fast 28c tires
 

buddy of mine is looking to upgrade the wheels on his trek 7.3 which came with bontrager race all weather hard case tires in 32c

since increasing the pace and distance of our rides (he's the only one on a hybrid, no budg for a roadie yet) he wants to lighten his bike up and make it roll a bit better, and we thought that maybe a simple tire change for some quick rolling 28c tires should do the trick, but there are so many to choose from, please help...thanks

I personally like the Continental Gatorskins. They're pretty quick tires, but very strong and flat-resistant.

+1 on the Conti Gatorskins

I like these. Bought 8 of them. Still on sale.

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...Road+Tire.aspx

I like the Vittoria Zaffiro, fast, puncture resistant, and weigh only 350 grams in 700x28c.

Why do you say "nu budg for a roadie yet"?
This does not make any sense to me.
You can get hybrid bikes from about $150 to $3000 and more.
There is no reason why a roadbike should be more expensive than a hybrid.
A hybrid is a choice for versatility and comfort, not a temporal thing on the way to a roadbike.
Proper hybrids build for speed can go as fast as roadbikes and do 20MPH+ average speeds.
There is also no reason why putting on 28c tyres instead of 32c will make your "buddy" much faster as rolling resistance is only a small factor in the total equation of speed on a bike ... having a good engine and having as little air resistance as comfortably possible are many many times more important than tyres.

Wrong.

For a start the combined brake/shifter units that road racers use cost £150-£350. Good drop handle bars aren't cheap either.

Yes and no: a hybrid would need drop bars or aerobars to keep up with a roadbike, And even then it would be a disadvantage in a crit or peleton race for reasons you don't need to understand (unless the "hybrid" had started as an exact copy of a road racer with flat bars...) There are reasons why people don't ride hybrids in races! My cyclocross bike, which is "slow" for a dropbar racer, is still faster than the aluminium and carbon Sirrus I had for a few weeks, although the Sirrus was as fast as hybrids get.

(And why you keep posting strident opinions on technical stuff you obviously don't understand is a puzzle to me - it doesn't help anyone.)

Some tyres are slower than others. 28s are not necessarily faster than 32s though - people think they should be because they think tyre drag is frictional, which it isn't. Marathon Sports and Continental Sports Contacts are the obvious tyres to try. Marathon Supremes might be a little shower but would give better grip and puncture protection.

Unless your current tyres are really awful ones I wouldn't expect a speed up of more than 1mph. However, rolling resistance dominates over aero at very low speeds, so your initial acceleration could be quite a lot better.

I also like to add he can get lighter wheels like the Performance Bike brand Forte Titans especially on a budget they are $149 for a set and are very strong and light. One other thing he can do is change his seat post and stem and bars for lighter versions. Performance bike has some nice carbon parts for budget minded cyclist under the Forte Brand which are light as well I have a carbon seat post from them too and its nice. The last thing for your friend as other friends of mine say keep cycling and get stronger. Heres a link http://www.performancebike.com/bikes...10052_10551_-1

I have been down this road before. If your buddy has been riding on his present tires for a few years and wants to try something different, by all means, give it a shot.

But, if your buddy really aspires to own and ride a road bike, maybe it would be better to bank the money, sell the hybrid and buy a good, used road bike. I see decent road bikes on CL going for anywhere from between $200 and $500 all the time. If your buddy can get between $150 and $200 for his hybrid as is, and take the $100 to $200 he was planning to spend to upgrade the hybrid, he should have no problem finding a road bike.

On the other hand your friend goes ahead and upgrades tires and wheels and a 3 to 5 year old road bike in clean condition pops up locally for, say, $300 or $400, your buddy might be kicking himself.

So?
Combined brake/shifter units that hybrid riders may use can cost about the same price if they want to spend it.
Look up the Shimano XTR STI Brake & Shifter combo M970 that sells for about $270.
And a crazy hybrid-builder may want to put a controltech crossbow carbon flatbar on his bike for about $550 ;)
I said: "There is no reason why a roadbike *SHOULD* be more expensive than a hybrid."
It can be ... or not ... a basic tiagra-equipped roadbike sells for about 550€ around here.
I could, if I wanted to, build a $10.000 hybrid, but I don't need one and am very happy with the one I have now :)

Thing is he does not want to spend money on another bike for numerous reasons, space, financing and over all comfort of the hybrid, he wants a roadie later, he doesn't want to buy used and doesn't want to go anything under a 105. but I'm not here to justify his decisions just merely asking for info.

I will tell him to check out the gatorskins, I have the 28c secas on my fg I will have him try it, and yes he had his eyes set on the perf bikes cf stuff and wheel set as well :)

Thanks for the 411

Just pointing out that just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. Just something to think about. Your friend rides a Trek 7.3 but looks down his nose at anything less than a brand new, full 105 equipped road bike?

A few years ago, I started doing group rides, and I was among the few who didn't have a road bike. So I started planning my upgrades. New tires, wheels, lighter seatpost and handlebars. Maybe get rid of the kickstand and rear rack. Upgrade the shifters and change to a more road oriented gearing.

Someone somewhere said to me that if I want a road bike, just buy a road bike. And, I stopped at upgrading tires.

This is stupid. Because £150 is the cost of the BASIC modern road bike shifter brake. A hybrid rider could spend that much - but he doesn't have to. Obviously a high cost component like that pushes up the cost of a bike!

Yes, and you could plate the shifters with gold. It still has nothing to with the entry price. Road racing bikes cost more for good reason; the shifters alone on entry level racers cost more than the entire powertrain on an equivalent quality hybrid.

Didn't mean to make him sound snobby, and I did advice him to just go and get a roadie, point is he's not gonna buy a roadie just to say he has one, he wants to make sure it's a bike that won't need to be upgraded anymore than necessary, I'm not sure if you the gist of it. Eventually he will, end up with a roadie, it's not up to us to tell him when, I just asked a simple question regarding tires as that's the first thing that needs to be replaced :)