Originally Posted by
Kapusta
Mostly because you can run your pressure lower.
That’s only part of the story...and not the most important part. Wider tires have a large contact patch which means stability. Wider tires float over road irregularities while narrow tires either bounce off them (rocks) or knife into them (sand and soft spots).
Originally Posted by
Symox
Lifting my butt off the seat felt much more unstable to me. I felt like my shoes were "floating" on the clipless pedals and I felt like I had less control. I must be doing something wrong.
The “lift” shouldn’t be very much. You don’t need to stand over the bike but only need to unload the saddle. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that your feet should be parallel to the ground you are riding over. If the road is flat and straight, the pedals should be even and horizontal. If the road is going down adjust so that your feet follow the terrain as you coast. Your knees should be flexed and taking the impact rather then the bike. Think of your legs as your shock absorbers. Your arms should be relaxed too. They are secondary shock absorbers.
When you get to a corner, put the inside pedal up and push hard on the outside pedal. This loads the tires on the outside edge and pulls you around the corner. Use brakes sparingly in corners but don’t avoid using them if you must. Part of the reason people tell you not to brake in corners is because the tire’s footprint is smaller and thus the friction is less. The bike will slide out to the side more quickly and is harder to recover from.
Body lean on corners is something else you need to think about. Bicycles have a high center of gravity. It’s located in your hips or a bit higher. You can’t lean into a corner like you would on a motorcycle because the wheels would slip out from under you. You want to lean over but you won’t be able to lean like a motorcycle racer. You have to lean the bike but lean “you” less.
The way to think of it is that your bike isn’t the heaviest part of the system. You don’t really have to manage it’s momentum.
You are the heaviest part of the bike and you have to manage your body’s momentum. If let your bike bounce around under you, your body will just keep going in the same direction it was going before...Newton’s Laws of Motion and all that.
Originally Posted by
Symox
Just checked and I am using 700x23 Michelin Lithion 2 tires. I'm gonna try the 28s. Any recommendations? Gatorskins?
I really doubt that you’ll be able to use 28mm tires on that bike. The tire probably won’t clear the fork. I hate to say this but you have the wrong tool for the job. There is no way that you can make this bike into a “gravel” bike. You
can ride it on gravel but, as you are finding, it’s a struggle.