Anyone still using 23 C tyres?

[midliferider]

Tyre width has nothing to do with tyre grip, A 30mm tyre and a 23mm tyre made from the same rubber will have the same grip because the co-efficient of friction is the same.

You say you found them slippery? How did you ascertain that?

Hmm, because I can feel it.
Actually slipped once when braking but road was bit wet.

 

[midliferider]

If they are old tyres they could have lost their grip through hardening of the rubber compound over time , heck i used to ride 18 mm tyres in the past with no issues .Nowdays i ride 25s and 28s .

Oh really, I didn't know that.
Because this bike with 23C tyres has not been used for more than 2 years. i just cleaned and repaired it.
Perhaps I need new tyres

 

[Jenkins]

Both my Van Nicholas Venti have 23s on the front wheel due to clearance issues - but they are Conti GP4000 which come up a bit large. For a while I ran 25mm Michelin Pro Endurance 4 on the one I used as my main commuter which gave similar clearance.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Hmm, because I can feel it.
Actually slipped once when braking but road was bit wet.

So you braked on a wet road and you skidded a bit? Back wheel obviously, because you can't recover from a front wheel skid. A front wheel skid on a bike is precipitous and irrecoverable.

You can't judge a tyre's grip like that. Under the same conditions, al wide or narrow tyre will behave the same in terms of traction.

 

[lazybloke]

I'm set up with 28c on my Allez but would go bigger if there was room in the frame

Can only go up to 25mm on Allez (2008 or 2009), and that's ever so close to rubbing the seat tube. No chance of a mudguard in there!

Have got a more comfortable 32mm on the gravel bike, and still have room for full mudguards.

 

[Jameshow]

So you braked on a wet road and you skidded a bit? Back wheel obviously, because you can't recover from a front wheel skid. A front wheel skid on a bike is precipitous and irrecoverable.

You can't judge a tyre's grip like that. Under the same conditions, al wide or narrow tyre will behave the same in terms of traction.

Really a wider tyre will have more grip than a narrower one. Irrespective of the road conditions...

 

[cyberknight]

Oh really, I didn't know that.
Because this bike with 23C tyres has not been used for more than 2 years. i just cleaned and repaired it.
Perhaps I need new tyres

it depends on the age of the tyres before hand as well, plasticizers in the rubber will decrease over time making the rubber less flexible. Heat and UV also damage rubber over time.
I had tyres that although not worn they were hardly used and they went harder and had micro cracks all over the surface .

 

[fossyant]

Oh really, I didn't know that.
Because this bike with 23C tyres has not been used for more than 2 years. i just cleaned and repaired it.
Perhaps I need new tyres

Depends on how the bike has been stored. Some tyres don't last as well as others and become brittle.

TBH can't really tell the difference in tyre width. The 23/25c bikes are steel and more compliant, the 28c bike is alloy and carbon, the frame is stiffer.

 

[Alex321]

Tyre width has nothing to do with tyre grip, A 30mm tyre and a 23mm tyre made from the same rubber will have the same grip because the co-efficient of friction is the same.

You say you found them slippery? How did you ascertain that?

Same grip per sq cm in contact with the road,yes. But a narrower tyre (particularly if pumped up harder) will have a smaller contact area, so less grip overall.

 

[Alex321]

I don't remember what I had on my (5 speed) bike as a teenager, but since I started cycling again in the '80s, I have never ridden anything less than 28mm. My hybrids were all between 32 and 38, my road bike (bought August 2021) came with 28, and won't take wider with mudguards, or I might have gone wider.

I do notice when I'm out on a club ride, a lot of the others are on narrower tyres. Not sure whether they are as narrow as 23 though.

 

[raleighnut]

I don't remember what I had on my (5 speed) bike as a teenager, but since I started cycling again in the '80s, I have never ridden anything less than 28mm. My hybrids were all between 32 and 38, my road bike (bought August 2021) came with 28, and won't take wider with mudguards, or I might have gone wider.

I do notice when I'm out on a club ride, a lot of the others are on narrower tyres. Not sure whether they are as narrow as 23 though.

1 1/8" are roughly 28mm and that was pretty standard on 27" racing wheels.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I now ride 28s, biggest my bike can handle. Prior to that 25s and for a while I had 23s but junked them because they were puncture prone.

To be honest, never noticed any difference (aside from propensity for punctures).

I don't have a very discerning backside.

 

[palinurus]

Currently no, narrowest are 28s on my Surly Pacer but if I put the mudguards back on 25 is the fattest I can go.
(19s don't seem that long ago, I was using 23s on my TT bike and was accused of being 'a tourist')

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Same grip per sq cm in contact with the road,yes. But a narrower tyre (particularly if pumped up harder) will have a smaller contact area, so less grip overall.

Nope. Grip doesn't work like that. F=MuN where F is the available friction, Mu is the coefficient of friction and N is the downforce. Note that area does not feagture. This is THE most misunderstood fact of traction.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Really a wider tyre will have more grip than a narrower one. Irrespective of the road conditions...

Really no. It doesn't work like that. Have a look at the formula for available friction I posted above.