Originally Posted by
Jim Kukula
I ride with Schwalbe Marathon Supremes, 2 inch wide, and like them a lot. Durable, smooth, good grip.
The wider the tire, the lower you want the pressure. Here is a table I came up with for pressure - weight on a single wheel across the top, tire width in mm down the side, pressure at the corresponding row/column intersection:
Nice work on the chart, but it doesn't take handling, rim width, max tire pressure, or max rim pressure for a particular tire width into consideration. For example, I weigh 152-162 depending on season and ride 23c at 110-140 lbs. on my road bikes depending on road and bike. 90 lbs. doesn't corner very well on 19mm rims, though it might be fine on 22mm rims, and is slower on smooth roads. On our tandem for sport use we ride 25c at 120 lbs. and 170# per wheel weight, and for touring use 28c at 120 lbs. and a 210# wheel weight in the rear. Works great, never a pinch flat, corners well, no rim problems, and is at max tire pressure for the tires we use. So charts really aren't that much good. Sorry. Go by sidewall pressure and feel. In general, max sidewall pressure for a particular tire width will coincide with max rim pressure for that width, which actually is not a coincidence.
My wife rides an MTB frame and wheelset on the road with Ritchie Tom Slick 26 X 1" tires at 100 lbs. They work great on the road and trainer both. Obviously she doesn't run up on curbs with these, though bunny hopping is fine. You want big fat tires for curbs to absorb the shock, though they are contraindicated for normal road riding.