Originally Posted by Moe£

Yesterday I was out riding with my brother. We rode about 50 miles on asphalt roads, pretty decent surface. Islands with a lot of smaller hills, not to steep.

He has a '03 Dahon Helios P8 with 20" wheels. I have a '04 Dahon Presto Lite with 16" wheels. His bike is pretty much in its original state, except bar ends. Mine has fatter tyres, larger chainwheel and spd pedals among other things.

Anyway, about actual rolling resistance, We noticed no real difference. I could stay in his backdraft downhill and he could stay in mine. We are about equally strong riders and took turns in front all day. He has 8 speeds, mine has 3 speeds in internal hub. Didn't make any practical difference for average speed, although I generally keep a higher cadence than he does.

So in my experience, the riding surface has to be worse than normal asphalt roads for the 20" wheels to be an advantage over 16". My 16" Schwalbe Big Apples are probably more comforfable than his skinnier original 20" wheels.

My 50 öre, £Moe, Sweden