Knobbies for pavement?

[sundial]

Hi Laura

I would consider dropping the air pressure a little first to get more traction, particularly on uneven surfaces. Doing so should grip better while cornering as well. (I run my tubeless anywhere from 25-35 on front and back, depending on the ride and run close to min tire pressure with tubes.) Slicks are fine on pavement but when you get to wet off road conditions the tire might feel squirrely, particularly in muddy conditions. But hey, many tires do anyway.

You might want to consider putting a 2.1 on front and a 1.9 on the back for better control, particularly for going downhill over roots and such.

I have ridden with a couple of tires for on/off road and I can recommend the Specialized Fast Trak, Kenda Small Block Eight, Kenda Kross, and WTB Volpines. I've run tubeless with the Small Block Eight and have been very happy with the performance. Both the Kenda SBE and WTB are a fast rolling, race tire and are durable and offer good traction on packed dirt. These tires don't have alot of road noise, and in particular, the Volpines. The Kenda Kross offers a slick middle with knobs on the outer edge and is a real bargain at $11.99 each on Amazon. I've used those on the rocky dirt roads around here and get pretty good grip on corners. But something with aggressive tread will usually outperform them. Another tire I can recommend are the WTB Velociraptor. It's another fast rolling tire with an interesting tread pattern.

Schwalbe makes the Marathon series urban tire but I prefer fat knobby tires myself. I think a mtb tire offers more than an urban tire.

Hope this helps and good luck with your selection.