Bicycle Mechanics - Wheel/Tire Question

Hey, I am too lazy to find the proper thread, so here goes my question.

I recently bought a Rocky Mountain RC30 for commuting, it's great, but I am trying to make it as efficient as possible within reason.

I talked to a buddy of mine who is a much bigger cycle enthusiast. I was apprehensive about carrying anything with me because I wanted the bike to be light as hell. He said to me, you're top speed isn't all that effected by the weight of the bike. All the light bikes do for you is Get your acceleration up, and make hills easier. He said, "if you want to go faster, focus on the moving parts of the bike, The Wheels, the tires, the pedal mechanisms and so on."

So I started to look around at cheaper ways to enhance the top speed and ease of ride. The Bike comes with ALX200 wheels from "A Class wheels" they seem ok, I've read they are good value, but the spokes tend to break on them. I looked at other options for wheels, and they aren't cheap.

I've considered getting clip pedals and shoes, but that means I'd have to carry another set of shoes to work, or leave a couple pairs there.

But the Cheapest upgrade to enhance the speed of the bike appears to be the tires. The tires I have are Kenda Kwest k 193's. They have a PSI rating of 50 to 85 PSI, and are 700x28c

The ALX200's have an ETRTO rating of 622x14.

I looked at the sheldon brown website and looked at the "safe" tire sizes based on rim width. However, I didn't see a 14 width.

So the question is, what is the "safe" range of tire sizes I can get? and Secondly, Can someone recommend me a tire that would be good for commuting, but not break the bank?

Also, I bought a tube that says 700x23/25 and my "current" tires are 700x28c, if I have to replace the tube is it going to explode into flames?

Thanks!

The "14" is the rim's internal width, not the recommended tire size. There are no 700x14 tires.

You can easily fit 700x23 tires to your wheels. That is the most commonly used road bike size for sport riding, and even competition, and will allow up to 120 psi or even more in some models.

Tubes are pretty tolerant of the tires they work with and a tube marked 23/25 will work fine in a 28 tire. In fact, some riders intentionally buy slightly undersize tubes to ease installation and save a little weight.

Thanks! Thats the exact information I wanted.

I knew that 622x14 was the Internal Rim size. But the graph on Sheldon's Website had Tire size in relation to rim size. If I was reading it correctly. I might be stupid though.