Tucson heads: Will 32mm tires cut it for commuting?
05-13-26 | 10:20 AM
#26
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 2,498
Likes: 1,530
From: Tucson, AZ
If you’re getting those tires, be aware that they can be relatively difficult to install - both when they’re new and when you get a flat on the road. Do yourself a favor and also get a ‘Kool Stop’ tire bead jack. It will save your fingers.
No, I do not ride in Tucson. Recently, I dated a professor at a local university who did her Ph.D. in Spanish at a university there. She rode in Tucson.
No, I do not ride in Tucson. Recently, I dated a professor at a local university who did her Ph.D. in Spanish at a university there. She rode in Tucson.
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05-13-26 | 01:16 PM
#27
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2023
Posts: 2,435
Likes: 2,163
From: Eastern Shore MD
Bikes: Lemond Zurich/Trek ALR/Giant TCX/Stumpy 15
Cut it? Are you messing?
32 mm is the perfect size for riding in the city and for touring. It’s thin enough for the bike to roll easily, yet thick enough to handle rough and uneven roads and minimize flats. I call it the Sport Touring size, and my personal favorite tire size.
On edit: Get yourself a 'Continental Ride Tour' in 32 mm and forget about nails, glass, goat heads, da da da. If you ride 5,000 miles, you won’t have more than one flat.
32 mm is the perfect size for riding in the city and for touring. It’s thin enough for the bike to roll easily, yet thick enough to handle rough and uneven roads and minimize flats. I call it the Sport Touring size, and my personal favorite tire size.
On edit: Get yourself a 'Continental Ride Tour' in 32 mm and forget about nails, glass, goat heads, da da da. If you ride 5,000 miles, you won’t have more than one flat.
I do believe that 32mm can handle the majority of paved situations out there, people have been doing it on even narrower tires forever. But conventional wisdom has changed a bit over the years and it’s not very controversial to say that wider will do you better over seriously rocky roads.
Ill Check out those tires.
Do you ride in Tucson?
Ill Check out those tires.
Do you ride in Tucson?
Commuting, where it would be in town, in traffic - hopping curbs, more glass, sand and gravel/road junk - I would want to ride my 47mm tubeless gravel tires at lower pressures. Comfort and durability over speed. And, there are plenty of dirt paths that also ride next to the roads in some spots further out from town.
