Tire size vs riders weight

[boywander]

Am I the only one on this forum who like skinny 23mm tires? Are there anyone who is currently using 23s and don’t plan to go bigger? I also am a tan side wall fan a well. Call me odd but I still using 21mm sew ups. I have ridden on gravel roads some off-road and don’t think much of it. I mean it makes sense if the rider weight is heavier then a bigger tire is better suited. I shake my head when I see a skinny person 120lbs riding 25s or even 28s pumped up to 100psi or more.

Anyway I’m just throwing up a discussion about what is the common sense on tire size vs riders’s weighs.

[Allcarbon]

Made the switch a couple of years ago from 23s and 100+ PSI, to 25s with 85 in the rear/80 front. I see no reason why I'd ever go back to 23s as a skinny person. Felt like I was riding on basketballs.

[mass_biker]

Caveat - all rim brakes here.

1) Ran 20c and then 23c for years and years. Albeit on narrower rims
2) Got a bike with more clearance
3) Began riding 28c tires on the road - felt way too slow and sluggish
4) Moved back to 25c tires on my HED (Belgium+) rims - felt very comfortable but still slow and sluggish
5) Now generally back on 23c tires on my wider rims and love it*

The only materially "wider" tires I'm running are Panaracer gravelking smooth 32c on my winter wheels (stock DT Swiss) - which have also been great in the rough stuff/gravel and also manage to fit on that bike (#2 above) with more clearance. Again, rim brakes for all.

FWIW - I am ~ 140lb or so - and running my 23c tires on the wider rims in the 75-80psi range. These feel great - snappy, light enough - and definitely more comfortable than when I used to ride the very same tire on the narrower rims.

* also running 26c Panaracer gravelking "smooth" on one wheel set - these have tan sidewalls to boot - and have been super...

[nobuseri]

I ride 23mm, mostly, on wide wheels. Tires fill out very nice; no issues here. Haven’t really ventured above 25mm on my road bikes.

[old_fat_and_slow]

I ride 23's on rear and 20's on front. Granted I ride on pretty good road surfaces. None of that chip seal crap. I am quite bummed that I can't find 700x 20's any more. I plan to ride 23's as long as I can find them. I don't even like the looks of 23's compared to 20's.

Man since when did everyone,s rumpouses get so sensitive? When I first started riding. Eveyone was riding 700 x 20's pumped up to 150psi. (gottah minimize road resistance yah know.) I backed off the pressure some, but 700 x 20's ride fine to me.

[Dave]

At 135-140, I'm using 25mm on 17mm internal width zondas. I use 80-85 front and 90 rear. Seems comfortable enough for me.

[vincenz]

Amen, brother. I run 23mm on all my bikes. I only use 25mm on carbon or alu bikes because they don’t have as refined a ride as metal frames to me. The ride quality gap is narrowed a bit more with the slight increase in width in those use cases. 28mm and up are dead in the water for road riding for me. They handle like lazy hogs and weigh like them too.

[boywander]

Originally Posted by old_fat_and_slow

I ride 23's on rear and 20's on front. Granted I ride on pretty good road surfaces. None of that chip seal crap. I am quite bummed that I can't find 700x 20's any more. I plan to ride 23's as long as I can find them. I don't even like the looks of 23's compared to 20's.

Man since when did everyone,s rumpouses get so sensitive? When I first started riding. Eveyone was riding 700 x 20's pumped up to 150psi. (gottah minimize road resistance yah know.) I backed off the pressure some, but 700 x 20's ride fine to me.

It is nearly impossible to find anything smaller than 23mm clinchers.

I remembered riding 18s and 19mm @120psi.. lol

[clyde the point]

240 and when Ritchey introduced the tom slick in '90 or so in 28 I made the switch then. 90 front 95 rear, though I used to do 100 each. Makes my wheels last longer and I've always ridden anywhere I can reasonably navigate.

[Peter P.]

I weight 130-135. When I rode 23's I would avoid pinch flats for a long time if I pumped my tires up to 100psi. I did it like this for decades.

When I started to experiment with lower tire pressures and reached a psi. where I could finally feel the tire providing some bump absorption, I started to get pinch flats.

I've now switched to 25's, remain at the lower tire pressure I found with the 23's, and pinch flatting is reduced.

So yeah; I could ride 23's if I pumped them up to 100psi. but I've discovered a slightly wider tire at lower pressure rides better for me while reducing the instance of pinch flats.

Shoot; I used to ride Michelin HD Comps which were 20mm wide and even at 100psi. pinch flatting was a regular occurrence. I quickly figured out these tires were too skinny. Maybe good for a TT, but not for road riding.

[boywander]

Originally Posted by Dave

At 135-140, I'm using 25mm on 17mm internal width zondas. I use 80-85 front and 90 rear. Seems comfortable enough for me.

Interesting data point since I’m about the same weight and on 23s front 70-75 rear 75-80 narrow width rims 14-15mm inside.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by old_fat_and_slow

...When I first started riding. Everyone was riding 700 x 20's pumped up to 150psi. ...

+1

When I moved to 23's I thought they were plush! At 175+ (back then) I would still "snake bite" flat quite a bit on the 20's....not a problem at all with 23's.

All of a sudden, everyone is on 25+'s....what did I miss??

[pasadena]

I ride 23's, 24's and 25's
The 23's are fastest. 24's (Specialized SW Turbo - odd size) felt fast as well.

I put about 85psi in my tires, and just squeeze-check daily. I'm down to 50-55 sometimes before I put more air in them.

I do notice 25's are a decent compromise on rough roads.

[Wattvagen]

Originally Posted by pasadena

I ride 23's, 24's and 25's
The 23's are fastest. 24's (Specialized SW Turbo - odd size) felt fast as well.

I put about 85psi in my tires, and just squeeze-check daily. I'm down to 50-55 sometimes before I put more air in them.

I do notice 25's are a decent compromise on rough roads.

yes, this describes me too. i dont fuss about with tire pressure too much. pump them up high and let the pressure drift.

really, there is so much variation in tire size, even for a given label, i can hardly tell a difference between my 23c tires and 25c sometimes, especially if you add rim width into the mix.

i would never run 28c on the road. they feel too heavy and sluggish to me.

125ish pounds here.

[ultraman6970]

I put the same air pretty much to every thing, close to 100 in the back and like 85/90 in the front, no matter wide or narrow.

Talking about narrow, have some NIB dugast silk road 20 mm tubbies moving around

Same with narrow NOS clincher rims aswell anodized and aero... cant remember the brand, think wolber. Which doubt will have any problem to fit all the way to 25s anyways.

Right now since im always in a budget to get tubulars if i can get 23s i go for those but lately 25 is like what is all over the place but always have a set of wheels glued with 27s in case there's a century, not because are arguably more comfortable but because are thicker and harder to puncture.