scottb27

A couple months back I bought a trek 8.4; with full asperations of doing both road and some light off road riding. To this point I have only been on the road; and realize that the tires that come on this bike are not very good for riding on the road. At this point I dont see going off the road any time soon, s should I change my tires to a narrower tire w/ less tread? If so would I need to change the wheels or will a narrower tire fit onto the wheels that came on the bike?

Thanks

corwin1968

I don't know about the tire/wheel size issue but there are charts on line (pretty sure Sheldon Brown has one) but I think you'll be amazed at the difference tires make. I went from 38mm Nimbus Armadillos, which are pretty much slicks but harsh riding due to the extreme puncture resistance, to 32mm Vittoria Randonneur Hypers and it was a night and day difference. It wasn't so much the change in width as it was simply a change in the type of tires. The Vittorias have flat protection as well so that might subtract from their performance. When I get some extra cash I'm going to buy some Gran Bois Cypres tires....supposedly one of the highest performing tires in the 700 x 32 range.

Bill Kapaun

You should be able to go to a 28MM tire without ANY problems.

Can't find enough info on the rim to possibly recommend a smaller tire.

On my Hybrid, my rims are 20MM inside width and the smallest I'd go is 25MM.
I'm currently using 26MM and they work fine.

Shawn Parr

I have a DS 8.3 and just put on Vittoria Randonneur Hypers in 32c size. Really like them, seem much better than the Bontrager H5s that came with it (38c). I could have gone 28c, but have some pretty questionable pavement I ride on and the lower pressure from 32 vs 28 is probably a good thing.

jsdavis

You probably just opened up a can of worms. Going narrower a good thing. Generally reduced rotating mass that makes smaller tires feel faster but there are lightweight fat tires too. If you're going from knobbies to smoothies, then you'll definitely notice a difference regardless of the size. Narrower tires do generally require higher pressures which result in harder ride.

If Big Apples fit, go with those. At least that way it doesn't look so weird with narrow tires on a mountain-bike like hybrid setup.

I ride something similar to the DS but my bike is rigid and I use 700x42 tires. Doesn't quite ride like a Town Car or Crown Vic, more like an Accord or something which is very tolerable. Soaks up bumps and road imperfections but not nearly as well as Big Apples. The bike is quite zippy even with 700x42. Over 1/2 mi, I'm only about 20-30ft behind a Trek 7.5FX with 700x32 when I was racing my friend but there are way more variables than just tires here. On his Trek 1.2 with 700x28, second least expensive road bike from Trek, he smoked me and that gap increases to about 200 ft over the same distance.

khutch

Take the tire off one rim and measure the internal rim width from bead hook to bead hook. Then you can use that width with the various online charts to see what fits. A couple of rim makers have been touting the advantages of 19mm (internal) rims with 23mm tires lately. I've used 25mm tires on a 19mm rim and they worked fine. If you are like me that is about as narrow a tire as your weight would allow you to use anyway and I'd have gone with 28's if I could have found a high efficiency tire that wide. I bought the 25s for my first, and so far only, century and I wanted to stack the deck in favor of my completing it, which I did.

On the other hand I just got back from three days/200 miles of RAGBRAI and I rode that on 38mm Vittoria Randonneur Hypers. They really are a great road tire even though they probably are not quite as efficient as the Michelin Pro Race 3 25mm tires I got for the century ride. I managed to get a slow leak flat from something that got through their puncture resistance but I was not the only one and the Michelins would certainly have fared no better. Now put them on a rough limestone gravel trail, let some air out, and you hardly know you aren't on asphalt. Pretty good all around choice for a hybrid. I'm not sure what I would use the Michelins for any more.

Ken

zerogravity

Honeslty, i think the stock tires, although knobby treads are actually pretty goon on the road. It is quiet and does roll decently for a knobby tire. I would just save your $$ and wait until they are worn out.