Multi-Surface Tire Advice Needed
 

I built up a hybrid a couple of months ago to use on some local rails-to-trails and some gravel riding. It's a Schwinn Vantage F1 and I went with Continental City Ride II tires in 700C x 37 https://www.continental-tires.com/bi...res/city-ride2 . The tires just don't give me the handling I'm looking for once off anything but dry hard pack and asphalt. It's not bad, or hadn't been until I got into some freshly dumped 1.5" sand stone that was put on a road that runs along a river that had been under water recently.

I was running the tires at 45 front and 50 rear (psi) which isn't the lowest I could get by with but close (the tire is rated to 70 psi). The bike is just over 30 pounds and I'm 215+, I'm thinking below 40 psi I'm going to be pinching tubes.

With the 37mm tires I have maybe 5 mm of clearance in the chainstays but in the forks I have clearance for a 2.5" tire easy. One of the options I've considered is going with a slightly more aggressive tire in 47 mm front and 37 mm rear. Continental offers the Country https://www.amazon.com/Continental-C.../dp/B00BBY8R0O . Or I could go with an even more aggressive tire like this https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...CABEgJ9sPD_BwE in 38 front and rear.

While the tires I have are fine for well over 80% of the riding I'm going to do I want something that's more confidence inspiring on the occasion that I do get into some rougher stuff, of course without having to give up any noticeable efficiency on the majority of my riding. Lastly, with this being a budget bike I'd like to stay under $50.

No experience with the Conti Country, but nearly every review says they run really narrow, mounting to around 33 wide, so just something to consider. The Conti Ride Tour look pretty good too. Any tire I have used personally is either going to be narrower, tubeless, or both.

I like Continental Speed Rides for mixed terrain where I want decent grip and handling on mostly groomed gravel/chat trails and some grass, without sacrificing good pavement speed and handling. I've ridden a set of the wire bead version on one hybrid for 18 months and really like 'em.

The Speed Rides have a moderate diamond file tread main tread, with more aggressive knobbies along the edges. The knobbies never come into play except on grass with fairly aggressive cornering. On pavement and gravel in normal conditions the knobbies barely even touch the surface so they don't slow down the bike or assist with grip.

I weigh 160 lbs and usually ride with 40-50 psi front, 50-60 psi rear. I've gone lower without pinch flatting on rougher, looser gravel and on grass.

There's a folding bead version that's a bit lighter, costs a little more, and lacks the reflective stripe. The wire bead version has a reflective strip, which is just tape that can peel off but I restick the loose ends occasionally with super glue or Shoe Goo when the ends being to peel up -- I can hear it when the flaps hit my brake pads with a slight regular ticking sounds. Both versions are very good values.

The Speed Rides are nominally 700x42 but actually measure closer to 700x38. No problems with clearance on my early 1990s Univega, which was originally equipped with 700x32 tires. However I did have to swap brake pads around on the front to find a set that would allow the tire to drop in and out when inflated. Jagwire long line flat pads worked best. I use Kool Stop Eagle 2 on the rear -- thicker, with a plow tip to scrape mud, but easier to adjust toe-in because of the pad design, which is self-aligning for toe-in.

Some friends who ride the same terrain mix I do have fooled around with various cyclocross and gravel type tires for their hybrids. They pay a lot more for the Clements and other tires but I can't see paying that much for casual mixed terrain riding with hybrids. And the tread is usually much more aggressive and not as well suited to the pavement we mostly ride on our group rides.

For loose stone I look for tire width and tread suppleness. Recently I put a set of 700c x 38 mm Soma Shikoro tires on one of my bikes for mixed pavement and gravel rides, which I do a lot of. FWIW, I don't find tread patterns all that useful on gravel, and pretty much stay with smooth or file-tread tires, preferring the wider and suppler ones.

Yes, I have had that same experience when able to run a tire that easily conforms to the shape of obstacles but that was on ATV's where size restrictions was much less of an issue. My old bike had 26x1.95 tires and I would blast through that section but this was the first time it the golf ball sized sand stones.

I guess my biggest question is if this is just part of having narrower tires or just the wrong kind of tires. I expected more opinions of the issue of running a larger front tire. I always ran 2.25" front and 1.95" rear on my BMX bikes but honestly, I never knew why. I've thought about putting one of my 2.25" RaceKing tires on the front of the bike and seeing what that like.

Try the experiment. See how you like it. Sometimes trying an idea is the best thing. Mountain bikers run wider tires in front fairly often. It's probably not so common a thing on hybrid bikes.

Last year I converted two of my bikes from 700c x 32 mm to 650b x 47 mm tires. The wider tires have transformed those bikes for me, and prove a good match for how and where I normally ride.

I use Kenda Kross Plus in 42 mm width on my Ogre. I primarily use it to ride gravel roads around us, but also ride it when my wife is riding her road bike.
I doubt anyone would choose them as a race tire, but they met my requirements of cheap and durable. They are pretty quiet on pavement and work pretty well on the gravel roads I ride.
Continental has one very similar although I can't remember the name of it.
Link is to a black and tan version which doesn't come in a 42 mm
https://www.amazon.com/Kenda-700x38c...ds=Kenda+Kross

Me too. I think that it's real easy to over state the benefits of tire tread on a bicycle tire.

If you want to be able to handle golf ball sized sand stones, yeah, bigger tires are needed. Better tire material might help a little but nothing is going to have as much of an impact as having a tire that is physically wide enough to deform while riding over the stone without changing the course of the bike.

Wider tires handle more terrain, but are heavier and slower to ride with. If 1% of my route requires wider tires I'd get off and walk the bike over it.

You'd might get more responses in the mountain biking forum or cyclocross forum where people have more experience with different riding surfaces.