a tire for all my usage

Of course, there is no such thing.

But what I am looking for is a tire which will suit the needs I put my cyclocross bike through.

It needs to be a one tire does it all and does it all reasonably well kind of tire.
Here is the list of what it needs to do:

• Roll fast. Heavy duty treads or anything beyond light siping is out.
• Be very resistant to punctures. I want to ride my bike, not repair it on the road/trail.
• Be 700x25c. I am tired (haha) of larger sizes and want a tire more in line with a road tire. I have been riding for decades, often off road, and am not scared of tires even as small as 700x21c on crappy surfaces. The worse this tire will encounter is slick wet clay, and for that we have balance and slowing down :)
• Be able to handle a serious pounding. I ride on rail trails, gravel, and pavement which is often times quite broken up. These tires will also be in an urban environment a fair bit with all that entails.
• Have a good long life. Road tires which wear out after less than 2000km are not good. I would go through two sets a year minimum, likely more. That is too costly for me as someone who rides for pure pleasure and is not racing.
• Be relatively light. Relatively. This means 350-400(ish) grams per tire. That is light compared to some which meet my criteria, and heavy compared to a road race tire.
• Must be a clincher.
• Notice I didn't mention cost. It doesn't matter, within reason ($100 plus or minus a few dollars per tire). Savings come from beating the tires up over a few seasons and not replacing them twice a year.

 Picky, aren't I?

I have managed to narrow my search down to a few tires to consider seriously.

Tire choice 1: Schwalbe Marathon Racer HS 429

Why this tire? Well firstly, I have experience with the Schwalbe brand and Marathon tires in particular. They state that they are very tough and very durable. I can attest to that. The old school Marathons I had on my old cyclocross bike still had a bit of life left in them after 5500 plus km of use over gravel, bashed up roads, some mud, and under load (part of the time) as a commuter tire. They also did not have issues when being used on a trainer, so they can handle heat nicely. I never had a flat with them. Not even once.

This tire looks like a nice upgrade to the one I had last time as well since it falls right in my weight category at 395g each.

But, they are a bit of a pig. 700x30c is the size. I would prefer smaller. This is not a deal breaker, but I would prefer a smaller size.

They also don't cost much. MSRP is $48.35 which is cheap for tires (if you are me).

Tire choice 2: Vittoria Randonneur

Why this tire? I have them on the bike now. I like them. But...
I melted the rear tire on the trainer. It is basically shot. The rubber is quite hard and did not take the heat well at all. I will finish it off on the trainer and just let it fall apart. Oh well. This is what prompted my search for another pair of tires.

The plus about this tire is that I can get it in the size I want (700x25c) but they are quite heavy at 430g for that tire size. This is less than what my current ones mass though. I have the 700x32c on there now which mass 580g each which is way higher than I want to go next time around. Another plus with this tire is how well they wear. There are something like 1400km on the tires right now, and they have no noticeable wear on them at all (melted tire aside). Also, I have had no flats. They don't grip as well as the Marathons do though over wet clay. But they do roll faster on pavement. It is a trade off.

Cost is about $50 a tire. Again, not objectionable.

Tire choice 3: Continental SuperSport Plus

Why this tire? It looks like the best option from what I have seen so far.

Firstly, I can get them in a 700x25c size with a mass of 400g per tire. Right on the target. I can also get them as a 700x23c at 320g a tire. Two of these are only 60g more than ONE of the tires I have on the bike now. How about them apples. I am not worried about gravel with a small tire size. Most of the gravel around here is more like a packed clay with a few stones anyway, and the rail trails are all crushed limestone with occasional slick bits. A good friend of mine has been riding literally for years on rough surfaces on 700x23c tires and has never fallen off or flatted. He has disgusting luck I will grant you (aside from getting hit by a car but even there he got lucky), but still. I am not worried about the small size being an issue for what I ride.

Flat resistance appears to be on par more or less with the Schwalbe. I base this on how it is made and how the Schwalbe is made. If the tire is in fact made of similar compounds to the Schwalbe, I am not worried about flats. The tire is specifically designed for fixies and couriers, so it can take a pounding. It should last a good long time. Win for me if I go for it I would think.

Cost? Who knows? Don't care if they fit the bill well enough.

They are basically a siped slick, so they won't grip on crap as well as the Schwalbe does, but shouldn't be much worse than the Vittoria which is basically a fatter siped slick. No concern there then. As a bonus, they have a nice high PSI rating which should make it scoot quite quickly.

Tire choice 4: Specialized Roubaix Armadillo Elite

Why this tire? The armadillo tires from Specialized are very strong and very flat resistant and roll fast. In theory they last a good long time. These ones are very light for a tough tire - 700x23/25c coming in at approximately 305 grams each and should roll very fast.

However. There is a BIG however here. I have owned two sets of armadillo tires over the years and without exception, they have cracked and delaminated within half a year. The rubber cracks, and starts to split. While they don't flat much if at all, and roll pretty fast, they are not durable at all. I include them on the list because many have reported success with them, but my direct experience is that they are iffy at best. The one set lasted less than three months before they started to crack. Not impressive.

It might be worth looking at the non-armadillo variant on the tire though. Currently, I am using a non-armadillo Specialized tire on my commuter in the spring/summer/fall and really like it. It is the Specialized Crossroads. The rubber is supple, it wears well, rolls fast, and has not flatted. Granted, it is a knobbed city tire and is fairly massive, but whatever they do for flat protection does not result in the tire falling apart. So the Specialized Roubaix Pro might be worth a look seeing as it uses similar tech to the Crossroads. As a bonus, the 700x23c tire masses 260g which is very very good.

Cost? No idea. But there is a local Specialized dealer that I am confident I can get a good price from.

That's it so far.

Anyone else have any ideas? Thoughts? Experiences they would like to share?

If so, leave a comment and point me in the direction of a tire you have used over rough terrain that has stood up well for you.

Thanks!