How W I D E are you?

[MarinRider]

I am still riding a 25 because that is the max for a Pegoretti steel fork and record brake. It's sublime.

[fa63]

Just bought some 700x38c Panaracer Gravelking slicks, and mounted them on tonight. Curious to go for a ride tomorrow morning and find out how they feel on the road (I use 25c front / 28c rear on my normal road bike).

[Gummee]

I usually run 32c GP4Seasons on my 'road' CX bike. 60ish PSI feels great

Then I stuck some 25c tires on that same wheelset and felt like I was flying.

Dunno if it was perception or I really was going faster, but hey! it felt good.

I just got to thinking tho... What's old is new again. 27 x 1 1/4" is what? About 32c

M

[simonov]

Originally Posted by Gummee

I usually run 32c GP4Seasons on my 'road' CX bike. 60ish PSI feels great

Then I stuck some 25c tires on that same wheelset and felt like I was flying.

Dunno if it was perception or I really was going faster, but hey! it felt good.

I just got to thinking tho... What's old is new again. 27 x 1 1/4" is what? About 32c

M

What tires were the 25s? GP4Seasons are a pretty solid all around tire with a nod to durability, but most any "race" tire will feel like free speed by comparison.

[dogrange]

I have a Dogma F8 with 25mm tubulars and an Open UP with 650x48 Rene here’s xtralight. I have ridden both on my fastest local group ride. The Open is almost as easy to ride as fast at my limit as the dogma and is way more compliant in the bumps. I am not even convinced that the dogma has the edge because of the lighter tires.


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[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Agree, for 700c..

What's your experience been with 650b on your disc rig? Or is that a different animal entirely?

I don't own a 650 bike - both of mine are 700c.

dave

[weisan]

For road application, between 27-29 is the sweet spot for me. Pairing Vittoria CG Pave 27 with a wide rim like Pacenti SL23 gets me there. I am sticking to this winning formula, just got a fresh supply of Paves, will last me a while.

For gravel, it depends on what my goal is.

To stay agile, I will go 35.

To just ride with complete abandonment, not even watching where I am going - I will do 650bx47.

[ultraman6970]

If this thread had to answer the question how L O N G are we, we could expect one of two things...

1 - the thread could have like 20 pages already of funny stuff

2 - or maybe just 1 page because nobody wants to answer the truth

[skiezo]

I have 3 road bikes and one is on 25 clinchers and the other 2 are on 25f/27r tubies. My roads are not that bad and these do me just swell. On my Ti Desalvo I do have a wheelset that has some 23 on old DT Mon Chasseral wheels and they are just fine on my roads as well.
But my road bike are limited to tire size. I am in the process of building a steel bike with clearance for 30 or 32 so will give them a try in a few weeks.

[oldpotatoe]

25mm on my Merckx and 27mm on my Moots. Both at 85psi....works well for any place I ride. I tried 28mm once on the Moots(have room) and the ride was horrible. I think there is something about this ‘fatter is better’ trend but I think it’s coupled with the whole GRoad gig. I think some just assume ya gotta have a fat tire for their rides, even if sometimes they really don’t. Meaning they do their thing with those 38mm and assume that’s what it’s supposed to be without trying something smaller, thinner and discovering those work too.
YMMV and all that.

[JAGI410]

Originally Posted by livingminimal

I dont really care about going fast, so 38mm are pretty nice/fun/sufficient/cool/whatever on the road.

Same here. I really like my Compass 38s. They roll plenty fast for my needs and I appreciate the extra cushion. I swap between these and Rock n Roads on the same bike, so the difference in performance between the two might influence my choice a bit.

[fa63]

I just came back from a short ride with my new 38c Gravelking slicks. Some impressions:

- They seemed to roll well at 45 psi front / 55 psi rear; didn't really feel like they were slowing me down on the flats or going uphill.
- They didn't feel soft or squirmy.
- The handling was different for sure; wheel flop was more pronounced. If you are constantly switching between bikes with small tires vs. larger ones, I can see how this could be annoying. Otherwise, I imagine it will be fine once you are adjusted to the new handling characteristics.
- They were super comfortable (expected).
- They look pretty cool

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

I don't own a 650 bike - both of mine are 700c.



dave

Sorry, thought you had 650b on your fillet Onesto graveler.. Now I see it's wider 700c on there.

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[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

If this thread had to answer the question how L O N G are we, we could expect one of two things...

1 - the thread could have like 20 pages already of funny stuff

2 - or maybe just 1 page because nobody wants to answer the truth

Haha. The thought had occurred to me.

[dddd]

I rode for some years on Miyata touring bikes having 1-1/4" tires that measured all of 30mm wide on a good day.
I ran about 60psi and rode even the rockiest fire roads up and over Mt Tam on many occasions, as well as hundreds of trips through the MTB trails of the Auburn State Recreation area.
All this before "Gravel" was a word in bicycle vocabulary.

On the road, I probably would have preferred narrower 1-1/8" tires, and off road I would have liked 38mm tires, but overall I thought that the actual 30mm tires were great year round.

My climbing traction with ~45cm chainstays was aided by the weight of a rack and rack trunk. The steep climbing became challenging with each change of the season from wet to bone-dry.
I don't recall ever pinch-flatting other than when I found evidence that a thorn puncture had first caused a slow, imperceptible loss of pressure (though I did gore a couple of rear tires).

I've had a few of these and other brand's (Nishiki, Univega, Novara) similar inexpensive touring bikes, and each provided great skills/fitness training platforms for each year's CX season by reducing my need to dismount in technical sections during races. I broke a few freewheel axles, but the bikes held up perfectly other than that. I try to retire any inexpensive touring bike after 2-3 years of such use (donated a couple to Trips4Kids).