The grippier the rubber compound the slower they're going to roll. A bunch of small knobs work well on hardpack. For deep loose terrain you want bigger lugs - which roll slower. Generally with MTB tires the grippier they are the slower they're going to roll. Obviously a $30 tire is probably going to roll slower and offer worse traction when compared to a $90 tire but it still applies. Once you have quality tires you get to choose grip OR speed. Don't count on both speed and traction - especially with good durability.

There is no free lunch, you can’t really get more grip and faster rolling at the same time. I guess you’re aware that a) the rear tire impacts rolling resistance / rolling speed more and b) the front tire is more important for grip and c) tire width doesn’t do a lot for speed compared to compound/tread if you’re between like 2.25-2.4”

The tires you already have are a pretty good combo. Similar would be like a Ground Control rear / Purgatory front.

You can try to tweak a little, though, based upon which end is losing traction when riding. If you are losing the rear, going to a faster rear tire will make that worse but if it’s the front you are losing you can try a little more aggressive front. If you don’t mind losing the rear, and Fast Trak or Rekon Race would be faster rolling than the Rekon.

At some point you just have to decide if on road speed or offroad grip is more important.

Rekon is what I've found to be a good compromise when riding a combo of singletrack, gravel and pavement. I used to run the Chronicle which was better, but they discontinued them. If you are losing tracking on the technical stuff while not bikepacking, tire pressure might need to be dropped. I'm running a Tannus insert in the rear. This is on a Stache which is my bikepacking bike but also hits Appalachian tech.

I’m on tour now, latin american dirt, chunky, rocky, rutted, occasionally smooth 😆 I’ve been pretty solid on 2.2s, conti race kings, granted, i dont blast down chunky stuff but take them slow, not any hospitals anywhere near me, so i take the safe path. I’m using them on my 120mm dropbar hardtail. I’ve done a similar trip on 2.35s, schwalbes with medium sized lugs, actually hated them, especially on the road - with the contis they’ve been great on everything, just, like I said, sometimes i’ve just walked sections that would make a 4 wheeler bop all over the place

I run schwalbe racing ralphs in a 2.35. They are a bit overkill for gravel, and slightly underkill for MTB (front tyre struggles in loose conditions). There is no one tyre that will be good for both road and MTB, especially if you’re expecting to do black trails. A pretty popular choice for stuff like Leadville (MTB race which is kind of a gravel race) is the Schwalbe Rick. Very fast rolling, not so grippy for techy stuff.

I’ve been enjoying the new Teravail clifty as a grippy but fast ish trail tire but unfortunately the real answer is that a good trail tire isn’t usually a great option for long bikepacking trips with gravel and road sections. You might be better off keeping a set of XC tires on hand for use on trips and running something grippier for everyday use.

Recons are a great compromise between weight and grip when they are brand new. If you are loosing traction then they are probably getting worn out.

The answer is that the tires that are good for double black mtb trails (you're riding these in a 130mm hardtail?) Are not going to be good tires for bikepacking and vise versa. Have two sets of tires or wheels for the riding you're doing.

Maybe 2.4 dubnitals in the back and a trinotal up front?

New contis kick ass for me.

For your setup, I'd go with a Maxxis Dissector 2.4 front / Rekon Race 2.25 rear combo - gives you the grip you need on tech trails but still rolls decently on the champagne gravel stuf.

I have two sets of tires for my TJ. One is a set of trail tires, Maxxis DHF and Dissector in 2.6 inches. Those do get used for bikepacking if I plan a singletrack heavy route and expect to be going slow. For gravel and pavement heavy routes, I use a set of Continental Race Kings in 2.2 inches. Those are a great compromise and roll super fast. Definitely lose some grip in the wet though so gotta choose your battles. 

The real solution to going even faster though is packing lighter on a gravel bike. Which I also picked up eventually but depends on the type of routes you are trying to do. 

Maybe Barzo F, Mezcal R

I was having the same issue with an ardent/dhf combo, swapped to some Ehlines in 2.5 and they are fast as hell on pavement for a mtb tire. I haven’t had a chance to hit any technical singletrack but I’ll update when I do.

You should match the tires to the terrain you plan to ride in, not the fork's travel. Don't forget that the bigger volume of the tire, the lower pressure you can run and get more comfort.

Due to low prices in EU (and lack of available casing/compound variants of Maxxis I wanted to try), I stuck with Vittorias. Both 29x2.6 in trail variants.

• Mezcal: Amazing rear tire, as long as you won't come across wet clay. This tire collects all the mud it can and requires you taking a pause + a stick to get rid of the mud every few minutes to even continue hike-a-biking. I would check out the new Peyotte, while I haven't ridden the redesigned one, I heard tons of good opinions about them from people.
• Barzo: I absolutely hated it as a front tire (used 2.35 in prior ATB). It tends to suddenly wash out mid-turn with no warning on wet and hard surfaces. Great in a role of fast rear tire. E-bike variant makes no sense on rear - reduced grip is noticable and rocks will eat through the tread before you may notice the wear from the distance travelled.
• Agarro: Yup, we finally got to the do-it-all territory, Great as a front tire with Mezcal/Barzo rear. Fast yet grippy combo for drier conditions. Compared to Barzo/Mezcal, I'd guesstimate the speed/power penalty to be around 10%. When the weather gets wet for prolonged time and the trails get soaking wet you may easily hit the limits of the low and dense tread and accept that some descent will be yet another hike-a-bike segment. I don't think that double Agarro would make much sense - when you can get away with the Agarro on front, you should be easily able to run Mezcal/Barzo rear. When it gets worse, it's time to run Mazza on front defintely.
• Mazza: Combined with Agarro rear rides like a tank. Mudfest? Subpolar bogs? No worries, there's plenty of grip no matter how wet the trails are. Rolling resistance is noticably worse, but it's not as bad as I would expect it to be. After first trips, I'd guesstimate the penalty of Mazza/Agarro to be 20% downgrade compared to Agarro/eBarzo. Having to do 120km over hilly asphalt roads between the end of the trail and the first bus stop (with about 9kg backpack + loaded bike) was no fun, but was easily doable as long as I didn't try to ride as fast as on a XC (ended up with sth like 17km/h average).

2.25” Maxxis Ardent Race

Confused.. you want faster rolling for gravel but more traction on tech trails. Decide what your priorities are ;) I’d say your current setup is fine. The recon is a decent all rounder that rolls fast enough. The Aspen is a fast tire.. but would contradict your traction desire.

I am running Continental Cross King front and Vittoria Barzo rear on my Nukeproof Scout. Both are 2.3 tires and I really like how fast they roll on gravel, but still have plenty of traction for jeep roads and singletrack. I ran Rekons front and rear for a few months, but they felt slow while not providing great traction to me. I ride in the desert terrain in Western Colorado and Utah.