Recumbent - Tire width. Prolly a noob question.

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Sensei
08-24-05, 09:14 AM
I bought a Burley Taiko a few weeks ago and love it. It came with fairly wide tires, and I notice that other bikes made for speed some with narrow tires.

Other than the reduced drag, what other effects on the ride am I likely to experience if I go with a more narrow rim/tire?

Also, being that I'm a heavy rider, around 250lbs, am I better sticking with the current wide tires until I hit a more reasonable weight?

TIA.

sch
08-24-05, 10:18 AM
Tires come in 20-28, 35 and 45mm +/- widths. I would stick with what you have (unspecified). For a bike tire any weight above #180 is heavy especially on a bent where you can't lift your weight off the seat in anticipation of a bump/hole. Also pump the rear tire up to the max or a bit above pressure at your weight. The front tire is less heavily loaded and might be thinned down a bit.
Steve
steveknight
08-24-05, 11:03 AM
the smaller the tire the harsher the ride. though you may go faster or may not depending. going from the defaut tire to a 1.5" armaddillo gave about 2mph coasting down my test hill. thats at 120psi. going from about 65pis from to a 1 3/8" tire at 120 psi gave another 1mph. going from the 1.5 in back to a 1" not a real 1" but smaller gave me nothing. going from the 1 3/8" to a 1 1/8" gave me nothing. bot of these last just gave a harsher ride.