Recommend me a tyre for a trip:
April in the UK
Two 200km road days
One 100km chalk bridleway day
One 100km road/tow path
Light bikepacking load.
Frame/fork clearance for maybe 700x38c max.
Tubeless preferred.
Thanks.

I use panaracer gravel kings on my
Everyday bike.
V nice tyre.

Yep, gravel kings are a good choice.

The Vittoria Adventure Trail II are cheap at planet x (have been cheaper, such is their pricing regime) and go up tubeless with no trouble.

johnnystorm wrote:Yep, gravel kings are a good choice.

The Vittoria Adventure Trail II are cheap at planet x (have been cheaper, such is their pricing regime) and go up tubeless with no trouble.

Thanks for this, been pondering a similar tyre myself, the vittorias are cheaper at decathlon right now: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/adventure-h ... 93EALw_wcB

Continental AT Ride is a nice all round tyre. Have a pair on my Specialized Sequoia.
Doesn’t feel particularly slow on road.
Not sure whether suitable for tubeless.

Given your lack of off road might be inclined to consider something with a smoother ride; however, that tyre has been fine on mixed terrain rides.
Going to try a pair of Conti Speed Ride, look interesting

If it's dry almost any road biased tyre will work OK. Even my marathon pluses would would be fine, although not the best.

But... if it's wet, this section

lune ranger wrote: One 100km chalk bridleway day

will be tricky, and you'll really want some tread for that. Which will counter anything you might want for the road. Nanos might work well?

Yep. The chalk is the problem.
I've spotted Schwalbe Smart Sam TL Ready in 700x35 for less than £20.
Not ideal for the road but would give some grip of it's gloopy.
I've paired one as a front tyre with a Marathon XR on a 26er for the Carretera Austral in the past and it worked fine.

I've the WTB Riddler 37C tyres on my single speed. Slightly slower and harder work on the road but quite capable off-road on the few bits I've done so far. Not done anything too muddy though there have been short muddy sections and they dealt with those OK. The Nanos are a bit more road oriented so depending on the on/off road ratio you might be better with those. I've seen mention somewhere that the 40C Nano is almost as big as the 45C Riddler but can't confirm one way or the other.

I had Specialized Fast Tracks on my touring bike, they were pretty fast on road and had a bit of grip for looser stuff. Have also used the Smart Sams, they are pretty good due to the near solid central tread, and worked well on the Ridgeway which mostly chalk, was fairly dry when I did it though.

I'd second Bob's recommendation of the Riddler. If the 37c is anything like the 45c, it'll be a superb tyre with a capability far beyond what you might imagine.

37 riddler seemed to wear at an alarming rate on tarmac for me, much faster than a nano. I much prefer the nano as an allrounder, only tried the riddler at the back for a while. Obviously the nano is a 40 but the widest point is the carcass not the tread so they might fit, I have them on my swiss cross that says 38 max.

Smart sams or Sammy slicks are decent enough and not as bad on tarmac as you might think.

Second the Nano, went up really easy tubeless, happily hold 15-16mph on road without too much effort and surprisingly good off road, had them on singlespeed CX bike all winter and they have dealt with mud from beet-lorries, potholes and other detritus on road really well, whilst dealing with most things off road.

Sadly, my 40c nanos are not fitted to my Arkose, it's rocking marathon pluses instead for commuting

I use 2.1 nanos on my MTB during the summer sometimes, they roll so good. I really rate them

lune ranger wrote:Yep. The chalk is the problem.
I've spotted Schwalbe Smart Sam TL Ready in 700x35 for less than £20.
Not ideal for the road but would give some grip of it's gloopy.
I've paired one as a front tyre with a Marathon XR on a 26er for the Carretera Austral in the past and it worked fine.

I've done some testing on tyres for similar goals (This Is Not A Tour, in my case) and on road the Smart Sam (non tubeless) average 2kph slower at 200w, which is a lot but not compared to the time lost from getting taken to hospital trying to ride slicks on wet chalk . As something of a middle ground, Shwalbe Marathons (not plus) were only 0.8kph slower - and actually faster than my similar width road tyres into a headwind

I'd be tempted with a mixed pair - somewhat grippy at the front, fast and smooth rear. My planet X kaffenback currently has a 28c road tyre on the back and a 32c small block 8 up front. Seems to make a big difference in speed compared to sb8 front and rear.... I'm thinking of getting a 32 for the rear next time for a bit more comfort, but have happily ridden this combo over some fairly"mountain bike" type paths. (Over stanage causeway, houndkirk road and lady Cannings if you know Sheffield trails)

Nano here i love em. Im nearly through my first on the arkose and due for some new ones soon. They have never gave me any both on or off road.

I can't wait to wear my nanos out so I can get the new skinwall version!

Oh what are they will have to Google them!!

techno mail wrote:

johnnystorm wrote:Yep, gravel kings are a good choice.

The Vittoria Adventure Trail II are cheap at planet x (have been cheaper, such is their pricing regime) and go up tubeless with no trouble.

Thanks for this, been pondering a similar tyre myself, the vittorias are cheaper at decathlon right now: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/adventure-h ... 93EALw_wcB

The ones in the link are as 'aggressive a tread as the AT-II that may or may not be a good thing of course!

johnnystorm wrote:

techno mail wrote:

johnnystorm wrote:Yep, gravel kings are a good choice.

The Vittoria Adventure Trail II are cheap at planet x (have been cheaper, such is their pricing regime) and go up tubeless with no trouble.

Thanks for this, been pondering a similar tyre myself, the vittorias are cheaper at decathlon right now: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/adventure-h ... 93EALw_wcB

The ones in the link are as 'aggressive a tread as the AT-II that may or may not be a good thing of course!

oh yeah, they're not the same are they, got carried away with the savings, doh!

Nanos are a good call if you can get the 40s in the bike. If not, try WTB Riddler 37s. Faster and smoother than they should be on tarmac and really good off-road, about as grippy on claggy damp ground as you'll get on a non mud specific tyre that doesn't buzz on tarmac. Really easy to use tubeless too. I'm a huge fan of the 45s and the 37s are almost as good.

37 riddler seemed to wear at an alarming rate on tarmac for me, much faster than a nano.

Interesting. The Nano wears fairly fast on tarmac as it relies on running on that centre rib for smoothness, a small contact area. The Riddler has a bit more 'spread' across the close-spaced centre tread, would expect to see wear there but hadn't noticed it wearing in a way that seemed any faster. TBH though I've done a lot more miles on Nanos that Riddlers - and mainly on the 45 Riddler which will prob have a different contact/wear effect.

I guess the centre ridge on the nano is a deeper tread so maybe you just get more miles out of them, also since it's really just that centre wearing you still have a tyre with decent grip even when they get pretty worn?

The skin wall version only seems to be in TCS which is annoying if you don't want to run tubeless :(

^ True - a Nano with a worn-out centre is still a great fast tyre pattern! I expect a Riddler would be too.

You could always post the knobbly tyres up and fit them when you get here!