Narrower tyres??

trevorh

Picked myself up a Charge Plug 3 in the Evans sales for my commute to work, around 7.5 miles each way. Loving the bike and it serves the purpose well. It came with 42mm Maxxis Roamer tyres. Whilst these are very comfortable and look bombproof they are a bit "draggy". What sort of benefit would I see to swapping down to a 28mm tyre, say the Conti 4 seasons? Am I going to see/feel a noticeable difference overall, on the climbs etc or will the difference be negligible? I did set two PB's this morning on the way to work (mainly flat/downhill) that I haven't touched since July last year but I do notice the "drag" on the way home uphill. Many thanks for your help in advance.

meanredspider

Reading this http://road.cc/content/review/202229-maxxis-roamer-2ply it seems that they aren't too bad except seeming pretty heavy. You might want to play with tyre pressures first.

The Rookie

Personal experience going from 38mm (at 80psi) to 28mm (at 100psi) tyres on my commuter.

Lighter weight very noticeable on accelerations, better aero meant on flat or downhill I was nearly always one gear higher but the biggest effect was going uphill when the reduced weight and reduced drag has made it quite a lot faster and with less effort, certainly climbing feels livelier and more pleasurable (somewhat subjective I know) than before.

imafatman

It's mostly the weight reduction rather than the narrowness of a tyre. It will be faster to accelerate and easier to climb with.

I tried some fast road tyres on my commuter bike and it was great..... however it wasn't so great when I was getting punctures and getting late for work. I ended up switching to some rather heavy Marathon Plus tyres which are bulletproof.

For a 7 mile commute to work I would suggest leaving on the heavier more puncture resistant tyres, it's such a short run that the benefits are miniscule and massively off-set by the inconvenience. At least in my experience.

mr_eddy

As others have said you will lose rotational weight so better for acceleration and uphill - Not so much of a difference on the flat once up to speed. You will also lose some comfort but 28c are still pretty comfy tyres again as others have said you want to experiment with pressures.

Personally I went to 28mm Mavic Ypsion Elite Guard (250g I believe) but to maintain puncture resistance I put in a squirt of sealant into my tubes - This added roughly 50g of rotational weight but total tyre/tube/sealant weight is still far less than the bigger 35c I did have and even lighter than some rock hard puncture 'proof' tyres. 370g 28c compared to 700g+ 35c makes a BIG difference.

Consider the sealant option as you get the best of both - You get the nice feel of lighter and more nimble tyres but with some puncture resistance thrown in. You will need tubes with removable valve cores - Most decent makes use removable valve cores (Conti / Schwalbe etc)

ajmitchell

You will get about half the rolling resistance changing from those 42mm to good quality 28mm tyres at the same tyre pressure. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ps4dfgxGAQ&t=498s

simon_masterson

It will certainly feel much faster. Seriously wide tyres can be good for poor road surfaces and potholes, but 42mm is way wider than you need for typical road use, so unless you want to be able to go offroad, 28-32mm would still offer you a very comfy ride with lower weight and rolling resistance.