Tyres

kangarouge

Descending down a hill with a rough surface on 23mm tyres the other day, got me thinking what size tubulars people used to use for racing back in the sixties and how do they compare to the 23 or 25mm sizes of today.

Can anyone remember and enlighten me please?

Darius_Jedburgh

Time trialling in the 1980s and 1990s I had 19mm on the front and 21mm on the rear. That was pretty much the norm back then.

webboo

The narrowest that you could buy.

cycleclinic

People used to cx and grass track on 23mm tyres. Eddie Merckx did paris roubaix on 25mm tyres I think.

19mm tubs @150 psi where raced on.

Just look at the gearing back then 50/47t with 13-17t freewheel was the thing.

Proper hard back then.

lesfirth

I rode on them in early 60s. I do not remember what size they came in . I think they would compare to a 23mm clincher.
We pumped them up as hard as you could get them with a long hand pump. No idea what pressure ,I didn't have a gauge.
It might have been the steel frame that smoothed out the ride but I think the roads were better then. No padded bar tape, just several layers of cloth tape. Shorts had a piece of real chamois leather in them, no padding, a B17 leather saddle and my backside never complained ( well,not after the B17 had beaten it into shape).

I rode to school on an old track bike with tubs, fixed wheel ,front brake and toe straps ( when you stopped you had to undo your toe strap while your feet were still going round). I punctured one morning, I put my spare tyre on and was not late . If you were late ,you got assaulted by pervert( a teacher) armed with a gym shoe so I was motivated to pedal quick.

Usual gearing was 52/48 chainrings and I think 14 to 25 or if you were soft a 26, 5 speed block. I lived in east Manchester then so the Peak District was our usual biking area.

I had better stop , I can feel a bout of nostalgia coming on.