Originally Posted by RaleighSport

Anecdotal evidence: My girlfriends christmas present from me was a flatbar road bike with 700c wheels and 23 tires at 100psi, previously my girlfriend had been riding an ATB with 26" wheels 1.5 semi slicks at 60psi.. no questioning etc was needed, she simply came back after this first commute day and flat out told me "The wheels are so much harder, you feel every little bump even little tiny rocks" I think that's a pretty good indicator that there are huge differences between wheelsets in the real world.