Richmond Park - 35mm vs 28mm tyres

littleprawn

Afternoon all,

I did my first couple of circuits at Richmond Park this weekend on Saturday morning my CAADX. I enjoyed the experience in RP with all other cyclists and runners etc as well as being lapped by the pros etc.

From reading this forum, there is a yardstick of which of completing 3 laps in just under an hour is a good achievement.

I did a couple of laps (anti-clockwise direction) and clocked up just a modest ~48 minutes of which my fastest lap was just over 23 minutes. I am quite pleased at my first attempt after returning back to cycling for over a year of which I commute ~ twice a week since April last year and have clocked over 2000miles so far.

My question is - if I change my cyclocross tyres 35mm -Cyclocross Speeds http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti%20cyclocrossspeed_cl.shtml to 28mm Continental Tyre Ultra Gatorskin http://www.cyclesurgery.com/continental-tyre-ultra-gatorskin/road-tyres/bikes-components-bikewear/fcp-product/21805 ....how much improvement will I expect? I know I should downsize to 25 mm but I use my CAADX for the commute and my weekender and I also have am using the original wheels that came with my bike ( Maddux DRX 6000).

My other thought for me to increase my speed is to change the wheelset....and buying a roadie is not in the pipeline at this moment. If I did change the wheels, it would not happend until after spring ish and my budget would be £150.

Any advice would be appreciated.

alan_sherman

You have a CX bike - ride the path not the road! When it is quiet it is much more fun. When busy it is useless however.

dawebbo

It's always busy on the path!

I don't understand the bit about why you don't want to use 25s - unless you're suggesting that the rims won't take them? But regardless 28mm slicks will be notably faster than 35mm nobblys.

littleprawn

dawebbo wrote:

It's always busy on the path!

I don't understand the bit about why you don't want to use 25s - unless you're suggesting that the rims won't take them? But regardless 28mm slicks will be notably faster than 35mm nobblys.

I thought that the 28mm would make the commute more comfortable than the 25mm.

Would the 25mm make a significant tincreased performance in speed than the 28mm?

TakeTurns

littleprawn wrote:

dawebbo wrote:

It's always busy on the path!

I don't understand the bit about why you don't want to use 25s - unless you're suggesting that the rims won't take them? But regardless 28mm slicks will be notably faster than 35mm nobblys.

I thought that the 28mm would make the commute more comfortable than the 25mm.

Would the 25mm make a significant tincreased performance in speed than the 28mm?

If you were to ride the two without knowing which is which, you'd think they were identical.

Monty Dog

Noticeably faster? Not really as they are semi-slicks and if your tyres are pumped up to the maximum - maybe 1-2mph average. I can get my 29er MTB with 2.4" mega-knobblies up to 20mph on the road easily. In terms of wheel upgrades, you're best spending £250+ if you want something lighter, stronger and more reliable. I use my CX race bike with road tyres for training - it's just as quick as my road race bike as it's the legs and lungs that make the difference.