Originally Posted by
Jasongrace313
I’m a Clydesdale myself at 225 lbs, the ride as it sits is very stiff. My first thought was to set up a wheel set of 700’s with 35mm’s but your thread has opened my mind to 40+
Many things go into how stiff a bike feels, and that's apart from the frame. I only say this as one who has had experienced a pretty good amount of the spectrum. Obviously the first part of how stiff a bike can feel is our expectations of what is stiff or not. Secondly, context, with regard to what bikes we've had or not had. Then comes the tires, the tire pressure, and wheels. But let us not forget the saddle! A crappy fitting or feeling saddle can ruin a perfectly good bike. Or at least dampen its enjoyment (see my Trek 510 with super firm Prologo saddle). Next comes the stem/bar/brake lever setup. Too low where you grab onto the bars and/or brake lever hoods? Uncomfortable due to saddle to brake lever drop. Un-ergonomic front end setup that cranks your wrists out/down/awkwardly? Sure fire way to make a totally fine bike feel like punishment.
Everybody has a different threshold for pain and/or annoyance. I've trial-and-error'ed a lot over the last eight or so years, taught myself a bunch, and concluded with what I want to put up with and what I don't, vanity be damned. One can have 38mm tires that are battleships both in weight and in puncture resistance, yet they weigh a billion pounds, feel horrible over bumps, and roll slowly. Conversely, one can have 30mm tires that are sublime. There is a pretty strong pay-to-play correlation, but ~$50 for the Soma Supple Vitesse EX tires that I really like strike a great balance between weight, durability, looks, performance, and price. Spend more for Rene Herse, or spend less for Panaracer Paselas (which perform plenty decently). Comfort is its own ecosystem, and these two paragraphs are a distillation of a number of years and a ton of experimentation, thought, and realization. I'm not done learning here, but I'm in a real good place I think.