I don’t know if these are normal tires for someone who knows more, but I find them pretty odd looking. A knobby edge and an almost slick center portion. Odd, but I am finding them to be great tires for what I would call mixed terrain, like a loop that has pavement, gravel, mud, and dirt. Something like my NLT 1 that I ride regularly and have done so numerous times on this tire. It has about about half pavement, one-quarter dirt/mud trail and with the last quarter being groomed gravel path. The Hurricane is efficient and fast on the straight line pavement and ok in paved corners, just no high speed cornering in the rain. In the mud and wet dirt the slick center section could be a problem accelerating or climbing, but I haven’t experienced much of that, and the side knobs allow some cornering in mud and wet grass/leaves. I think it’s an all-around good tire for just having on your go to recreational bike which is where I have them. They are on my Early Stumpjumper which doesn’t see any tough stuff. Schwalbe describes them,
“Hurricane rolls fast and noiselessly, offering sufficient traction for the occasional off-road excursion.”
Puncture resistance is always a question when it comes to tires so I should comment on the one incident I did have on these tires. Maybe incident is a little strong? First, I think the Hurricanes come in a couple of levels of puncture resistance and though I can’t remember the names, I am sure my tires are the least protected because they were a silly bargain at Chain Reaction Cycles. Even so, I’ve got several hundred miles on them and have had just one puncture. Even that puncture did not leave me on the trail/road fixing a flat. In fact, I didn’t even know I had a thorn until I did my post ride tire check at home. There was an obvious giant thorn, but the tire was still holding at least 60psi and likely had been doing so for at least the last 30 minutes of riding. The thorn was about ¾” long and the tire didn’t lose pressure until I removed it with pliers.
So as an all-around recreation tire, I recommend these tires. I seriously thought about mounting a set on Whitey, but have opted to try out a “balloon” tire, the Big Ben, also from Schwalbe.