Hybrid or Road Bike?
- Thread starter Coffey
- Start date
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sreten
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Brighton, UK
Hi,
In real life it isn't, its only true in a velodrome. On real roads the optimum tyre pressure for
good rolling depends on the average quality of the surface, and the lower the quality the
faster overall are fatter tyres run at the correct optimum lower pressures.
Its also a myth pumping tyres really hard makes them faster, they might feel fast but in
fact that makes them tiring, your body has to absorb the energy transmitted by hard tyres.
My bikes are fitted with fatter tyres, run at optimum pressures for good rolling and comfort.
Even so when I hit a section of nice smooth tarmac the better rolling is night and day obvious.
My bikes also roll better on wet roads, which is something I didn't really expect to be the case.
What I can't imagine is what other peoples bikes are like on general roads. As a convert
to fatter tyres, they must be putting up with a lot a discomfort they really don't have to.
Your tyres are your bikes suspension and it should be tuned optimally for the conditions.
The more you weigh the fatter the tyres you generally need on typical roads IMO.
I'm average weight, 30mm rear and 32mm front tyres on the road bike, 47mm on the folder.
Optimum pressures are relatively low, about 60psi on the rear of the road bike and about
40 psi on the folder, both fronts lower to match the feel of the rear on bumps and the like.
On 23mm tyres I'd have to run the road bike rear at 100 psi + and TBH
though faster on nice tarmac, IMO a poor choice on normal roads for me.
rgds, sreten.
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RecordAceFromNew
Swinging Member
- Location
- West London
You are quoting me out of context. As you know we were talking about tyres on the OP's Subway with 26" mtb wheels. According to this they are nearly 50mm wide.
Also we were talking about best rolling vs road bike the OP was contemplating switching to, NOT comfort. If the rolling resistance of your 47mm or 32mm tyres is better than narrower tyres on the road generally, can you explain why 27mm is the most common width for Paris Roubaix, and why 25mm typically being the widest for most races on the road? Or why Conti don't make their race tyres like GP/GP4000s wider than 25mm? Or how come the folks at Sky despite having looked for the smallest marginal gains have failed to discover that 30mm+ are faster?
For the avoidance of doubt, I do believe wider, lower pressure tyres are more comfortable on the road, and wide low pressure tyres are generally faster offroad. I run 35mm on my full size folder for pottering around town, and 50mm+ on my mtbs.
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Leodis
Veteran
- Location
- Moortown, Leeds
Road bike for weekends and longer runs, hybrid for city commuting (thats when I get a hybrid again)
sreten
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Brighton, UK
Hi,
Taking you literally is not out of context.
Tyre widths suitable for cycling gods riding exquisite bicycles don't translate to joe
average on his average bike. For your joe below average on a basic bike they make
even less sense. I'm sure I don't have to explain why making a racing tyre in a size
option bigger than the racers use would be general marketing disaster area.
(That it would be practically useful, is effectively a marketing irrelevance.)
If you are a racer and can go really fast the aero effects of tyre width
can overcome rolling issues, and as a racer comfort is much less
of an issue, as they way they ride bikes, hardly sitting on the saddle
or pressing on the bars with the power they are putting out, changes
the dynamics of how tiring a skinny tyre size at high pressure on
bad roads is compared to a much less powerful typical rider.
Meanwhile in the mundane world many MAMIL's ride expensive
bikes not remotely well set up IMO to suit their cycling capabilities.
Good tyres widths for typical cyclists IMO are not racing widths.
rgds, sreten.
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rovers1875
Guru
- Location
- Accrington
I have 4 bikes a Mountain bike, a sports hybrid, an off road hybrid and off road type road bike. The mountain bike is most definitely the slowest. next is the off road hybrid, there is very little difference between the other two as far as speed goes. But each one has different comfort levels and each one has a different characteristic / ride feel. But if I could only keep one it would be the off road hybrid, which is not the fastest or the most comfy, but does give me the greatest all round options. We would all like to have a bike for every circumstance, but at the end of the day if cash is tight, then stick with one that fits the best for most circumstances. And although I have never ridden one the Subway gets very good reviews, so IMHO stick with it enjoy it and save your pennies till you can afford a decent road bike (N+1)
OP
OP
Coffey
New Member
- Location
- North West
Stuck with the Subway. Added some thinner, slicker city jet tyres, bar ends and made a small adjustment to the saddle to give a better riding position. Currently enjoying my time on the road and seem to be reaping the benefits given my times over the distances I cover on a weekly basis (this is maybe however simply down to more time spent in the saddle and better 'cycling legs').
