Originally Posted by
WillJL
Would you say that its a choice you've made due to fork/chainstay/seatstay size restrictions, or one based on performance? How would you compare the feel/ride quality/frequency of flats with a heavy load on 25mm vs., say, 32mm or 35mm tires on the same frame?.
In my case, I purchased a sport-touring bicycle with the intent of doing ultradistance cycling (randonneuring, 24-hour races, etc.) AND touring. And that's exactly what I did.
In 2003, I cycled in England and then France on the way to the Paris-Brest-Paris, rode the Paris-Brest-Paris, and then did a cycling tour in England and Wales for about 10 days after. In 2004, I spent 3 months cycling around Australia on a tour ... I rode 3800 km on the touring portion of those 3 months. Toward the end of the first month, I rode a 1200 km randonnee - the Great Southern Randonnee. All up, I cycled 5000 km during those 3 months. In 2005, Rowan and I did a cycling tour into the Canadian Rockies, then caught a plane to Iowa where we rode a 24-hour race, then rented a car and drove across to Colorado where we rode the Last Chance 1200 km Randonnee. In 2007 we spent a month cycling around France, Belgium, a little bit of England and a dip into Germany. In addition to the tour we started the Paris-Brest-Paris with the intent of finishing it, of course, but ended up DNFing at about 400 km.
When I tour, the tour is often surrounding a long distance event. I want the bicycle to be light enough, with efficient enough tires to be able to be reasonably brisk on the long distance event, and strong enough to haul gear for the touring part.
I found my sport touring bicycle fit the bill nicely. As it happened, I could have put 28 tires on that bicycle, but opted to go with 25s most of the time. I've never ridden with wider tires on a road bicycle, and in fact, on the Australian tour, in the middle of the Great Southern Randonnee, I flatted for a second time and switched to a 23 folding tire ... which I finished the event on, rode for the remaining 2 months of the tour on, and rode on during the winter in Canada, when I returned to Canada after the tour. As spring approached, I removed that tire so I could carry it with me on my long rides as a spare and returned to 25 tires.
As for the load I carried, all up it (bicycle + gear) usually weighed in between 65 and 70 lbs.