# Dual purpose tires for the road and dirt?



## LC (Jan 28, 2004)

I am sure I am not the only one that likes to ride a CX bike out to the trail, but I have not found a good tire that can handle both. Knobbies are great on the dirt, but terrible on the road and wear out quickly too . Slicks are perfect for the road but terrible on the dirt, especially mud. Which tire and what width would be good for this dual purpose? 

Typical ride would be 20 miles of road out to a trail with some mud and roots found in the rainy NW. Just for fun rides and not racing at all.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

I've read the Ritchey Speedmax Cross is a good all-rounder. The problem IMO with the tires that have knobs on the shoulders, it that they tend to corner unreliably on pavement, especially wet.


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## CaptainAhab (Dec 23, 2010)

Sounds like the kind of rides that I do. I picked up the specialized borough armadillo elite http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=57655
I debated between it and a 28c road training tire, and thought about the cornering issues people have mentioned with the knobs. I think that the grip this tire affords outweighs the negatives of cornering when wet. I don't ride when it's wet out, usually. You live in the NW, though, so there's some moisture up that way. I would like to experiment with different tires, personally. I'd like to try the 28c armadillo elite training tire (http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=57076) vs the borough cx armadillo elite I linked above. All I know is that I would never run knobbies for the kind of riding I do.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

Michelin Sprint tires if you can find them are awesome for what you are looking for. Old, but good tires.


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## LC (Jan 28, 2004)

Same thing as the Michelin Transworld Sprint?


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## m_s (Nov 20, 2007)

Ritchey Speedmax. Corner terribly on the road, but they roll well, wear like iron, and have good off road traction in hardpack to moderately loose conditions. I personally wouldn't use anything with less tread than that on singletrack/mountain bike trails. If off road to you is super tame conditions a wide touring tire will give you better performance on the road and at least allow you to run lowish pressures off road.

My general philosophy is that you can ride knobbies on the road, it's just slow. Riding narrow slicks off road is not only slow, you'll probably kill the tires. And it's potentially dangerous.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

I'd go for something like that Michelin Sprint, or any other decent "file tread". 
There's no perfect tire- you're gonna need some knobbies for the dirt and those same knobbies are going to squirm when you corner on the road.


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## Grivooga (Mar 22, 2009)

I've used Halo Twin Rail 38s for this purpose successfully. Slick center rolled decent on pavement and the inverted file tread worked reasonably well on local easy trails. I doubt they'd work well for any kind of techical climbing and I wouldn't trust the tire for traction in a hard turn. But cornering well on a cross bike on singletrack isn't really about tire traction so much as finding the little bit of lip or berm that's been dug in by other tires and using that as a rail. At least that's my experience on sandy loose Florida trails.

Should also note that these are my go to tire for 'urban' rides if there will be more curbs and rough abusive stuff than the 23s on my fixed gear can handle. The volume of the 38 helps avoid some pinch flats when rolling down stairs and such. My full suspension bike is overkill for that kind of terrain and the tubeless fat tires handle like **** on pavement, scary scary amounts of tire squirm on asphalt when cornering.


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## Kram (Jan 28, 2004)

I have a shreaded jersey and road rash scar that will attest to that. Perhaps a file tread would be the answer?


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## J dude (Mar 11, 2009)

*Forte is cheap1*

I have been rolling the Forte "Gothem " commute, play and dry grass crossrace or two never a flat.. doh' I didn't say that! But @ 14.99 you would need to hold your nose up pretty high not to see past the name.


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## umarth (Apr 18, 2008)

Schwalbe Smart Sams.


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## Unoveloce (Apr 13, 2005)

Two tires that absolutely rocked those types of rides are no longer made. The WTB Interwolf was probably my favorite go anywhere clincher. It rolled fast and hooked up in everything but sloppy glop, but then no tire that gets to the trailhead via pavement in a reasonable manner will grab in the mud. The other was the Michelin Sprint with the diamond tread. It was awesome, everywhere. The Jet is a crappy substitute for it. It's funny how cross racers would just like Michelin to dig out their old moulds and start making the original Muds and Sprints again. Lately, I've been trying out the Clement LAS and have been really happy. It is as close to the original Sprint as I've ever found and I think I might like it slightly better as the diamonds get ever so bigger and sharper the closer to the edge of the tread you get.


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## MaxCycles (Nov 24, 2009)

I'd say Ritchey Speedmax. Just be careful cornering on wet pavement with them. Otherwise, they will be about perfect.


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