Originally Posted by
Camilo
When my wife and I began traveling in our travel trailer and covered pickup truck with our cross/gravel rim brake bikes we each had two sets of wheels: one with full-on road tires (23-25mm), and the other with 35-37's. The idea is that in extended trips, we might like to ride "real" road bikes from time to time, but wanted gravel tires too. It was easy to swap wheels, they all had the same cassettes and the rims were close enough to each other in width so as to not require brake adjustment. Easy, right? Well, we did swap a few times, but then just left the fat tired wheels on.
At home I do like riding my skinny tired road bikes a lot. But ride my gravel bike with 35's and even 50's as much, even on pavement.
I recently bought a 2022 Checkpoint SL5 with 40 mm tires. I have a 2018 Domane SL 5 Disc with 32 mm tires. The difference is amazing. While I continue to ride both bikes, it's clear to me that for comfort, there is no comparison. The Checkpoint feels much smoother. It's already becoming my bike of choice for most rides.