WTB tire types

I’m all confused, \n \nMy bike has 700x37 WTB All Terrains - I’m not terribly impressed with their speed on pavement and, despite my dreams of more gravel/off road riding, the reality of my life is 75% or more of my riding will be on smooth city surfaces. But when I DO go bike packing, I’ll want something up to the task. \n \nThe WTB Nano has good reviews as a cross tire and is described as fast, but is it worth the upgrade. \n \nMeanwhile, the Riddlers are nagging at me because of how well reviewed they are on this forum and elsewhere. But again, are they any good on the street, or is it gonna be more of the same of what I’m currently riding? \n \nThanks for replies.

The all-terrains are one of their cheapest tires so they're probably slower than Nanos. \n \nI can't decide what's worth upgrading for you, but for me I think life is too short for cheap tires. They're the best upgrade you can get for your bike. \n \nAlso, knobs are overrated, especially here in MN. The bigger the tire the less important they are. You weigh several thousand times more than the loose gravel you're supposedly gripping on to. It's much better to wrap your tire around the pebble and squish it into the ground.

I can't speak for the All-Terrains, but I can tell you that the Riddlers will be faster on pavement than the Nanos.

clarksonxc wrote:I can't speak for the All-Terrains, but I can tell you that the Riddlers will be faster on pavement than the Nanos.

Thanks for this. For my own education, why? Or how can you tell? 

Is there something I should be looking at for an indication of their performance? To my untrained eye, the Nano and All Terrain look like a traditional MTB tire whereas the Riddlers have a tread pattern that has a distinctively different design.

Or is there an online resource I could study to learn more about how different tread patterns behave?

So I just looked at the website and compared weights - full disclosure, I do not know which model of Nano I was riding.  My friend got them at Trans Iowa and was nice enough to let me borrow them.  They definitely have a chunkier tread than the Riddler.  The photo on the website is a little deceiving.  This is what I think gives the Riddler a smoother, faster feel on pavement.  Also, the Riddler was much lighter and felt more supple than the Nano (I can't find the tpi spec on the website).  I don't think the Nano is a bad tire at all, I just think that the Riddler is the way to go for smoother gravel and pavement mixed in.

I ride about 70% pavement & 30% single track.....I decided to try a set of 700 x 40 Nano’s on my Sequoia because they were on sale. \n\nFirst ride on the Nano’s tubeless, I picked up a goat head thorn which did seal right up with Orange Seal. Seems as though the goat head thorns just bounce right off the Sawtooths, I have picked them up but they have never punctured through the Sawtooth tread. \n\nThe Nano’s are just ok on the pavement because they don’t corner well and are noticeably slower rolling.....They are better on dirt but seem to be a bit fragile as compared to the Specialized Sawtooth’s which by the way came on the Specialized Sequoia. \n\nI wouldn’t buy the Nano’s again so I can not recommend them. \n\nNeedless to say, I am back on the stock 700x42 Specialized Sawtooth tires which are slightly heavier than the Nano’s BUT are superior in every other way IMO....they are fast and smooth on pavement and grip surprisingly well off road. I run them 30 to 40 PSI tubeless. I will purchase them again in the future. \n\nI agree with what Volsung said above.....knobs are overrated, the larger Sawtooth tire seems just as grippy off road as the Nano tire with knobs.

I’ve found the WTB Allterrains (700x30-32) good enough for dual sport riding where I didn’t want to burn up better off-road tires on the pavement. The Sawtooth would probably as good or better, but may cost a little more.

You didn't mention the Resolute?  That's my tire of choice, right now anyway 

In my experience the Riddler is not a good choice for pavement, as the tread is very short and I got a large amount of punctures due to glass shards. Nano is superior just because the thicker tread pattern holds the casing off the ground so I have gotten zero punctures. I do however live in a very dry place with nearly no rain to wash the road debris off. Lots of glass and other garbage on the roadsides here. 

Thanks for your feedback everybody. After reading up on the Specialized Sawtooth, I decided that would give me the best results for my combination of pavement and gravel rides. I picked some up last week and am really happy with them so far.