pieholden

i had to throw a 700x28 on back when I usually ride 700x23 F/R. So I was riding 700x23F/28R and I thought this might be a better setup since all the weight is in back and it would soften the ride a bit more. Thoughts/experiences?

tarwheel 

I've done this quite often on my road bikes. I generally use Michelin tires, and will often put a 700x25 in the rear and 23 in the front. Michelins run wide, so their 25 is like a 28 in most brands, and their 23 is like a 25. In addition to softening the ride, 25s will wear a lot longer than narrower tires in my experience.

iqaro

For commute I use 26*1.95" AllTerrainasaurus rear and Cheng shin slick 26*1.90" front tire, for trail I use 26*2.14" rear and 26*1.95 front tire...

Regards

CliftonGK1

I roll a 25 rear, 23 front combo on my PDG Series-5. It's nice having some extra damping at the rear tire to keep from feeling all the road chatter.

pieholden

I actually use the opposite for trail 26x2.25-F/26x2.1-R. I've used to have 26x2.4-F/26x2.1 on my rigid singlespeed. that really softened up the hits.

rwp

700x28 on the front and 700x32 on the back works fine for touring. Same tube size is used for both. There's a definate change in the ride. Just a bit softer, as expected. Going from 23 to 28 on the back should work fine. Try it and see.

ItsJustMe

I've seen people say it's a reasonable idea to run a fatter tire up front, where grip is important and rolling resistance not so much, then a thinner, higher pressure tire in the back where you really want to minimize rolling resistance but the grip isn't as important. I think Sheldon Brown said something like this.

Paul L.

He actually has a pretty good write up of the pros and cons of the two different ways and why you would want to do each.

bkrownd

23 front, 25 rear....because the rear has to be a tough top-quality tire, and the front can be pretty much any random cheapo fire sale tire.

MrCjolsen

I think it depends on weight issues.

For me, a 25mm tire on the back needs to be pumped up to what is often beyond the max pressure in order to avoid pinch flats. When I ran 23mm tires on my fixed gear, I got pinch flats all the time. On the front, however, that's seldom the case.

With a 28mm tire on the back, I can have a pressure that is more reasonable. Yet there's no need for such a tire on the front.

devianb

I did for a short while. 700 X 25C was too thin for me on urban streets, especially in the rear so I switched to a 700 X 38C. Riding was slightly different having a slight rake in the front. After some time I thought it looked silly so put on another 700 X 38C.

cogdriven 

I put a 28 on the back of my fixed gear recently, mostly to use it up. I have a pair that came off my wife's Steamroller. It's nice to have a little more gription climbing icy hills and the gap between my tire and seat tube is now less than .125", very aero. 23 is the widest I can fit inside my front brake and pounding is not such an issue for me on the road.

I run a 26x2.35 on the front of my fully rigid mtb to soften the bumps and improve handling and a 2.0 on the back. So there are good reasons to do it either way, depending on what you want.

MMACH 5

Front: 27 x 1 1/8
Rear: 27 x 1 1/4

I would have put a 1 1/8 on the rear, but I couldn't find Armadillos in anything but 1 1/4.

I've been riding this combo for about two years now without a hitch.

Flimflam

I ride and have been riding my roadie with a 28 on the back and 25 on the front. I've nothing to compare it by (edit: on this bike anyway), but I've never felt any weirdness or otherwise from it. No reason why it's mis-sized, it's how the bike came to me and I replaced the back tyre with a same size 28. I'll likely go 25s all round on this bike one day.

rhm

Front: fattest tire I can find!
Rear: formerly the thinnest tire I can find-- replaced with something intermediate for now.

Here's all the details:

My commuter bike, a Downtube Mini, has suspension on the rear wheel but not on the front. Also, the frame geometry is a shade too twitchy for my taste (I like to have the option to ride hands-free). So I put a 16 x 2 Big Apple on the front wheel, the biggest I can find, and a 16 x 1.25 Primo Comet on the rear, smallest I could find; this changed the frame geometry just enough that I could ride hands-free... pretty well. The Comet had some problems, though; I suspected it might have something to do with a rash of broken spokes. So when it wore out I put a Schwalbe Marathon, 16 x 1.5, on the rear. I don't really like that one either, though; almost impossible to seat it properly. One of these days I'll probably put a Comet back on the back.