branman1986

Just to provide a little background. I just bought an 06 Fuji Touring to use as a commuter(and occasionally weekend touring) and I love it. It rides like a cadillac compared to my other road bike, but I really miss the speed of the racing style bikes.

It has 700 x 32 Kenda Eurotreks - not knobby tires, but they're quite "tready" and only go up to about 85psi. It feels like these are primarily the cause(along with increased wind resistance) for how much slower I feel I'm going. Would I feel a serious difference switching to tires that are slicker? Also, I can't just fit 700x28s on the same rim, right? I'd have to get a whole new wheelset?

I know this sounds really really stupid, but can I just put a thinner tire on the front and just buy one new wheel? Maybe have a different front wheel for if it's raining or not? I figure that would be 10 x's easier than trying to switch backwheels somehow(not sure how I'd even manage). Would the front wheel make any difference anyway or is the rear wheel the real speed determining factor? I could even use the front wheel off my other road bike(23's)

Aside from all this, is there anything else I could possibly do?

dedhed

I took off the 700X32's on my raleigh hybrid and slapped on 700X25 road tires without changing anything. I have almost 4k miles on this setup without any problems. Well I did replace the front rim this spring after a bike rack incident - but thats another story.

Falkon 

look on your rim. It'll probably say something to the effect of 700xSomething. You should be able to go to a thinner tire.

77Univega

--- Maybe this thread dated 01-04-05 entitled "Tires: Mix or Match?" can help:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ight=mix+match

dalmore

I think you can safely switch between 32s and 28s without changing the rim. Sheldon Brown's website lists a chart showing recommended tire/rim width combos. Every rim on that chart acceptable for a 32 also accepts a 28 ...

branman1986

thanks guys...looks like I'm gonna get a pair of Conti Gator Skins 700x28

good times

should I expect quite a noticeable performance difference?

max-a-mill

yes the difference will be very noticable i'd say. i mean you'll still have to pedal going up hill and all but...

i find touring tires to be a nice comprimise between speed and durability for the *****ty roads of my commute.

CBBaron

Pretty much you can get away with tires as narrow as the width of your rim to tires twice as wide as your rim. Some of the MTB crowd go even bigger. 32mm -> 28mm is a non issue.
The gatorskins are a very fast tire given the level of protection offered. Obviously a lighter tire will be faster yet but you may end up spending alot of time changing flats.
Craig

pHunbalanced

My gf got a pair of Conti Gatorskin 25 mm tires to switch with her WTB Allterrainasauruses and the speed difference was a revelation, but there was a moderate loss in comfort. She loves them except on very rough pavement. Your 28s likely will be about perfect.

dedhed

That's pretty much most of the pavement in Milwaukee. I pulled the sauruses cuz they were so god awful noisy, especially on the trainer in winter.

branman1986

man...how can you not love a bike tire called "Allterrainasauruses"...that is marketing genius

DataJunkie

I am pondering doing the same thing. My mavic rims have 700X32s on them. If you can find the model number for the rim generally you should be able to pull the specs from the manufacturer's website. Mavic states that my rims will hold 28mm tires at the smallest.
I've been contemplating the change and if the performance improvement would be enough to justify it.
If you do make the switch could you let us know how it works out?

HardyWeinberg

On my bike I went from 23s to 32s back down to 28s, and I have to say I didn't really notice a huge difference among any of them. The 32s were too wide to pull or push through the brakes w/o completely deflating, which was annoying considering how often I had to change flats (my instinct is always to reinflate the repaired tire off the bike, I couldn't train myself out of that).

I keep the 28s at about 100 psi (maybe 90 in the front and 100 in the back); I read something on sheldonbrown.com that gave me courage to ignore pressure ratings (mine are 'rated' for 58-87 psi) and instead base the pressure on the tire's width and the load it is carrying (weight of you plus stuff). I haven't had any problems from that yet (knock on formica).

Changing hubs on my wheels, now that made a huge perceived performance benefit.

Regardless of what I perceived (or didn't) for performance change from different tires and wheels, my commute time stays very consistent, so go figure...

oboeguy

The "tread" is not especially relevant, but you will notice a big difference with lighter tires. Consider the case of our folding bikes, both of which have Marathon (406x40, IIRC?) tires. For our last trip, as I was planning a big climb (36 miles!!!) so I packed the light, quick Stelvio (406x28) tires for the climb, because I certainly notice the difference.

dalmore

oboeguy

I'm not kidding

ducati

I would say NO, you won't get a "quite noticeable" performance difference. I switched from 700x32 cyclocross knobbies to 700x23 slicks on my Poprad, as I felt it was possibly held back by the tires (hummmmmmmmmmm, you know what I mean) and the difference was... slight.

Yes, it rolls smoother now. And accelerates a bit quicker. And I'm probably a tad quicker, tho not much by the stopwatch over my commute. I didn't pick up "radical speed" or feel NEARLY as much difference as I thought I would. I may go back to the knobbies, as the 23's are a bit of a pain on some sections of my commute.

I run 700x26 on my fixie and that might be the perfect compromise.

Something you may want to check: bicycle fit. If this bike is new, chances are you have some tweaking. That "drag" feeling I got on my Poprad was related to a simple seat adjustment which put me out of my most efficient pedaling position. Fixed the seat position by moving it up just a tad and forward a lot, and BAM it's like a new bike.