700c 32 section high pressure road tyres?

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A quote from the great Sheldon Brown - https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#tread :
This puts me in mind of the bloke I got into a chat with when I stopped for a coffee mid ride. He was admiring my bike but tried to tell me my almost new 700x32 Gatorskins needed changing as there was no tread left on them. I tried to explain, but he was very old school and couldn't be persuaded.
 

alex_cycles

Veteran
Location
Oxfordshire
ISTR reading somewhere that bike tyre would only aquaplane if you were going about 70mph.

But tread patterns can be helpful if you ride some off-road sections. Slicks all the way for me, for road use.
 

Fredo76

Über Member
Location
Española, NM
I managed to mount a Schwalbe 25-622 Marathon Plus tire, but it took a dozen zip ties to do it, and well over a dozen curses. If it ever has a flat, I won't be riding it home...

I do love the conclusion of the GP 5000 comparison:

"A bigger road bike tire (at least the Continental GP 4000 and GP 5000) provides a lower rolling resistance at the same air pressure. You do have to realize that at the same air pressure, a bigger tire will provide a less comfortable ride.
At the 15% tire drop air pressures, which are very close to the recommended air pressures for a given size, the tables are turned and a bigger road bike tire will have a higher rolling resistance. The higher rolling resistance of the bigger tire is because it provides more comfort at the 15% tire drop air pressure.
We feel the ultimate test is adjusting all tires to the same comfort level. When all tires are adjusted to the same comfort level, rolling resistance is nearly the same (0.2 watts max) for all sizes of the GP 5000."

I've always thought the "bigger tires are faster" line was B.S., and the graph at the same 'comfort level' is a straight line!
 

kmarkn

Active Member
Location
Warwickshire
The experienced guy from my local bike shop told me this week that narrow highly inflated tyres are faster on perfect surfaces, but on the average road a wider, less inflated tyre will be quicker. Makes sense and certainly I have found it to be true in practice?
 
The experienced guy from my local bike shop told me this week that narrow highly inflated tyres are faster on perfect surfaces, but on the average road a wider, less inflated tyre will be quicker. Makes sense and certainly I have found it to be true in practice?
If that guy could let us know the location of these perfect surfaces it might be fun to try them.

There's a new stretch of the M4 near Reading I drove on today that looks pretty smooth, but I won't be riding my bike on there.
 
Is there a 'rule of thumb' for tyre width and pressure?
618790


This is very useful. It's per wheel though - so you have slightly more weight on the rear wheel than the front so slightly higher pressure at the rear.
 

Nebulous

Guru
Location
Aberdeen
I've ended up somewhere close to that chart by chance over the years. Used 23mm tyres at 110 front 120 rear. Moved to 25s at 90 / 100 and now on 28s at 70/80. I check pressure and pump them up more or less every time the bike is out. Moving to 32s with my new bike and may go to 60/70.
 

kmarkn

Active Member
Location
Warwickshire
I'm running my 32's on my Trek Domane at 50/60psi, as it says on the tyre, and they roll well as well as being comfortable. My weight's about 70kg. I was very sceptical I expected them to be soft and slow, but it's definitely not the case.
 
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