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tires: how much does size matter?

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tires: how much does size matter?

Old 08-22-06, 11:50 AM
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tires: how much does size matter?

I posted this question on the commuting forum, but am curious to have road cyclists weigh in. I ride a fairly lightweight, custom, Reynolds steel touring/hybrid bike with 26" wheels. I use it whenever I can instead of my car, for 40-60 mile fitness rides, for touring. I ride primarily on the road, but I live on a dirt road, so to get to pavement I have to travel on dirt, which makes a bike with very skinny tires impractical.
I've been riding on a 26x1" which did pretty well on the dirt and just fine on the pavement, but last week one of them was destroyed during a ride and the lbs only had a 1.5" to replace it. At some point I'm either going to buy it's mate, or buy a new pair of tires, and so I want to know if it will make a difference to my overall efficiency which size tire I ride on, and which style, and if I should care that some tires are 200 g heavier than others. I do a lot of serious hill-climbing (and descents), if that matters, and am also hoping to extend distance of the fitness rides. Thanks.
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Old 08-23-06, 09:37 AM
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Between 1" and 1.5" you'll see a difference. But bigger difference may come also from the thread pattern and flexibility of the tire. 200g heavier it's a lot in my opinion if you do serious hill-climbing. I would recommend that you choose the smallest size you can. If 1" is well suited for you type of road don't go for bigger size.
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Old 08-23-06, 10:11 AM
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200g heavier it's a lot in my opinion if you do serious hill-climbing.
You're joking right. What are you, a uphill time trial specialist?

To the OP: I'd get the 1" if you can ride those fine on the dirt section. The rolling resistance between the 1.5's and 1's will be dramatic.
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Old 08-23-06, 10:27 AM
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Originally Posted by operator
You're joking right. What are you, a uphill time trial specialist?
My Vittoria Rubino pro weight 210g, so 200g would be 95% weight increase. I understand that for 1" tire the weight increase is not as drastical but original poster mentioned "serious hill-climbing". Depends on what you call "serious" but for me 200g would be significant in this case.
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Old 08-23-06, 10:34 AM
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Ummmmmmmmmmmmm 200g? So if you're LA putting out 450 watts on the Alpe D'huez TT, you'd beat Ullrich by 6 minutes instead of 5 minutes, 55 seconds?
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