they are genuinely usable offroad…

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=33328

+1 for the allterrainasaurus tyres, used these for ages and cheap as chips, done 20-30 mile trail rides perfectly fine unless it is wet and muddy and cheap at £26 a pair from CR at the moment

I have done the Corrieyairack Challenge on Panaracer Mach SS before pumped up to 60 PSI, I have also used them at Glentress and Innerleithen and they are very good tyres. The only time they were lacking in grip was when braking in mud, but as soon as you turned into a corner the shoulders would grip as well as a Fire XC Pro.

Doug

allterrainasaurus – only a tenner each at JE James – looks like I might get these ones -)

@thesurfbus – any problems running them on the rear ?

Cheers