The best tire for the Surly Straggler

Summary
The Straggler, as the name proudly suggests, is a slow road bike. While it can fit 2-inch tires, it's not really a mountain bike, either, if we're being honest with ourselves. Its realistic calling is mostly pavement with an eager taste for dirt. Fenders are also good to maintain dreamy glitter. The best tire I have found that 1) fits under 45-mm fenders, 2) rolls fast on pavement, and 3) handles singletrack is the Hutchinson Override 38.

My Straggler has had 32s (Panaracer Ribmos) on it for most of its life, but I recently realized I could get more out of the bike by adding some cushion. With 32s, the Straggler is a pretty fast road bike with the right engine, but there's a ten-pound reason my Wabi Classic broke all of its Strava PRs. On the other side of the spectrum, the frame will easily fit 700x43 Bruce Gordon Rock N Roads.

It's certainly fun to thrash around on singletrack with the Rock N Roads. Indeed, I embrace the notion of underbiking as a way to hone bike-handling skills. Still, the tires never last long, because, well, they make mountain bikes for singletrack, and my Straggler has errands to run. Unfortunately, errands typically require pavement, where the Rock N Roads are awfully slow.

Straggler with Bruce Gordon Rock N Roads. Fun, but not sustainable.

If the Straggler is a slow road bike and an under-biked moutain bike, is it great at anything? Yes. It's great at being a bike that rides mostly pavement but enthusiastically seeks dirt. The multi-tool field is crowded these days, but for the money, it's hard to beat a Surly. To complete my multi-tool, I needed a tire that would roll fast on pavement but wouldn't be intimated by the occasional singletrack.
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And on my quest to find the perfect tire for the Straggler, I had one major constraint.  It had to fit under Handsome 45-mm fenders.  (As an aside, I don't understand why the gravel-bike scene hasn't embraced fenders. Well, some have, but it's not a unified scene. There's a reason my purple paint still glitters strong after three years of year-round commuting.)

Handsome says their 45-mm fenders will fit 38s. This width seems about right for the job, regardless of fender restriction. Much fatter, and it'd be slow on the road; much skinnier, and it'd be sketchy on dirt. After considering the Maxxis Rambler 38, Schwalbe G-One 38, and the Panaracer Gravelking 38, I decided on the Hutchinson Override 38. While the other three would have presumably done the job well, I went with the Hutchinson because it looked like the roadiest of the four, and, if I'm being honest with myself, that's where the bike will get the most use.

True to Handsome's word, the fatties fit fine under the 45-mm fenders after a little wrenching with the struts.

38s fit under Handsome 45-mm fenders. Noted.

As advertised, I have been impressed with how fast these tires roll on pavement--not much slower than the Panaracer 32s and A LOT faster than the Rock N Road 43s. I attribute the speed to the low-key center knobs and the respectable 418-gram weight. They're comfortable, too, pairing nicely with the vibration-dampening Natch frame.

And they have held their own on local ITP singletrack, with enough side knob and cushion to hold a dirt corner, but not so much so that the pavement ride to the trail is a slog.

Bottle launcher

Note: this opinion is not motivated by any compensation from the tire manufacturer.