dperreno

28mm (higher pressure road style) tires will give you the biggest bang for the buck. The combination of lower rolling resistance and lower rotating mass will be surprising. Unless your commute takes you over broken glass or thorns, I'd recommend a lighter weight kevlar reinforced tire over one with too thick of a thick tread. I agree with some of the previous posters that just stepping down 2-4mm won't be that noticeable. I wouldn't worry about 28mm being too narrow, remember, road bikes max out at 25mm (typically).

rumrunn6

Well, you were saying go to a higher pressure tire but 55 lbs isn't higher than my current Kenda Kourier at 85 psi.

chipcom 

If you would actually READ what I wrote, you'd see that I said "You'll have a hard time finding another 700x38 tire that will give you a noticeable improvement in performance." because most of them don't go much higher than the pressure you already have. I also said "Going to a narrower tire with a higher max pressure might. Try a 700x32 or even a 70x28.", after which I recommended the Conti Contacts, which inflate to 85psi or higher at those sizes. Try using some basic reading skills in addition to some basic communication and sentence structure skills in your replies and people might actually be able to help you make an informed decision.

rumrunn6

I read what you wrote and I understood it. You were just wrong to recommend a tire that had a lower pressure. You were suggesting a tire that took a higher pressure but the 1st tire you recommended does not fit the bill. I'll look at the other two. BTW, save the attitude for other members, I don't appreciate it.

chipcom 

psst...a conti contact in 700x32 or 28 does NOT have lower pressure (85psi...higher on some of the 28s).
Good luck with your quest...I ain't got the patience to hand-hold the developmentally challenged.

rumrunn6

Then different web sites are posting different specs, I found 55 lbs & 70 lbs. Insults are not helpful.

chipcom 

how about going to the source, Mr. Wit.

https://www.conti-online.com/generato...reflex_en.html

It's really not that hard to find your butt...if you use both hands.

rumrunn6

Now you're making me laugh & that's not fair 'cause I was pissed. That chart is a little confusing but maybe if I use both hands I'll be able to read it better, huh. Look thanks for the info, I know you're trying to help. I'll look at these tires again because I like the tread pattern. I'll also look at the other two tires you mentioned.

thirdin77

Don't try to make it something it's not.

Just get a road bike or a flat bar type road bike.

If you insist on getting different tires, 700x35 Forte Cross K's are cheap and roll fairly fast.

700x28 Continental Gatorskins will feel even faster but they are true road tires- lower weight, more supple, and more vulnerable to flats than a touring or city-type tire.

Don't sink much money into changing out the suspension fork for a different fork. Even after you do that, the bike will accelerate better but still not as well as something meant for acceleration and speed.

e0richt

hi,
I like your conversion... it wasn't clear in your pictures... what do you use to shift?

A bailz

looks like a sweet 8 ball shifter on the seat tube...haha jk.... yea if youre not worried about the weight and thickness of the tire then go with a 28...imo....if you are then 32... just picking the tread is your only big opstical...OR get both and try 1 one week and switch to the other the next and see the outcome yourself and you'll have a nice set of spare tires in the end

Sixty Fiver

Just gotta throw this up here... my idea of what one can do with a hybrid (a Trek 7500) to make it something it's not and in the process, make it better than originally designed.


In the process it has shed a lot of weight and become a much stronger, faster, and more versatile bike. It is much like the new Portland which seems to be based on a hybrid frame but uses better road parts.

Even with the fenders, rack, and lights my bike is far lighter than it was stock.

chipcom 

What did you make it that it was not before other than turning a flat-bar 'fitness bike' into a drop-bar 'fitness bike'. Just because you made it lighter and added road bike components doesn't automagically turn it into a racing bike. Bet it's still heavier than my Fuji World touring bike.

Sixty Fiver

Why does everyone equate "road bike" with "race bike" ???

The parts spec is actually more touring / commuter oriented and for as long as I have that stock fork it will probably outweigh your Fuji... mind you... how often does your Fuji see singletrack ?

You would have to have been here to ride it before and after to realize and appreciate the differences.

The 7 series geometry lends itself well to upgrades whereas a lot of hybrids are never going to be much more than what they started out as.

Trek also seems to think that a hybrid could be something else as well...

rumrunn6

Here's the tire I decided to go with. It can take a higher pressure (87 instead of 75), has a smooth (slick) surface (current tire Kenda Kourier was a cross terrain type hybrid tire), is a tiny bit narrower (35 instead of 38) and the reviews from users were good. I should get them next Thursday - I'm having them delivered to a local REI to avoid shipping charges. I didn't want to go narrower because I'll use this for some commuting and for vacation rides with the kids on paved bike trails and they have MTBs. Another plus include some puncture resistance.

