Originally Posted by
PeteHski
28 mm is now what the pros race and 30-32 mm for Paris Roubaix. The plus point for us casual riders is that they are more comfortable and have more grip. My Canyon Endurace wheel set is optimised around 30 mm tyres and they are both fast and comfortable. My local roads are a mixed bag and I really appreciate the extra tyre volume. I run them at around 4-4.5 bar, as do the pros. It’s all changed over the past few years.
But to turn your question around, why would a casual rider be obsessed with very narrow, high pressure tyres? I could understand pros tolerating them IF they were even slightly faster, but even the pros are moving to wider, lower pressure tyres. I would have thought it would be a no-brainer for the average rider. It was for me anyway.
Some materials on the internet say that pros ride 25 mm in most cases, but I can’t know where the truth is.
As a non racer, I would say that my recent move from 23 to 28mm tires (same brand / type) and 1 kg heavier bike can be felt as having a negative impact on performance, although the new bike claims some further aero gains such as: optimized fork, aero “D” shape for seat post and tube, carbon aerodynamic handlebar, 1 cm longer reach and (roughly) 1 cm lower handlebars. However, the new bike feels less agile, a little harder to accelerate and marginally slower on steady rides on flat roads. I didn’t try climbing yet, but I doubt it would feel better.
In my case, it is like the obsolete and intuitive principle still applies: skinnier, less spokes and 1kg lighter mean less area exposed to wind, smaller weight to carry and, finally, a little faster ride. As somebody said here, speed is just fun for casual riders. But we spend a lot of money only for this fun; otherwise, if we only need fitness, an eight speeds, below 1000 EUR and 9+ kg bike can fully fit the bill…