wannabe123

I think I want a road bike that takes bigger tires because I weigh about 240 with all my gear, but I'd like to beat the cars to points b. The cars have to stop at several lights. No sabotage allowed.

Who besides rivendell makes road bikes with greater tire clearance? Seems like most road bikes restrict tires to 700x25 with no fenders.

The gunnar sport allows for 28mm with fenders and maybe 32 without, but I'd like to try 33 or even 35 with fenders. I'd like to at least see if Grant is right to recommend 32mm for paved riding.

corbett1010

plenty of people ride 700x23 and are heavier than you

banerjek

Anything that takes 40's ain't a road bike

slowandsteady

Touring bikes take 38's

MajorMantra

Cross bikes have more clearance, although maybe not as much you want.

simonaway427

Get a cross-bike, and for your sake, stop at lights too.

Fat Boy

Wider tires do not necessarily mean slower tires. Most people just don't get this. I think a good bet would be the Soma Stanyan or Gunnar Sport, both of which takes 32c tires. Gunnar makes some touring bikes which can accept up to a 38. There really aren't good road tires made bigger than a 38. The bigger stuff is just not very good.

Honestly, a 32c tire at 70-85 psi or so will ride really nice and will be very close to as fast as a full race bike on 23's.

banerjek

Depends on what you consider "very close." There's no way I'm as fast on 32's as 23's and there's no way in hell I'd consider riding the former unless I planned to ride on a particularly miserable surface like gravel.

svtmike

A neighbor of mine has a Trek Pilot 5.0 that takes tires larger than a 700x25. It uses long arm brakes to provide additional clearance to match the frame.

DScott

No problem:

commandcomm

The Rivendell Roadeo will go 33.3 with fenders. It is pricey, but you asked for an example of a roadbike with wider tires.

https://www.rivbike.com/products/show/roadeo/50-618

Quel

My TT bike doesn't even fit freaking 23mm tires. I think most road bikes could reasonable go to 25 though, possibly 28 on rare occasions. If you want more than that, get a cross bike. I believe my Surly Cross Check does 40mm tires, though I've never put anything bigger than 32 on it.

ridethecliche

You're looking for a cross bike.

PS: You should be fine with 28's or 32's.

wannabe123

But a Cross bike wouldn't handle like a road bike. I already have a mountain bike anyway.

wannabe123

Is 32 what you ride? Thanks for the Soma Stanyan; it looks nice and even has lugs.

wens

Look up a few geometry charts and report back on the differences.

renton20

The surly pacer is a road bike that takes caliper brakes which can handle up to around 38mm tires without fenders, prob 32mm with. Check it out, my girlfriend rides one as her commuter bike. She even loaded it up for some self supported touring that we did this past summer.

wannabe123

You have a road bike that accepts both 32 and 23?

banerjek

Heck no. My commuter takes 25 and less. On my racer, I've found that there is inadequate clearance even for some 25s.

But I've put many thousands of miles on a touring bike with 32's. You can maintain a decent clip with 32s, but you still won't be as fast.

A bike with 40's on is going to handle very differently than one with 23's.

Fat Boy

I ride a variety of tire widths.

When training I ride 28's a lot. The Serfas Seca RS comes in a 28 size that actually measures a little narrow. It fits on a CAAD 9, which my bike is very similar (Six13). It also fits on a Felt AR bike, which I own. I run them at 80 psi. For longer distances and/or training, they're a great compromise between speed and comfort. I can ride competitively in hard "A" level group rides with these tires, but I'll bump the pressures to 100 which may or may not make much of a difference. When I race, I'm on light wheels and 23's. It 'feels' great, but when looking at actual speeds, they're remarkably similar.

When I ride my Cross bike on the road I run cheap Forte Kevlar belted tires (~$15) that are 35's at 60-70 psi. It rides like a Caddy. The kevlar belt means no flats, but really bad rolling resistance. Even at that, I can still turn out very similar speeds. I've never tried to ride the CX bike in an 'A' level ride because I only run a 39 tooth front chainring (common in 'cross). Having said that, I have ridden in somewhat quick 'B' rides with it and it's really no problem there.

Far and away, the biggest difference you'll find is in your legs and your weight. If both of those are addressed, you'll be able to ride reasonably quick on pretty much anything.

wannabe123

For the 64 gunnar roadie vs cross hairs here is the difference:
Seatmast +30 (crosshairs is 30 mm longer)
tt theo +5
Head angle +1
fork rake +2
trail +9
chain stay +15
HT len -21
stack +6
reach +2
fitmaster Reach +16
avg standover +30
wheelbase +33


I followed a road biker in my car and he stayed well ahead of me and even took a very sharp turn. I'm guessing a +9 trail crosshairs would have crashed, but I'm a newb.

wannabe123

Are you comparing tires or bikes?

By 40s I really meant 700x32 with fenders.

Lanterne Rogue

Surly Long Haul Truckers, which are pretty much the standard touring bikes these days, run 45 mm tires without fenders and 42 mm with. I love mine, though I've never run fatter than 32 mm. Hard to get a bike much more versatile, bombproof, or fun for $1100.

donmcmahan

the practice of building road frames with very tight tire clearances came into fashion in the 70's, before that the ability to run 27x1 1/4 tires with fenders was the norm on English racing bikes. I have never tried 700x38c on my 1952 Rotrax but I think they would fit just fine

Fat Boy

Are you trying to be ironic or do you really mean this? The difference in handling from bike to bike exists, but a reasonable bike rider can pretty much make anything work. Will a road bike handle better than a TT or Cross bike. Yup. Does that mean you're going to crash at the first corner? Not even close. the numbers that you're talking about are in mm. They're pretty minor differences in the overall world of bikes.