29er tire search

[Lumberman85]

I have been looking for the "perfect" tire for my upcoming trip.
Parameters:
Bike: Salsa Fargo 29er
Trip: 700 miles California Hwy 1 coastal route, with side trip to Lost Coast.
Looking for: tubeless, 1.75 - 2.0 fast rolling tire that will not suck on gravel/fire roads.
Me: 66 yo retired, multiple knee surgeries. Not a speed demon (anymore).
Everything I see is either to skinny or to aggressive. I am stuck. Any help would be appreciated.

[staehpj1]

Perfect is a tall order.  Nothing is perfect for all the variety of conditions you might encounter.  Lots of options are good enough.

Any of the MTB tires designed for racing in hard pack terrain have lots of low knobs and run pretty smooth and fast even on pavement and work well enough on most dirt conditions even the ones they aren't designed for.  Something like the Kenda Slant Six comes to mind.  It may be more dirt oriented than you need for your route, but I used them for a mixed dirt/paved tour and they worked out very well.

Even slicks are not that bad on dry hard packed terrain in the width you plan to run.

Pretty much anything in either class or in between would work out fine IMO.  In fact even a tire designed for mud wouldn't completely spoil the trip and for a 700 mile trip I am not sure I would bother to buy different tires if I had a set of them that were ready to wear out.  Just me, but I wouldn't get too excited about swapping tires for a 700 mile trip.  I guess the exception would be if I expected lots of mud and was running slicks.

[ray b]

Modern tire technology - it will be hard to go wrong no matter what you try.

I just slapped on some all-surface, tour-ready, German-made Continental Top Contact II tires to finish the last of the GDMBR, which is about 40% gravel.

At a whopping 60 PSI, this tire performed surprisingly well and proved fairly comfortable on my rigid steel set up, even on washboard.

Although I'm running 622-37mm on 24 mm rims, you can get these in 622-47mm (1.9 inches).

[rafisher14]

I have the Rene Herse Oracle Ridge (700x48) and absolutely love them! I find them great on both pavement and gravel. Highly recommended!

[HikeBikeCook]

I am riding a Surly Disc Trucker and it came with these. Also available in a 29 and Tubeless ready
https://surlybikes.com/parts/extraterrestrial

Considering they are stock on a renowned touring bike they should work great. I think they roll pretty well on pavement, I have ridden them loaded on gravel on the Erie Canal tour, and have ridden gravel roads in Vermont with them.

"It uses a nylon breaker in the sidewalls for cut protection, a molded pattern for anti-cut propagation, and a Kevlar cap under the tread to protect against flats. The ET Tire uses a distinctly directional tread pattern and its width yields more traction than you might expect from a tire with such little rolling resistance. The tread is low profile with a file tread in between tread blocks. The ExtraTerrestrial tire has enough width and traction for the soft stuff and won’t bog you down on smooth or hard surfaces."

[Earl Grey]

The fastest-rolling wide tires are Rene Herse. Expensive but worth it. Smooth or knobby, your choice. But for California (no mud) I’d go smooth.

No affiliation except I have some RH 650b tires and they are the best tires I have ever had.

700c tires:

https://www.renehersecycles.com/product-category/components/tires/700c/

Background info:

https://www.renehersecycles.com/wide_tire/



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[TCS]

Bike tires' rolling resistance and puncture resistance measured and rated:

https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com

[RonK]

I have an excellent fast rolling all-rounder for mixed surfaces, the Vittoria Mezcal in 29x2.1 on my Fargo.
They provide good grip and float on gravel and even single track, but roll nicely on hard and sealed surfaces.
I've used them for several backroads tours and highly recommend. Get the TNT version, not the TLR (race) version and mount them tubeless.
BTW - I'm 68 and have had bilateral total knee replacement, so have put a lot of research into finding the perfect tyre for me.




https://www.vittoria.com/us/en/tires/mtb-xc/mezcal