af2nr

I have a question, however stupid it may end up being. I am currently riding on 700x23's and am wondering if by switching to 25's it may help to make the ride a little better. The area I am riding in has several areas of "rough" road. I am only doing "normal" riding, no racing. So my question is would going to the 25's help out any with the roads or would it cause any extra problems?

cheeseflavor

A 25 inflated to 120 psi would ride better than a 23 inflated to the same pressure. The difference is in the volume of air that each can hold. There would be some trade-off because the 23, being a narrower tire would have less contact area with the road, hence less road drag for less rolling resistance.

Don't know what the tradeoffs are specifically other than that.

Specialized sells a new tire, The Roubaix Pro that is a combination or the two. It has the tread footprint of a 23, but the wider casing of a 25 to allow for a higher volume of air for a better ride. I purchased two of these that I'll be installing shortly.

Steve

gm1230126

Yes they will definitely help. The other thing to consider is your tire pressure. I ride tires that are rated at 115psi. If I'm on the new bike path along the highway or fresher asphalt I run them at 130+psi. If I'm riding west of town on older worn roads I run them at 100psi to soften the blows. You can't run much under the rated psi or you'll run into problems with pinch flats on the rougher roads. I'm not looking forward to spring in Wisconsin. The roads are taking a beating this winter. We had our extreme cold late November through the 3rd week of December and the frost has been as deep as 15-18" and then January was very mild with one day hitting 52F and now it's been freezing and thawing and it this makes a huge mess of the roads. The frost line cracks are more pronounced right now than I remember them being in years.

af2nr

Yeah that is part of the problem here. The roads either seem to have cracks everywhere or they are a paved gravel type road. There is a nice loop I could do if I could stand the road, so far have only made it a couple miles in before turning around. Right now I have mine, rated at 120psi, with about 100psi in them and I am still taking a beating. So I was thinking maybe the wider tire would help out some?

jsigone

after countless flats with the 23 rear tire, I switched to a Gatorskin 25 tire and had only one flat on it since. You can feel the rolling resistence going up hills for the first few time but it does ride better. I still run a 23 up front though. I run both tires at 115psi.

johnny99

The main advantage of wider tires is that you can run them at lower pressures without risking pinch flats. Lower pressures will give you a smoother ride.

javna_golina

It's only 2mm, so don't expect anything huge, but I did notice the difference. (I also inflated the tyres to 100psi/110psi with the 25's, as opposed to 110psi/120psi with the 23's)

DannoXYZ 

Uh, no. Contact area is determined solely by tyre-pressure, area = weight/pressure. Narrower tyres have less contact area and rolls faster because you typically use more pressure with them. Pumping up a larger tyre to that same pressure will have it outperform the narrower tyre.

Main benefits of larger tyre is you can run them at lower pressures for the same rolling-resistance. You get softer ride, more grip and longer life. I typically use the largest tyres that'll fit my frame, currently 700x26c Armadillos, got 4200 miles out of the last rear-tyre with only one flat. I'll save the lightweight, narrow high-pressure racing tyres for racing where saving that extra 1.5 lbs off the wheels may mean the difference between 1st & 2nd place... just barely..

actarheel

Can you use the same tube with either tire (23 and 25)? What tubes would you recommend? I just bought Mavic Open Pro tires with Dura Ace hubs and haven't yet bought tubes or tires for them (new bike)

EURO

Not a great environment for road cycling then?

plin

In the Paris-Roubaix, lots of riders use the 700x25 tubulars for the tough pavés, including the winner. They don't seem to go much slower since Boonen said that last year he maintained his speed at around 50km/h at the end.

wagathon

You might check for room. If the bike came with 23s, it may have brake housings that do not have much space. Even so, 25s probably will work. If there are no room constraints, Gatorskin 28s are fairly petite compared to other 28s (I use a 28 rear and 25 front).

bbattle

I'd go even bigger with some 28's.

bmike

I just mounted a slightly more aggressive tread 23 on a 04 Ultegra bike (Conti 4 Season GP ). I could fit the 28's from my commuter, but spent money on a better tire, and will just lower the pressure a bit.


When I got back into cycling the guys in the office ragged on my cyclocross tires (slight knobby, 32's or 35s?) I used for my 18 mile commute. They kept making the "rolling resistance" argument. They failed to see I was 45 pounds overweight and carrying all my clothes and work stuff. My thoughts were that when rolling resistance became my limiting factor, I would easily upgrade my tires. I've since not only upgraded tires - but bikes and my health - now I run 23's - 25's with slightly lower pressure for comfort.

Retro Grouch 

Take a good look at a millimeter ruler. See how much difference there is between 23 and 25 millimeters? That's how much difference it will make. It makes a little bit of difference but it isn't going to make a huge amount of difference.

EURO

So the rolling resistance of a tyre is a simple matter of a proportion of the width stated by the manufacturer? That's a pretty simple equation!

mimis

if that kind of tire pressure rocks you then you'd better try a suspension seatpost like myself and feel real comfort without any other compromise in performance

Bobdohm31

I raced and trained on Mich SuperComp HD 23's(no longer made) for years and then went to Vitorria Courier 25's(also,no longer made) and found a HUGE difference. I think it was a combination of tire size AND make of tire. I now have Conti 3000 23's and hate them. I'm going back to Vitorria. I'm thinking the Rubino Pro's.

SpongeDad

I have a aluminum frame bike that I used to run 25mm tires. At 115psi, I'd get bounced around. Rides at 100psi were much more comfortable.

I have 23mm Conti GP 4 seasons on it now, but as soon as they wear out (which is taking a long time), I'm going to put 25mm (or bigger if they fit) tires back on.

Bob - I have 23mm Vittoria Rubino Pros on my other bike. I think they're a touch softer than the GP 4 seasons. I don't race, but I feel pretty comfortable on them at speed.

zzzwillzzz

just buy a set af tires and ride them and see how you like it. it's only a set of tires and if you don't like them then pull them off and use them as spares. save your overworrying and overthinking on the big purchases like wheelsets and frames not the little stuff that will wear out in a few months anyways, like tires...

af2nr

Well I have a set of Bontrager selects in 25 that came off my old bike but I had already swapped them out for the Bontrager Hardcase in 23. I was looking for a more durable tire so went with the Hardcase and they only had it in a 23. I didn't notice much, if any, difference on the tires where I was living before other than the Hardcase seemed much more durable. I had two flats from "burrs" on the Selects within a couple of miles. These I have had no problem with other than this area, which is almost traffic free as it is a perimiter road around the base that is just over 12 miles. It would be a really nice loop to ride if I could somehow smooth it out. Maybe I should just pretend I am doing the Paris-Roubiax?

javna_golina

It's still road cycling, it's just the road isn't very nice.

CastIron

We have $h!t roads here. Going to 25's helped a great deal. The other thing that helped a great deal was going to a better quality tire.

Retro Grouch 

Rolling resistance, traction, comfort, wind resistance, weight, what have you. A 2mm wider tire isn't going be much different in any of them simply because 2mm isn't very much.

60cycle

+1 for the rubino pro. i run 23's @ 120psi and they've been pretty tough. i've had three rear flats in two years... none up front. i put in roughly 4000 miles a year.