Sporty carbon frame to take 28 mm tyres?

TheYorkshireMan

Hi there,

I am looking to put together a new bike. It will be used mainly for fast roadwork, both in a group and on my own, plus various 'sportives', including some abroad such as the Flanders. The back roads are often quite broken up where I live and there are also some made-up but unsurfaced dirt roads that make useful links. Because of this I prefer light 28 mm tyres such as the Conti GP. To get comfortable I also need quite a relaxed seat angle, around 73 degrees for a 55 -56 cm frame.

I have looked around and the Cervelo RS seems to tick all the right boxes, apart from the fact that the forks apparently only allow for a 23 mm tyre to be used, even if the frame itself has plenty of clearance for a 28 mm tyre. As I aren't prepared to buy such an expensive frame and then replace the forks, I am trying to find out what other 'sporty' carbon frames have clearance for 28 mm tyres and a fairly relaxed geometry. They must exist given that even the pros typically use a 27 mm tub in events like Paris-Roubaix, and have no problems with jamming wheels etc. even when it is muddy.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? The information I need seems to be hard to find.

Has anyone used 28 mm tyres with the Ribble 'New Sportive'?

Thanks!

vorsprung

My Specialized Roubaix currently has 28mm Schwalbe Ultremos on it

Blog post all about it

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/big-tyres/

When I next do a bit of tyre swapping I might try and see if the Roubaix will take 30mm Cross tyres

Conti GP4 in size 28mm aren't size 28mm, more like 26.5mm. I have put these on my Orbea racing bike, no problem. Other "small" 28mm available in fast-ish compounds are the Rubino Pro and the Panaracer Pasella

gkerr4

vorsprung wrote:

My Specialized Roubaix currently has 28mm Schwalbe Ultremos on it

Blog post all about it

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/big-tyres/

When I next do a bit of tyre swapping I might try and see if the Roubaix will take 30mm Cross tyres

Conti GP4 in size 28mm aren't size 28mm, more like 26.5mm. I have put these on my Orbea racing bike, no problem. Other "small" 28mm available in fast-ish compounds are the Rubino Pro and the Panaracer Pasella

wow - there's more clarance than you'd think too - is that picture of the rear brake clearance with the 28s fitted?

what year of frame is that?

I have 28s on my trek pilot winter bike - they are bonty hardcases - seem to be lasting forever! -= they are big bilky things though, those ultremo's look neat. I have 23s on the roubaix and just kid myself that they are worth the reduction in comfort "for the speed"! :-)

TheYorkshireMan

Hi vorsprung,

Some interesting info there. Those Ultremos must be really chunky, as to my eye my Continentals are pretty big, even at 26.5 mm. I think most Continental's come up small, the 23 mm GP4000's I had were much narrower than the Vittorias that came before them. They also transmitted every bump in the road!

DrDavros

FWIW, I run Michelin Krylion 25s on My Lapierre S-Lite in the winter with plenty of room to spare at either end (and they're wider than some 28s I've come across). The Fork is an Easton EC70 and there's plenty of daylight in there. I can even get Crudguards on with the 25s - just.

Bit of a faff getting the tyres on & off, though (Ultegra brakes don't open wide enough to get the inflated tyre through). You may find that brake drop becomes a limiting factor for anything much bigger.

FransJacques

If you find the Spesh Roubaix to be completely ugly, with no harmonious sight lines from any angle, with no 2 tubes looking like a coherent match, and the whole thing looking like a dog's post-breakfast, then the Dolan Dual might be a good bet:

- 25c tyres and room for fenders. Check it out:http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road-bikes/frame-sets-road-bikes/dolan-Dual-Frameset/Dolan-Dual Frameset

The website is very slow I found...

gkerr4

FransJacques = the roubaix's biggest fan!

vorsprung

gkerr4 wrote:

is that picture of the rear brake clearance with the 28s fitted?
what year of frame is that?

Yes, the pictures in the article are with the 28mm Ultremos fitted. The frame is 2010 Roubaix Comp

FransJacques wrote:

If you find the Spesh Roubaix to be completely ugly...then the Dolan Dual might be a good bet:

- 25c tyres and room for fenders. Check it out:
http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road-bikes/f ... 20Frameset

It's an interesting frameset (good to have mud guard eyes) but it doesn't seem to have the headtube length or relaxed angles that the Roubaix does.

gkerr4

this is an interesting post to me as it shows how the roubaix has either changed over the past couple of years or between models as i didn't think there was any chance of fitting 28s to my own frame - i took some pictures - this is a 2008 s-works frame and fitted with michelin ProRace3 tyres in 23mm size.

front brake:


closer front brake:


rear brake:


i don't think i'd manage with 28s in there!

tigerben

Have you considered a wider wheel like the HED Ardennes?

I am currently about to push the button on buying a pair for my everyday bike - so can only speak theoretically - but my understanding is that the wider rim allows the tyre to be run at a lower pressure - giving better bump absorbtion. There are also supposedly aero / cornering advantages. With these wheels you could prob run with a 25mm tyre instead of 28 mm.