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I'm off on a bikepacking tour in a few weeks on my hardtail steel forked MTB. The tour is about 80% offroad and the rest is on road. I'm fairly lightweight at 52 kgs and will be carrying my own luggage, although as the tour is only 5 days and we are staying in B&B's, there won't be that much of it. The rims are 27.5" and will take tyres 2.25 - 2.8", and are set up for tubeless.
Looking for recommendations for tyres that won't be too draggy on the road part while still performing on the offroad stretches. What would you choose and why?
I did this on my Marin HT.
Saguaro 2.25 pumped firm were ace on road, let some air out on the tracks.
Son was on Boardman CX on Smallblock 8 tyres. The only time I couldn't keep up was on very fast downhills, but it was more gearing than rolling resistance.
Specialized Slaughter?
I used 2.8in Continental Mountain Kings on my Pipedream bikepacking bike for ages. Rolled well enough on tarmac and still had enough bite in the slop (especially if you play with the pressures between road/off-road).
WTB Riddlers, Bee Lines or Trail Boss.
Vittoria Peyote or Conti X Kings/Race Kings.
On the road 2.35" G1 Speeds roll fast for a fat tyre, but they don't do terribly well in wet conditions and the tread is next to useless on all but the tamest off-road.
Gravel King SKs might work decently, if they available in >50mm size for 27.5".
Pirelli cinturato's 650b x 50mm?
I've do similar trips and have Schwalbe Rock Razors front and back. They're great IMO.
2.4 WTB Ranger is my personal favourite on the rigid bike in those sort of circumstances; high grip on the front and fast rolling rear works well for me on mellower Scottish terrain.
2.25 Schwalbe Thunder Burts if you want to emphasise speed over grip and longevity- they are a bit light for some folk but as you're sub 60kg...
Agree with Rock Razors too but not Conti Race King; tried one on the rear but found it fast but also lethally lacking in grip in my experience and long since consigned to the bin.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, most of which I've not heard of before. I'll be looking them up.
What will the offroad terrain be like?
I've been relearning just how good proper semi-slicks can be, for anything except loose, steep loamy stuff or mud.
I use Vittoria Terreno Dry 29er tyres, super fast, pretty quiet on tarmac, reasonable grip off-road but I have been using them as gravel tyres so haven't gobe seeking gnarly stuff or mud.
Will be using them for summer bikepacking trips also
What will the offroad terrain be like?
And how much of it?
I've done some longer mixed-surface trips with Marathon Mondials, WTB Horizons and an Ardent/Crossmark combo. Each had their pros and cons.
I quite like the Conti race king, used it for KAW last year and it was great apart from on the wet chalk of the Ridgeway. Have kept it on the 29HT through the gorgeous S Cotswold winter and it’s great if you ride it CX-style (for me keep it spinning and shift my weighty arse around). On road it flies, gearing is only thing that slows it down. Only had one flint puncture on it, anchovie holding up nicely. So I like them 👍
I use Vittoria Barzo front and Mezcal rear. Copied what I was seeing on bikepacking.com bikes.
Been a good combo. Barzo offers good grip off-road up front and the near solid centre section on the Mezcal on the rear is very fast rolling.
It's deeply old fashioned... but schwable Marathon Mondials were designed exactly for this and shod many trans continental riders bikes for about 100 years before "bikepacking" became a thing.
Faster rear tyre gripper front tyre is definitely the way to go, I use a Maxxis Crossmark rear and High Roller front. If there's a lot of tarmac I might go 35-40psi rear too. Most on road resistance is generated by rear tyre, most off road control by the front.