Originally Posted by
Phamilton
I am already leaning toward wider tires. I have 25s on the Raleigh now, and that's the narrowest I've ever used. At my 180 lbs, I keep them aired up to 110 rear and 90 front. I don't like them at all. I thought they'd make me faster, but in practice, they are just "buzzy" (if that makes sense) and I think they actually slow me down on rough pavement, as they don't seem to stay connected to the road, it's almost like they bounce, even just a mm or so, but I still seem to lose traction on the rough stuff.
Then you should definitely switch ASAP to the widest high quality tire that will fit. The Conti’s that [MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION] suggests are certainly a great commuter tire, and I’m (obviously) a big Compass fan with no “frequent flats” problems. No loss to spend now for better tires if you do switch bikes, since you could sell the Marathon with the old ones and keep the good ones for the “new” bike. If it was me, room for wide tires would be very high in the selection criteria for a new bike. Wider rims will make any tire wider and usable with lower pressure without encroaching on radial clearance.
I weigh 175-ish, and use 75/85 psi in the Compass 28’s, 65/75 in the 32’s, and only 50/55 in the 38’s on my 650B conversion. Can’t believe that I used to run 120 f/r back in those 23mm wide (marked 25) tires on that Klein!
BTW, that Cannondale that [MENTION=305894]oddjob2[/MENTION] linked is quite similar to the Klein I mentioned earlier.