Tyre widths for Archetypes

nick1c

I am in the process of getting some Archetypes built onto hope hubs and will be getting new tyres to go with them. As I understand it wide rims give a wider than usual tyre profile, a wider contact patch being a good thing because it gives more grip and allows lower pressures to be run, with the dual benefit of making the wheels roll faster & the ride more comfortable. The trade off for this must be a reduction in tyre height and therefore easier pinch flats. As the bike will have 90Kg of me bouncing up and down on top of it I would be grateful of peoples experiences with different tyre sizes and pressures on these rims as I want to avoid both punctures & dinged rims if possible, whilst taking advantage of the benefits of the wider profile. My inclination is to get 25mm Conti 4 seasons…..but I am open to other ideas.

Nick

Camcycle1974

I run 25mm Conti 4000s on my Archetypes. Comfortable and no reduction in rolling resistance far as I can tell. I have read that the tyre width should match the rim so in theory a 23mm tyre would be ideal. Would one notice the difference? Probably not.

maddog 2

25mm sounds good. GP4Seasons sound good. Depends on how much grip/wear etc. you want but 4Seasons are pretty good training tyres IMO.

matt-h

i have conti 4 seasons on my Excellights and they have bugger all feel.
i have put some veloflex on my Archetypes but yet to use them - but hoping they will feel better

Matt

MickTheMove

I have 23c Vredestein Fortezza TriComp Folding Tyres that i put on last week and a perfectly fine

MickTheMove

As an aside, I keep the pressures high and pinch flats are a thing of the past (thats put the kie bosh on it)

nick1c

It's the combination of rider weight, wide rim, tyre width & pressure I am most interested in as I have read that wider tyres run at a lower pressure give the most compliant & efficient ride, but it must be a question of degree.

Nick

majormantra

nick1c wrote:

The trade off for this must be a reduction in tyre height and therefore easier pinch flats.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I would think that a light bulb tyre profile (which you get on a narrow rim) would be more susceptible to pinch flats because it's easier to compress vertically. I doubt the tiny difference in tyre height makes much difference.

bendertherobot

32c, 70 PSI

Heaven beyond

nawty

I split the difference and went for 24mm Vittoria Paves - they are lovely on the Archetypes and running at 100psi feels nice and supple. Haven't tried them in the wet as I've switched to my winter road or MTB now but I don't think there'd be any issues at 90psi (I run 23mm Vredstein Tricomp Quattro's at 90 on my winter ride with narrow rims, I'm 75kg).