Triaxtremec

Looking to get new tires for my hybrid. I myself do more road only riding and looking for a nice 700x23 tire. Any recommendations? Also I was hoping people could post what tires they have used and like and don't like.

10 Wheels

23's might be to narrow.
I like these. I can install them without tools.
Now on sale, I bought 8 of them.
They measured out as 26"s

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...Road+Tire.aspx

EsoxLucius

The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro II is a good tire. The Specialized All Condition Armadillo is tough as nails but a little heavy.

MRT2

I have been using Panaracer Urban Max 700 x 32 on my hybrid. I can't imagine going as narrow as 23 on my hybrid.

Terrierman

Continental Ultra Gatorskins would be my recommendation. Tough but still with a decent ride quality. I have 700 x 28's on my Coda.

khutch

Currently I am riding on 32 mm Hutchinson Acrobats. I think the 32 mm tires and the Acrobats are a little nicer to have than the 28 mm Vittoria Zaffiro's that came on the bike. The choice of Hutchinson was really driven by the chance to have my last name emblazoned on my tires however. I think that Hutchinson makes some very good road/MTB/cyclocross tires but their urban/trekking tires are a little lackluster, in my opinion. I'm in the process of getting new wheels with wider rims because I'd like to try 38 mm tires. Vittoria makes a couple of touring models with high efficiency 127 tpi casings and their puncture resistance systems, the Randonneur Pro and Randonneur Hyper. So I am thinking about switching to those when the new wheels get in. The Hutchinson Urban Tour is another possibility. It has their puncture resistance system but it has a 33 tpi casing, I believe. I don't really know how much difference the casing thread count makes but tires are cheap enough that I might give the premium tires a try and I lean towards Vittoria because the Zaffiro's worked well, they were just narrower than I wanted.

If you are truly road riding pretty much exclusively then 23 mm tires are fine. There are tons of excellent 23 mm tires out there and if you want to hedge your bet slightly you could go with 25's since many of the better models are available in that width too. Once you get to 28 mm and above your selection of high efficiency tires constricts severely and the really high tpi casings are not offered above 25 mm. As I say, Hutchinson has a good reputation in road tires as do Vittoria and Continental. Schwalbe has an excellent reputation in tires in general. I have them on my folder and I think of them as a balloon tire maker but I presume they make road tires too. If you want road tires you should search the road bike section of the forum. I have to believe that this has been discussed so often there that you would be shot for asking it there again but you can probably find lots of good suggestions there by searching.

Ken

xoxoxoxoLive

Half road and half off road, I use 38 Kendra's and they only caliper out at 34c. Work
fine for the road, but I'm'not a very fast rider, and seem a little small for the off roding
I do, but there pretty rough trails.. Richard

Wanderer

I think you would like everything about Schwalbe Marathon Supremes, or Dureems, in 700X32.

A comfy ride, and fast too.

meanwhile

23mm tyres will probably make you slower than premium fast 32s. Even pros switch to 28mm tyres as a more efficient choice for Roubaix events. 23mm tyres are an optimum choice for an athlete riding a manicured road free of traffic; don't assume that they are optimum for your own circumstances.

waynesworld

How long have you used these? How is the flat resistance? I would love to get a set for my blue 7.3, and they're cheap.

abdon 

Yes, if the road gets choppy enough a 28mm would be the cat's meow, but how on earth can you justify saying that a 23mm will probably make you slower than a premium 32?!

My road bike has 23, my hybrid 25. I am very happy with both. If I went touring, I would probably bump the hybrid to 28.

Ultra gatorskin are outstanding dry weather tire. On wet, they are sub standard.

droobieinop

I agree with the others who say to use wider tires. I think 28s are optimum for most people using hybrids. They are almost too wide for fast road riding, wide enough to potentially go off road, and nearly universally used for touring (translation perfect commuter tire).

These Avocet tires used to be my favorites for 700s and 26s https://www.avocet.com/tirepages/cross_2_specs.html, not sure where to get them now a days.

I do like the serfas seca tires and have been riding them for over a year. I ride the folding tires which have double the thread count of the wire bead. I think the serfas site has a typo on the thread count, it should be 120 tpi. https://www.serfas.com/product_details.asp?ID=829

CardiacKid

Putting on 23s will eliminate all options, You will no longer have a hybrid. You will have a crummy road bike. That said, I would recommend Gatorskins or Specialized Armadillos.

abdon 

I got 25c on my hybrid, and it is still a hybrid; extra space for full fenders, relax geometry, flat bar, mount points for front and rear racks, heavy duty rims to carry my weight plus gear, and geared with a triple crank and wide cassette to tackle big mountains fully loaded.

