My refinement of tire sizes, and these are generalizations-

700x28 sufficient for light touring loads or supported touring, on road travel. dirt is doable, but not planned for.

700x35 for trad touring loads, racks and panniers, and some mixed surface touring.

700x50 for tours involving a substantial portion of off road and dirt road miles.


i'll be exploring three different tire and bike setups this summer. I just can't get over the numbers.

28mm 'wide' road bike tire = 1,277 cc
35mm 'standard' touring tire = 1,995 cc
50mm 29er touring tire = 4,071 cc