700 x 23 vs 700 x 25c....Will it fit?
 

Looking to replace a pair of 700 x 25c tires on my 1988 schwinn prelude. I found a pair of 700 x 23mm Continental 4000 on CL and was wondering if they would fit.

Guy is asking $25 so these would be a great pick up if they would fit.

Thank you

Yes. They will fit. They are 2mm skinnier than 25mm tires.

Yes, they will fit.

Back when your bike was new the tire sizing "standards" were far looser then today's. So many tire manufactures would label their tires with a size that wasn't a measurement. This way they could make marketing claims comparing their tires with other brands of tires that might not be a truely compareable size. So a tire that actually measured as a 25mm wide (when mounted on a non specified rim...) but labled as a 28 could be claimed to be "the lightest 28 tire" (duh! because it really wasn't a 28). Or have the least rolling resistance.

It would be interesting to have an actual width measurement of the OP's 25 tire and then of the current 23 one that he is looking at. He might find that they are not 2mm different in width. When customers come into the shop and ask for a "xx" wide tire I sometimes ask if they read the label of actually measured the tire. I have had customers come back and exchange the tire that matched the label because the new tire was wider. Of course that most riders will be faster and less problem prone on a wider tire is another topic:). Andy

Thanks for the info everyone! Just emailed him...fingers crossed.

When I first started riding in the mid-80's the most common 700c road tires sizes were 700-20, 700-25 and 700-28, or so the sidewall labels read. I measured the "700-25" tires on my first 700c bike at about 23 mm in actual width on normal road rims. A few years later tires labeled 700-23 started to become the norm and most I had measured a true 23 mm as installed and current ones still do. I think that 700-23 is the old 700-25 subject to "truth in advertising".

I used to ride 700x19 tires. They were so skinny the gave absolutely no cushion. I still have them in the basement. I recently checked the latex tube I used with them, prompted by a thread the other day here, and the tube disintegrated.

This gets me thinking that I should try mounting these again just for kicks on a modern wheel and see how it feels compared to a Conti GP4000 700x23. I somehow think I'd hate it, or at least my butt would. The stuff we used to put up with, non-padded real leather chamois shorts, hard non-molded saddles, toe clips, downtube shifters, crappy brakes. I still have all of them somewhere.