In article ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

In article ,
Ryan Cousineau writes:

But slicks are soo much nicer to ride on! And better cornering grip. And
better wet-pavement grip.

I agree so much, I opt for slicks, myself. All I'm saying is
knobbies aren't totally unusable on pavement.

Yes, but I think that, as you would agree, that a great number of urban
cyclists rolling around on knobby tires would be best served by swapping
them for slicks.

I have a set of Tioga City Slickers, which are
pretty cheap, available at MEC, and they even have gumwalls to satisfy
the purists. The tread is a minimalist road pattern.

I finally parted ways with my Cheng Shins, after 8-10K kilometers.
I went looking for a new pair of the same, but ended up instead
with IRC Metros, from The Bike Doctor. $11.69 each. They at least
look similar to the Cheng Shins.

Mm. Good tire recommendation.

About
the only urban surface a knobby can traverse that a slick cannot is a
muddy slope long enough that you can't just power through by
accelerating before you hit the hill. That's a pretty rare thing, even
when making shortcuts.

IME knobbies traverse wet, grassy fields better than slicks,
which can go kind of sidewindery. But there might be the
matter of divots.

Better, but by no means impossible. I have a funny story about this: I
have 700C-23mm tires on my commuter, and the first and last part of my
commute is across my lawn. The homeward leg ends with me riding up a 2'
high steep grass slope from the sidewalk to the lawn. This section
requires some discretion, as a careless attempt to ride up it at a
less-than-square angle and with power to the pedals saw the bike slide
out from under me. On the upside, when it's wet enough for that to be an
issue, the ground is also soft enough to do this without harm to cyclist
or mount.

Not that I'm recommending this,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.