Aahh! Do I sense that this topic may have been discussed before, before my time?
I use Continental mainly – Explorer 2.1 and Escape 2.0 is ok in the summer, but running out of grip around now. For ‘autumn’, I’ve got a Vertical 2.3, Survivals in 2.1 and 2.3 and an old Traction Pro 2.0, but I can’t say I really like any of them. I’ve got some IRC Mud Mads in 1.95 and they’re great in very muddy conditions, but only in very muddy conditions.
I think the quoted sizes are a bit of a joke – I measure the width of the carcass, and making allowance for the width of the rim and the beads, you can calculate the diameter of the tyre (ignoring knobs). The biggest of those tyres is a 2.3 Survival, 141mm across and thus 1.8â€