Bicycle Mechanics - Stand over height and tire size...

I love my fakey for the smooth ride it gives, which seems to rely a lot on the 700x38c tires on it, it fits me like a glove at the moment but I was thinking of trying out 23's on it to see how much faster the performance is, is this gonna make a big difference on the standover height? Also do I need to worry about BB clearance on turns? Just a few idle thoughts..

Try 700 X 28's you will like them.

It'll give you more standover height, and BB/pedal height isn't a big deal on a freewheel bike.

+1 on trying 700x28 before going to 23's.

- Scott

It'll give you more standover height, and BB/pedal height isn't a big deal on a freewheel bike.

+1 on trying 700x28 before going to 23's.

- Scott
Errmm I dunno if this affects the first part of your answer or not, but the fakey is a coaster brake setup, so I may be able to coast, but can't back pedal if needed...

Doesn't seem like changing standover by 0.75 cm would be a big problem (assuming the tire diameter change is like a cylinder and you're losing one radius of height which it's probably not) as you're not changing any of the fit characteristics (pedal to seat and seat to bar measurements won't change). Don't know if pedal strike during turning will be an issue. Again, it's probably less than 1 cm change, but that all depends on the bike and how you ride it, I'd imagine.

if the bike is using 38mm tires to start with, you should double check if the rims can fit 23mm at all.

The handling is not effected by the tire size directly, but it's more of a combination of rim width, tire sidewall squareness and how supple the rubber is.
The more square the tire sidewall is, the less lateral roll and sponginess you'll feel in corners, and this is affected by rim width in comparison to tire width.
23mm tires come in a plethora of qualities, but suppleness is the key to how good it feels to ride. This is something a lot of fatter tires lack, but they do exist. An example being panaracer pasela.

Errmm I dunno if this affects the first part of your answer or not, but the fakey is a coaster brake setup, so I may be able to coast, but can't back pedal if needed...

Ah, I thought it referred to any bike with a SS freewheel. My bad.

By my math, you'd lose about 0.6" of height from going all the way to 23mm tires. Probably won't have a problem unless you really like to bank over in turns.

Ah, I thought it referred to any bike with a SS freewheel. My bad.

By my math, you'd lose about 0.6" of height from going all the way to 23mm tires. Probably won't have a problem unless you really like to bank over in turns.

Shoot! This is how I turn....
http://www.thorusa.com/images/dahon/accessories/tiretest.jpg
Seriously though, thanks guys! Seems I was just overcomplicating it.

AEO Thank you for that, but I put these tires on these wheels myself and I think they're the upper limit for them.. then again I think 23 is the lower limit for them or I'd be trying 20!

Shoot! This is how I turn....
http://www.thorusa.com/images/dahon/accessories/tiretest.jpg

:roflmao2:

Oh and to clarify, I have no idea what fakey means in the cycling world really. I do however know it's my nickname for my bike ;)