Tyre width selection

jon208
jon208 Posts: 335
edited April 2009 in Road buying advice
I'm soon going to need some new tyres, I'm a little confused by the number of width options available.

The current tyres are 23mm, my rims are "Ambrosio ws23"

Two questions:

1 Does this mean the rims will only take 23mm tyres?

2 I presume narrower tyres give more speed for situations such as TTs and smooth track racing where as wider tyres are more suited to Paris-Roubaix type action. For a recreational/sportive rider who does most of their riding on Derbyshire/Yorkshire (read cr@p road surface) roads is a 23mm tyre the best all round solution? I'm around 76kg if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance

Jon

Comments

  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    23mm tyres are about the narrowest I would go to to be honest. Any thinner and they dont corner as well - their profile is more square than round.

    For a winter tyre I go with 25mm.
  • Underscore
    Underscore Posts: 730
    FWIW, I was sent a link to an article a while ago that 25mm tyres had lower rolling resistance than 23mm (due to the reduced carcass deformation), but higher aerodynamic drag. IIRC (and I may well not have), the article came to conclusion that, at pro-cyclist speeds, 23mm was better - but, at the sort of speeds that mere-mortals are likely to average, 23mm front and 25mm rear or 25mm all-round was likely to be more efficient.

    _
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    I've got 25s on mine and they certainly help with the crap Suffolk lanes.
  • Baytt
    Baytt Posts: 102
    ive got a 23mm pro race 3 on the front and a 24mm continental gp force on the back, (dont ask not to sure why ive done that to lol)

    the extra bit on the back does make a tad bit of difference in terms of comfort.
  • rickhotrod
    rickhotrod Posts: 181
    28mm will give more comfort than a narrower tyre. However, not all bikes have clearance for 28mm tyres especially around the brake calipers. Many Audax type bikes use 28mm.

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