My 7200 Trek has factory rims. I don't EVER ride it off of pavement (with the exception of 100 yds. from the driveway to the paved road).

The bike now has the original 700X35 tires on it.

I want to go with a more narrow set of tires, probably more like slicks to reduce weight and resistance. No off road hybrid consideration. How skinny of a tire can use on the stock rims.

I'm not looking for brand or model reccomendations........just size.

Thanks,
Greg

You might get by with 28s but with the wide rims on your bike 32s would be a better choice. Anything smaller than 28s would be a not good choice. That will vary a bit from brand to brand but I would put 28s as the smallest but would recommend 35s. If you want smaller than 32s buy a road bike or a new set of road bike wheels to go with the tires. Roger

Going narrower won't necessarily mean you will get better roll resistance, high end tires like Schwalbe Dureme's can be very light and fast even in a 700 x 35C, not cheap, but if your still going to need to buy a good tire regardless of size if you want lower weight & roll resistance https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_ti...arathon_dureme

There is a chart down towards the bottom of this page that shows acceptable tire sizes for various rim widths: https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

sheldonbrown.com is always a great place to check for component specs and compatibility. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Thanks, I should have known to look in the Sheldon Brown links..... As usuall, I've learned a lot through the answers. I looked on the rim and found 622-19, in REAL LITTLE print. The Sheldon graph shows that 28 is indeed the most narrow tire to run. I guess I need to look for some new wheels while I still have life in my wider tires.

I did mention "resistence" but as I guess things go hand in hand, I think weight reduction is the main goal.

Thanks.

I agree with jimc's comments. 28mm tires are a lot smaller than 35mm and will require running higher pressures so your comfort level will go down considerably. Rather than drop a good chunk of change on new wheels plus tires why not put some good 28mm slicks on the ones you have now and see how you like them?

Also as rhenning suggested, if you want a race bike just get one. The N+1 concept has merit.

Good 700x28s are plenty fast and comfortable. There's no point in going narrower on a hybrid bike.

Slicks would be faster and most likely lighter, but the benefits of going narrower are very limited. Measure the inside width of your rim and use one of the charts others linked to find the best width for the rim. Then use the information here to find the optimal pressure for those tires and your weight.

Great........I'll start looking at 28 & 32 slicks, weight reduction from a skinny tire is what I think I am after, and put the bucks for wheels into the penny jar for a road bike.

I don't want a "race bike", good thing because I can't just "get one".

All I want to do is make the hybrid easier on my old legs with these West Georgia hills until I can get what I should have in the first place.

Thanks, to all........I think I'm on my way.

My Hybrid has 21MM wide rims.
I'm running 26MM tires, but I wouldn't go narrower.
When I wear out the rear, I'll probably go to a 28MM and stick with 26MM on the front.

My previous tires were 35MM Specialized 105 PSI tires and the rolling resistance was horrible in addition to the heavy weight.
Smartest move I made with that bike was skinny tires!

"All I want to do is make the hybrid easier on my old legs"

If you haven't already done so you might consider putting toe clips and straps or even clipless pedals on the bike to take advantage of ALL of your leg muscles. This could potentially greatly increase your pedaling efficiency.

You won't notice much difference. 28 vs 37 tyres will give you about 10-20 seconds faster time per kilometre up hill I think, but you will not FEEL like you're going any easier, or faster. If you get tired, get lower gears (if your knees hurt from too low cadence-high muscle effort), or a lot lighter race bike (if you don't have a lot of stuff to carry and aren't fat ).

Clipless pedals might also help. Shimano MTB SPD stlyle, with appropriate shoes.

I'll throw my two cents in here and although you said you didn't want specific recommendation, I'm going to make one.

I would be more concerned about the quality of the tire and it's construction rather than width. If you put really skinny tires on a hybrid they often end up looking funny due to their large amounts of clearance. I'm running Vittoria Randonneur Hypers in 32 mm and they are fantastic. Their sidewalls are 120 TPI (threads per inch) and they are really light. On my velocity dyad rims they actually measure 34mm in width and are very fast, very comfortable and corner really well. On top of that, they are pretty affordable (as bike tires go) at something like $35 each. Vittoria did change the name this year but it's the top of the line Randonneur tire on their website.

Tire has to be wider than the rim.. measure your rim width.


weight and construction are a big factor.. even in same size..

Examples:
Heavier: Trek/Bontrager Hardcase is a sturdy tire ..
slick 'tread' so somewhat low rolling resistance ..

RBW Panasonic Jack Brown 33,3 wide tires are very light and supple ,
folding bead,
the opposite from sturdy, but roll great as they weigh much less..

the size , can be same, but the weight of a tire, say , one
with just barely any puncture resistance ..


will be a very different feel than one that is Belt and Braces
highly Puncture resistant.

Actually, I said I wasn't looking for them......they are ALWAYS welcome!!! A "which tire" thread here is like a "which strings" thread on the Mandolin Cafe.

The Vittoria Hypers are $42 and up, according to a Google search, and that is from Amazon. If I got good tires they would not hurt the resale value at all. If I change wheels and get a lot of money in this bike I fear that I would be adding expense that while it might help my cause the money is best put saving towards even an entry level road bike.

I think I will just get a pair of lighter tires in the hybrid size range and start searching CL and eBarf for a lightly used bike. Do they get cheaper right after Christmas and before spring**********

Thanks to all for the advice.

Go with 28's, you will like the difference in the ride.

I did EXACTLY the same thing a while back when I bought a hybrid and decided I wanted more speed (and just wanted to buy something else for the bike)...so I wrote to the rim manufacturer to check the internal rim width (google gave me nothing)...

Then I followed the chart that adamhenry pointed you towards (except I used the one on the Schwalbe site - same chart though).

I found the difference in my 35mm racing raplphs to the 28mm marathons to be night and day.

So I agree with most comments above...no need to go smaller than 28s on your hybrid. In fact, I even run 25s on my road bike.

You'll be very happy with a nice 28mm tyre.