Exactly how many of those things would disappear if I use 23c tires?

Yes, 28c is a good size for a hybrid. To me and the kind of roads I ride 25c is just as good.

khutch

I can't agree. If he puts 23 mm tires on his present rims he eliminates no options since he can always switch to wider tires again if that seems advisable after he tries the 23's for a while. Putting narrow tires on a flat bar hybrid does not make it a drop bar road bike but to the extent that it does it makes it a road bike in the same price range as the hybrid. Depending on what he paid that could be a "crummy" (although I would say serviceable) road bike or a decent road bike.

Personally I am a fan of wider tires and I am getting a new wheelset for my Fuji with wider rims. It came with 14 mm rims (internal, bead hook to bead hook) which work ok with 32 mm tires though not recommended by the hoary old wisdom of the ancients and I am getting 18 mm rims (again the internal measurement) which are recommended by the ancients for the tire widths I would like to run. However they are Velocity A23 rims and Velocity designed them specifically for 23 mm tires in direct contradiction of the ancients. According to them and HED whose C2 rim is similar the wider rim gives a 23 mm tire an installed profile more like a tubular with a better ride and better aerodynamics. Is there a little marketing hype there? Oh, I am sure there is but I suspect there is also some truth to this and if it makes rim brake, 700c wheelsets in wider widths more popular it is a Good Thing for hybrid owners wanting to upgrade or replace worn out wheels. It also gives you one less reason to feel that running 23 mm tires on your hybrid locks you out of other options because they work fine with wider tires as well.

Ken

CardiacKid

The advantage of a hybrid is that while it is pretty comfortable on the paved road, you can take it on a trail, hop a curb or hit a pothole without fear of a blowout. With 23mm tires on it, I would be afraid to do any of those things. Your ride needs to be confined to good paved roads. Obviously you can change back to wider tires, but not in the middle of a trip. If you are going to be riding exclusively on the road, it really is redundant to say you should get a road bike.

bikecrate

I've used cheap Performance Forté Metro-K Road 700 x 35 tires for several years. Good tires for the money, but only for nice dry pavement. I just got the Continental Contact City/Trekking 700 x 32 Tire. They seem good so far. They have much more tread detail so I'm hoping they do better in dirt and rain.

khutch

Yeah, ask this question on the road bike forum or do a search there. Clearly the people here do not believe that you only ride on roads or that your roads are smooth enough to make 23 mm tires an advantage! I see people riding the same trails I do on road bikes with 23 mm tires and they do just fine. They can't keep up with me on the limestone sections but they can traverse them and if that is something you do only occasionally then there is no reason you cannot put 23's on your hybrid. You won't be committing sacrilege....

Ken

Triaxtremec

Jeez I say I want to put 23mm tires on my bike and I'm like the hybrid Anti Christ

khutch

Exactly!, that is why I suggested that you try the road bike forum. People over there will just naturally accept that someone would want 23 mm tires and they will have a lot of experience with them and good advice about them. I can easily accept that someone might want 23's on their hybrid, I just don't have any experience with them. Of course you can't admit that you are a hybrid rider there because over there all hybrid riders are the Anti Christ....

On the other hand, I wonder how much the average professional bike racer weighs? Yeah, they all run 23 mm tires or smaller but aren't they typically 165 pounds or smaller? What does the average hybrid rider weigh? How much do you weigh? It would be nice to know what the manufacturers or someone who has done a scientific study of rolling resistance versus width versus tire load has to say about the recommended widths for various tire loads. I think some of them may have suggested tire widths for various loads and it is probably based partially on this. I think it is likely, possible at least, that riders who are heavier than 150 pounds will get lower resistance from 25, 28, 32, ... mm tires depending on their weight. A lot of tire resistance comes from sidewall flex and a 220 pound rider + bike might get less sidewall flex from a 90 psi, 28 mm tire than from a 120 psi, 23 mm tire. If that were true it would certainly explain why some insist that wide tires have less resistance while others insist that narrow tires do. Both opinions could be right if you correct for the weight on the tires.

Ken

qmsdc15

I got 700x28 Continental Ultra Gatorskins because that was the biggest size available from the vendor I used. They are good on flat protection. Continental is a very respected tire maker, but from what I read here, Schwalbe is the best, so maybe try those. The Contis in 28 are pretty narrow for their nominal spec. I doubt you'd want thinner, unless you are the antichrist.

qmsdc15

Your thread asks what tires we choose, so don't get angry when we answer.

Triaxtremec

I know I asked what everyone else uses because that's what I was curious about. I'm not mad I find it rather funny to be shunned for running a smaller tire than most people prefer. Either or I'm just hear to learn and enjoy riding.