bike tire width recommendations

[mkxm...@gmail.com]

Hello All,

I haven't been here for a long while.  I had to create a new account because I couldn't remember the password and it wouldn't accept to recover the account :)

Anyways, I am in the process of considering buying a new bike.  I am being told that a 28 is a good size tire for road and also for race. hmmmm .  My old cervelo had a 23.

I thought the bike gurus at OTC will definitely have their say on this.  What do you think?

Maamoun Mahdi

[juststevieb]

Hi Maamoun;

Good to hear from you.  Since Goodlife has been closed I can't even run into that way anymore....at least for the time-being.

The science/opinion behind tire sizes has changed a lot in the last 2-3 years.  Do some youtube searches and there are lots of explanations as to why the industry is generally migrating towards larger widths, larger profiles, and less air pressure.

The coles notes of the dabate is that thin, aerodynamic, and high pressure is only an advantage on perfectly smooth roads, which proponents argue never happens.  That being said, you will still find lots of roadies out there sticking to 23mm.

My solution is to own multiple bikes for different purposes ;)

I will say this, my CX bike with wider tires and less air pressure is a lot smoother and my most fun to ride (on all surfaces)...but I doubt I'm going as fast as my road bike, and DEFINITELY nowhere near as faster than my TT bike for the same effort.

Go with what you think you will use the bike for most.

Steve

[mkxm...@gmail.com]

Thank you Steve.  I was mostly out of the country for about 9 months; just back one month ago today. I miss goodlife!

After further research, I found couple of youtube videos.  I also realized that the top aero road bikes now comes with 25 tire size (not 23).  The endurance road bikes comes with 28.  I was thinking of buying a FELT VR for both riding and racing (I am a turtle anyway :) ) or a TREK with 25 but more money.  Not sure yet.

Maamoun

[Adrian Wong]

Assuming the same tire pressure, the science of lower rolling resistance for larger tires has been around for a while (due to size of contact patch). However, the move to wider rims and the need for better rolling tires to match those wider rim widths has really driven the market towards bigger tires.  For racing (especially TT/Triathlon) matching tire size to rim width is a good idea (i.e. wider rims = wider tires) and is why I run 20 front and 23mm rear on the TT bike, because I can't afford a set of the new wider rim deep wheels....  :-)

It is important to remember that not all tires are made the same.  A 28 Conti GP5000 has lower rolling resistance than a 28 Conti Gatorskin.  I'd also be willing to bet a lot of money that the 23/25 GP5000 combo I run on my roadbike will have better rolling resistance than those 28 Gatorskins!

That said, tire width is not a problem on the newer models of road/TT bike so I would suggest get whatever bike you like and then get good tires for it. I'd happily road race on 28mm GP5000 tires.  Regular stock tires?  Not so much.

[mkxm...@gmail.com]

:) Hello Adrian, when I posted this post, I was waiting for you informative reply.

Would you recommend I go for FELT VR or AR?  The funny thing is that I found the VR (categorized as endurance road) is less weight than the AR and TREK performance road bikes.  I couldn't explain it.

[Adrian Wong]

For me aero is king so I'd go for the AR....  :-)

Of course the answer is "buy the bike that you can afford and that fits you the best"  Very, very generally, "endurance" geometry is slacker than the corresponding "race" geometry so that is usually the better route for most people.  Your method may vary, however.

Good luck Maamoun!