New tire rolling resistance test - 23mm, 25mm, 28mm & 32mm GP5000 tires

[saab2000]

Take my above comments with a grain of salt.

I've loved my 23mm tires on wide (20mm interior width) rims for several years and may start going to 25mm due to my seemingly ever expanding waistline and the fact that the roads are crappy where I live.

I do run lower pressure and have found it to be nice, with no apparent loss of speed. Just increased comfort.

The reason I mention the lower pressure and people saying it decreases rolling resistance is that supposedly a rock hard tire will deform less over the texture of the road surface. Lower pressure will allow the tire to deform more and actually provide lower rolling resistance overall. I don't know the science.

But I run my 23s at about 80 PSI and 25s a bit lower and they ride very nicely. In fact, I've found a cotton clincher on wide rims like I use now to be close enough to the ride of a quality tubular that my tubular usage has gone down dramatically in the past few years.

I'm speaking here only about paved roads and road tires. Tires and pressures for unpaved roads are a whole 'nuther ball of wax.