tires for dirt touring?

[FishMan]

OK, so I'm not exactly riding a 29" mountain bike, but I figure this is the best place to ask about this advice. I've got myself a Bruce Gordon touring bike. You know, the kind of bike you load everything you own on and spend eleven weeks riding across the country on.

So lately I've been using it as a sort of dirt tour bike, for rides on and off pavement where the road bike couldn't hack but the MTBs wouldn't be effecient enough. Right now I'm riding WTB Mutano Raptors, which of course are great on the trail but they seem really slow on the pavement.

Any suggestions for tires 45cc or (slightly) smaller that can get it on in the dirt bur roll a little faster?

[fxdwhl]

I haven't tried them yet but I just got a set of WTB All-Terrainasaurus 700x40 from Bike Nashbar for $12.95 each. I mounted them on my Crosscheck last night and they seem good and meaty. Decent center tread for fast road riding and still have lugs on the sides for dirt. They almost look like an inverted tread tire because the lugs are close together. For $25 a pair I'll try them out.

[Browne]

My dad swears by the Avocet Cross K tires. they're great on the road and pretty good on the dirt roads. Just don't expect anything good to happen in mud. For convenience sake, here's Joel's review of the tire that we printed in issue #100:

AVOCET CROSS II K TIRES
I like the inverted tread idea. One time, many years ago, a fellow cyclist told me that he used inverted tread tires for winter riding with great success. I never forgot that. It was years before I had a bike that would fit any of the inverted tires available on the market, since I only rode road bikes disguised as pieces of crap for a time.

The Avocet Cross II series of tires is designed specifically for street and hard pack trail riding conditions. They “overcome the high rolling resistance and poor traction of knobby tires ridden on pavement.” It’s true.

The inverted tread has continuous contact with the ground, a characteristic that totally eliminates the usual vibration, noise and rolling resistance associated with knobbies on pavement. It also affects the handling. Because of the style of the tread, there’s no need to fear death when taking a turn at high speed. Your contact patch at an angle is just as large as when riding in a straight line, like with road tires.
But they work off-road, too. When it’s dry. Actually, if you’re not riding through power sucking mud you’ll probably be alright.

I managed to ride a few really fast trails on these things and had a blast. Sure, my finesse reserves were tapped a few times, but as long as I didn’t lean ‘em to far in the dust I was fine. That was with the steel beaded, 545g, 1.9’s which is the largest size available. There’s also 26x1.25 and 26x1.5, as well as 28, 32, 35, and 38 mm sizes for 700c wheels.

Yes, they handle well. But the best part is, the inverted design puts a lot more rubber between the road and your inner tube. That means less flats my friend. Plus the tires I tried had a Kevlar belt under the tread.for extreme puncure resistance. I’ve run these tires for the better part of a year with only one flat, and that was a pinch flat on the very same fast trails I mentioned earlier. I got over excited. Check out www.avocet.com for a diagram or two and more vital stats. MSRP, $29.99. –Joel Kennedy

[riderx]

Originally posted by Browne
My dad swears by the Avocet Cross K tires. they're great on the road and pretty good on the dirt roads. I use these as my primary tire on my fixed Crosscheck and have logged a LOT of miles on them. I second the recommendation. On an everyday basis they see mostly road. I've done lots of rail trail stuff, including loaded touring and they hold up well. Lately they've seen a good bit of fireroads and singletrack without complaints. However, they don't have any side knobs so cornering in the dirt, especially at speed, should be done with caution. Climbing traction in the dirt on steeps is OK but would be better with knobs. If you want something that still rolls good on pavement but has cornering knobs give the Ritchey Speedmax a try.

I just put a set of the 44 Mutanos on last night, will be giving them a full workout tomorrow AM.

[fxdwhl]

Well I tried out the All-Terrainasaurus' this weekend with mixed feelings. They do roll well with minimum resistence and little "hum" but I'll be damned if they don't cake up like crazy in the snow. Went out for a 25 mile road ride with snowy shoulders. Packed snow wasn't too much of a problem but loose/fluffy stuff really filled them up. They cleaned out but not nearly as fast I would have liked. They probably do the same thing in mud. I'd call these fair weather tires.

Also had 1 flat where a stone got wedged in between the tread and worked its way through the casing. I think if there were less tread this would have cleared out but it was almost protected by the knobs.

I'll try them in dirt at some point but I don't have high hopes.

Hey Joe, what size avocets are you running? I have 32's but they measure more like 28's. I would recomend these but I wish they were the true size. Another classic case of overstating the tire size to make everyone think that they're getting a lighter tire in a larger size.

[riderx]

Originally posted by fxdwhl
Hey Joe, what size avocets are you running? I have 32's but they measure more like 28's. I would recomend these but I wish they were the true size. Another classic case of overstating the tire size to make everyone think that they're getting a lighter tire in a larger size. I run the 35's but they measure 32. I've mounted them on a few different width rims and they always measure 32. I agree, I wish some of these manufacturers would accurately state the width.

FYI, the Mutanos rolled surprisingly smooth on the road for their knobbiness and did well in the dirt and fireroads during my first outing. No snow though, so I can't comment on that.

[unclefuzzy]

Ritchey makes several tires that may work for you. I've got a set of 42c Zed's(they're rare though, and I think they're even out of production!) that I like for may gravel road excursions around here, as well as a set of 38c speedmaxs that also work pretty well.

[FishMan]

I'm riding on the WTB Mutano Raptors right now. Plenty of traction, but I would like something that rolls a little faster on the pavement, and the Mutano is a bit wider then I really need. I heard something about a new Ritchey 29" tire coming out, maybe it will be good.

[kustomz]

I use Mutano's on my 29er, but they would probably be a little slow on pavement. You might try Schwalbe Black Jack or Fast Fred in several 28 or 700c sizes.
http://www.schwalbetires.com/index.htm