Agree to disagree. I think fitness/power is the biggest piece. Bike handling second. Tire choice is down the list but it’s the easiest to change so we focus on it a lot (read: too much). It’s like stressing over which aero bike to buy when fitness is going to have the biggest impact on your results. A pair of Grifo (or Baby Limus) and Limus would probably be sufficient for 95% of the people here for the whole season. But it’s more fun to discuss and debate tire setups.
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We debate tyre choice because it’s one of the only things we can change that is not physiological i.e fitness, technique. Weight, we all know should be minimal, aero, not really a factor.
We are cyclists, we like buying upgrades, not riding up grades.
I agree, if I was to give CX a good go, I would have 2 choices of tyres; Grifo and Limus.
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That was literally my point. 
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I’m not so sure this is always true either, I just recently did an absolute mud fest of a MTB race and lost to a competitor who is typically 5-10 mins slower per lap than I am in dry/mild conditions (this race was 2 laps). The difference was he was on a full blown set of mud tire’s (slightly wider also) and I was still on my summer intermediate tire.
I lead and hung with him for as long as I could but as the course got sloppier during the race it wasn’t even a skill or fitness question - I just couldn’t get through the course as fast.
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I don’t know if I would assign percentages to just how important stuff is.
The fact is that tire choice IS important. Period. No amount of fitness and skill are going to make up for anyone bringing Dunes or Chicanes to a mudfest.
It’s not that tire choice is going to win us races all the time, but tire choice 
percent is going to have an effect on your race. Saying it won’t is just ignoring physics.
Two thoughts.
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a large proportion of this forum is dedicated to power/fitness. It’s not like we’re only talking about tyres.
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if the OP doesn’t t have a cyclo-cross tyre and is thinking of buying for non-UCI use, it’s perfectly reasonable to wonder what width to get.
My own answer to that question would be a set of intermediates in a 36-38 width. They’ll be grippier and more comfortable but still have mud clearance and do better double duty off the race course. Then a set of muds, perhaps a bit narrower for more clearance. I agree that gets you 95% of the way. Then perhaps a set of file treads because experimenting is fun.
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It’s kind of funny that you think I said tires aren’t important. I’d love to see where I said this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have 3 wheelsets with 3 different treads. My point was that sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. It’s like finishing mid pack in your local races then sitting around all year not working on skills or fitness, then cross season comes around and this is going to be the year of greatness because you get a new tread and that’s going to be the thing that wins you a race. I guarantee MvdP could show up to a dry grass course on the heaviest mud tread and still smoke all of us. Tires aren’t EVERYTHING. That was my point.
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100% agree.
Well yea. He was on the proper tire. You weren’t. I’m not sure what your point is. The proper tire for the course and conditions can make a difference.
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If you read the quote in my response only and not the rest of the conversation my response makes more sense. I didn’t make my way through the rest of the conversation yet and thought you were just saying that tires don’t really make that much of a difference and was responding to that.
I see now later that you are saying a Mud vs Mud, Dry vs Dry or Intermediate vs Intermediate doesn’t really contribute huge factors against each other like some make it out to be (not that a dry vs mud tire would).
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Sorry, I think my original point wasn’t very clear because you’re not the only person who commented.
Not at all. Tires are important.
This. I think it’s the minutiae of picking tires or treads or widths that doesn’t really do much. Like is a 38 Grifo compared to a 33 tubeless Grifo vs a 33 tubular Grifo going to change your race dramatically? I don’t think so. Or one brand mud tire vs another brand. Or whether a Baby Limus or Grifo even is going to be that different. I’m saying that spending hours researching tire treads online could better be spent training. If you want to do that be my guest. But I don’t think it’s going to make any big improvements in your racing like practicing skills would. If I show up to a race and it’s raining and muddy, I never said you should run a file tread. I’m saying that the tire decision isn’t a huge deal because it takes 2 seconds of decision making to decide on the mud tread.
That’s why I said most people could go a whole season with Limus and Baby Limus. If it’s muddy, run the Limus. If it’s not run the Baby Limus. Stressing whether you get could 2W less rolling resistance by choosing a different tread to me is silly. And again, this is all opinion. Everybody can have their own opinion.
I think I, too, interpreted your post wrong and could have worded my response differently. Agree that Mud v Mud and Dry v Dry are on the “doesn’t matter” list for most people.
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The wider is better philosophy runs into some issues with muddier races, when the corners start getting rutty. A narrower tire is going to cut into the muck and grip more while a wide tire may sit on top of it and slide. There’s a reason some manufacturers make 30mm cross tires, esp. the mud treads. I feel like a 33mm Limus and a 38mm Grifo is a good 2-tire solution
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Exactly. I would think a 2.1 Schwalbe Thunderburt would be the answer, but doesn’t meet his 47mm limit criteria. I wish my 2010 Roubaix had capacity for larger tires (greater than 28mm).
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A week of riding/training and one race down with the Vittoria 38 Mix and they are pretty dang good. Race was mostly on dirt, some singletrack, fast ripping sketchy downs with sand, and grass and was very confidence inspiring. Would recommend.
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Baby limus has been trash on off cambers for me, when the off camber is steep it seems like the side lugs just let go and all of a sudden my back wheel is sliding away. Grifo H TLRs seem way better for that.
Running a Pirelli Cinturato H 35 on the front of my ss after cutting a baby limus. Pretty impressed with it so far, need to give it a try on the back.
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There’s no doubt that I’ve found 2.1 Thunder Burts to be faster than I expected, fun to ride and preferred on singletrack and rougher gravel. An MTB tire is not faster on grass and anyone who’s ridden across a grass field, MTB tires are really draggy. On a CX course a mix tire on front for corner grip, with a less aggressive tire on the rear is fastest in 38-40. Vittoria Terreno Mix and Dry or Challenge Grifo/Dune
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