Michelin City Trekking Tire - 700 x 35

https://www.rei.com/product/768733

Jenden2001

What I'm doing is change the freewheel from a 14-34T to a 11-28T. I have a 2011 Trek 700 hybrid with a 7 speed freewheel on it. This I think will help me go faster.

treadtread

6 years and still running

Sixty Fiver

I go faster when I am being chased by zombies...

AlTheKiller

It's not the difference in size you are noticing, it's because your average 35 is built like a truck out of cheap rubber and thick casing, and thinner tires think more on speed, even the cheap ones. There are fat tires built similarly to "racing" tires which are amazing, fast, comfy.

My room mate's 28 tires on his roadbike are absolutely slower than my 35s, because he opted for a ton of flat protection meanwhile I'm cruising on a super charged cadillac.

Jack Brown GREEN 700c x 33.333 Light - 10091 - GREEN

unillenium

On mobile so can't link (google can work wonders if you don't believe me) but extensive laboratory testing has shown that when all other factors are equal (tread/material/pressure/surface) wider tires deform less and thus have less rolling resistance.

So sizing down your tires will only help by reducing weight and aerodynamic cross section (which matters less than rolling resistance at sub racing speeds).

So if you are going for a long run on flat terrain the "fastest" tires could very well be the widest ones your frame will accommodate.

As far as "narrow tires are higher pressure" goes I run a set of 38c that are rated to run at 100 psi.

And higher isn't always better anyway; on rough terrain higher inflation loses more speed due to deflection.

There's a balance. There's no "fastest" tires for all situations.

fietsbob

You have less air drag by being less comfortable, riding..

Supple expensive slick light tires offer less rolling resistance, they also offer less Puncture resistance.

nothing is slower than being stopped for 20 minutes mending a flat tire.

PaulRivers

Those are tires with no flat protection. I bet you good skinnier tires with no flat protection are even slightly faster than those. I rode bikes when flat protection in tires didn't exist and it sucked and I would never go back to it.

There are plenty of reasons why someone would choose to use a somewhat fatter tire, like grip, or finding them personally comfortable, but they've made some absurd claims in the past claiming that fatter is always faster and I just don't believe them.

unillenium

Rolling Resistance | Schwalbe North America

Here you go. Straight from a company that actually manufactures tires.

The contact patch of a wider tire is the same size as that of a narrow tire. But the shape of the contact patch on the wider tire is less prone to energy loss via deflection.

"Why do Pros ride narrow tires if wide tires roll better?
Wide tires only roll better at the same inflation pressure, but narrow tires can be inflated to higher pressures than wide tires. However, they then obviously give a less comfortable ride. In addition to this, narrow tires have an advantage over wide ones at higher speeds, as they provide less air resistance.

Above all, a bicycle with narrow tires is much easier to accelerate because the rotating mass of the wheels is lower and the bicycle is much more agile. At constant speeds of around 20 km/h, the ride is better with wider tires. In practice, the energy saving is even greater than in theory as the elasticity of the tires absorbs road shocks, which would otherwise be transferred to the rider and so saves energy"


So there's no 1 size fits all solution.

Also factor in that rolling resistance has a linear relationship to speed, whereas air resistance has an exponential relationship.

If you live somewhere that has a lot of hills, you'll constantly be accelerating to overcome gravity, or going very fast down hills, to the point that air resistance becomes a bigger factor than rolling resistance, so narrow tires will be better. If you live somewhere with a lot of flat terrain and relatively long jaunts between stops, a wider tire is probably better.


But you also have to consider things like the tread, and operating pressure of the tire. Like I said, I run 38c's that can inflate to 100psi (which is apparently a pretty rare thing), but they are rated to operate in a range between 60 and 100 psi, which gives me the flexibility to ride a little softer if I'm planning to take a rough path. But they aren't low resistance tires, they are built primarily for puncture resistance, and I've taken them to hell and back and never had a flat.

And like somebody said, add 20 minutes to fix a flat and your ride isn't exactly quicker.

My resto bike has 26x1 and 3/8th tires (about 35c). And despite being a heavier bike, I can feel that it's easier to accelerate, despite only having a maximum tire pressure of 65psi.

I find I commute about the same time on either bike because my route to work is such a mixed bag that everything balances out in the end. But my bike with the 700x38s is the one I hold all my speed records on.

So once again, there's no simple answer for tires.

What's the fastest tire? Get a set of Depends 23-40c

Narrower road tires will always put less strain on your knees though, so for older riders you can probably ride faster with them despite having more energy loss due to less pain holding you back.

And sometimes maintaining speed requires accelerating (i.e. uphill, or against a head wind) so a stretch that is against the prevailing wind and slightly uphill might look like a straight jaunt on paper but actually benefit from having a bike that is set up for acceleration over efficiency.

PaulRivers

I've been through this series of arguments before and I just do not agree, but don't want to go through them again. Good luck.