My Pops has an older Trek 730 with 700 x 38 tires. He wants to know if he can get wider tires for it. He says the "skinny" ones are kinda squirrelly for him. He almost got himself a MTB cause he thought the tires would be better for him....luckily, I talked him outta that one.

I live 500 miles away...so I can't see the bike(and getting him to send digital pics would be a nightmare)...but does anyone know if wider tires are possible?

His riding is strictly limited to paved bike paths and his neighborhood streets. If new tires aren't an option for this bike...is there a recommendation for a bike suitable for his needs?

Thanks.....

700 x 38 is almost as wide as you can squeeze into a normal frame. I have a semi-custom Bruce Gordon BLT and its' limit is a 700 x 43 tire; after the fenders are removed. Are his tires fully inflated? When my Armadillo tires x 38 feel "squirrly" it tells me the tire pressure is way too low.

I will make sure he's properly inflating the tires.....I'd be willing to bet that his pump has no gauge...and he's guessing at it.

Thanks....

He thinks 700x38 is skinny? I have 700x32 on my commuter bike and I think they're too fat (wide).
Maybe he should get a trike.

I would be guessing tires pressure is low, or possibly it is just the 700c whell that is doing it. I work in a bike shop and often find that people are less stable on a hybrid (700c) than on a comfort bike (26")

700x38 is very wide. That is what I have and I am going to replace them with 700x28 as soon as I can.

The wheels might not be true, or, like many have said, they might be underinflated.

Riding position may also be a culprit, or stem adjustment. My stem loosened up once and became slightly off-center, and that changed the entire feel of the bike until I corrected it.

"Kinda squirrely" sounds like low tire pressure or a tire that is too wide (and thus allows more movement).

When I was a kid, we always pumped our tires up and gave them the "feel" test. This assumes you're inflating to 40-50 psi or so. If that tire's supposed to be inflated to 80 or 100, he may still be inflating them to 40 psi.

I would like to see tires the width of a quarter. That would be some fast tire.

it was indeed low pressure. He was going by feel and not using the gauge. Wasn't even close to what it should have been....

i don't know much about this guys, what are hybrid tires? are they expensive than the regular tires... what the difference and does it affect ride performance also?

For some, a 38mm tire is thin. The typical comfort, mountain, and cruiser bike comes with thicker tires than that. I would hazard that perhaps as many as 80% of the bikes sold in the USA have tires that wide or wider. After all, road bikes make up about 2%-3% of the total bicycle sales.

I suspect a Trek 730 would take a bit wider of a tire. Maybe a 700x42 or even a 700x45. You would need to ask him how much clearance there is within the fork around the present tires. A number of present hybrids come with 700x42 tires.

"what are hybrid tires?" = tires for a hybrid bicycle

Yes, tires for hybrid bikes. They typically are a mid-sized tire, lying between the thin road bike tires and wide mountain bike tires. Usually have an all-purpose tread design, smoother than a mountain bike tire tread and more tread than a road bike tire.

A 700c hybrid tire is usually 35mm to 45mm in width, although some are 32mm.