Tyre widths worry me!!

lm_trek

Being a mtb'er i ride with 2.2 - 2.5 width tyres all the time, having looked at some bikes for my commute mainly for fitness and secondly to save some money, namely £50 a month i pay in petrol!!

Ive looked at some bikes with wide tyres like my mtb's hybrids etc.. but also spotted the Giant Rapid 4, which i really like, but the tyres are so small, is that normal? whats the general grip like??

asprilla

The tyres currently on my bikes are 21mm, 23mm and 25mm wide and (touch wood) in 8000 miles I'm yet to have an issue with grip. On tarmac and solid surfaces there isn't really a need for anything wider.

fastbatard

I too went from an MTB type hybrid to a road bike with 23c tyres and was a little worried at first. Never had a problem with grip, only downside for me was the ride quality on the poor pot holed roads. I did feel every bump but soon got used to it and the extra speed/less effort required made up for it. When I ride my MTB on the road now it feels like I'm riding through porridge!
My advice would be go for it. You'll wonder how you ever managed without skinny tyres!

Lancslad

I was worried about my 23c tyres on my orbea during winter so I bought a new bike (spec tricross) I highly recommend my course of action as this way you have a spare

will3

BE carefull you don't split the road open and fall through.

Barteos

Don't believe the hype and go for something slightly wider (25-28mm). You'll be at least as fast, safer and more comfortable.

Canny Jock

Just gone up from 23c to 25c mainly for pothole protection, they are comfier. Lots of people ride on 23's though.

wgwarburton

Grip isn't the issue. The point of "wide" tyres on a bike is to allow enough (vertical)sidewall between the road and the rim.

If you have "narrow" tyres you need to run high pressures to avoid getting "snakebite" punctures (or "pinch flats") when you hit something on the road. If your roads are rough (potholes? debris?) this is a bigger issue. If you don't have a road at all it's a big enough issue to run fat tyres, since you can run them at lower pressure with low risk of pinching the tube and hence get a more comfortable (albeit slower) ride.
The width itself doesn't make much difference to rolling resistance but thinner tyres usually handle higher pressures (which do) and are a bit more aerodynamic, if that matters. You need to make sure they are pumped up hard, though, which is more work than with a fat, low pressure tyre.
Knobbly tyres with lots of tread typically have less grip on road, as the knobs will flex and allow the tyre to creep sideways when cornering hard. This is very unpleasant!

I'll leave the off-road analysis to those who commute on dirt tracks and paths. I daresay there are a few commuters who use serious off-road trails but I suggest that's a corner case.

Cheers,
W.

unixnerd

You'll also run them at much higher pressure, normally above 100psi. For this you'll need a track pump as a hand pump won't cut it. This reduces the risk of snakebite punctures and gives less rolling resistance.

I run 23c on my racer and 28s with a thicker more puncture resistant tread on my tourer. Never had any bother with punctures, well once on my tourer years and years ago (when it had 34c tyres).

You'll find road wheels spin up a lot easier. I just put a 1500g set on my racer and they're amazing.

biondino

You don't *need* to run 23mm tyres at over 100 psi - I read something in C+ that said there was negligible increase in rolling resistance down to a surprisingly low figure (50 or 60 psi?). As someone bleated on last year, resistance is caused primarily by hysteresis (look it up).

Stevo_666

Coming from MTB's I had the same mental problem with weenie little roadie tyres when I bought my hybrid, so I stuck the fattest tyres on that would fit. Has been great for avoiding pinch flats and good for comfort and as I'm not racing the difference in the speed of my commute is probably sweet FA. As said above, don't think grip is a size dependent issue on tarmac.

cjcp

As far as grip is concerned, I don't think it comes down to the width of the tyre, but the way the tyre is shaped and the type of rubber used.

For example, my Spesh Armadillos almost look squared off on the tyre walls, as opoosed to the more rounded-off shape you see on 23mm tyres. The rubber also feels much grippier (possibly not a real word) than the Armadillos. The result is that I'm much more cautious cornering, especially in the wet, on the Armadillos.

desweller

biondino wrote:

You don't *need* to run 23mm tyres at over 100 psi - I read something in C+ that said there was negligible increase in rolling resistance down to a surprisingly low figure (50 or 60 psi?). As someone bleated on last year, resistance is caused primarily by hysteresis (look it up).

The reason for running narrow tyres at high pressure is due almost entirely to load support.

Pressure = Force/Area. The contact patch for a narrow tyre is obviously much smaller than for a wide one, so pressure needs to increase to support the same load.

MichaelW

For a practical commuter road bike that will never see the start line of a race, you need to consider some practical features.
Wider tyre clearance
Mudguard clearance and eyelets.
Rear luggage rack eyeleys on the seat-stays

Eyelets and clearance wont slow you down. You can find them on winter-training style bikes such as the Kinesis TK2

tywin1

I agree with Barteos - if you don't feel comfortable with 23c's, just put 25 or 28s on. I run a 28c on the front of my bike and a 32c on the rear.

Grip isn't an issue. Protour riders careen down hills with hairpins at 85kph+ on 23c's.

nwallace

biondino wrote:

You don't *need* to run 23mm tyres at over 100 psi - I read something in C+ that said there was negligible increase in rolling resistance down to a surprisingly low figure (50 or 60 psi?). As someone bleated on last year, resistance is caused primarily by hysteresis (look it up).

Interesting as they looked pretty bloody flat when I only had mine at 50psi, although I've somewhere between 90 and 100kg.