52telecaster

I run 35s, 38s and 42s. One bike has 32s and I like it but pretty much I go as big as will fit.

kunsunoke 

For tubulars - 25mm - 28mm carcass for road; 35mm for cyclocross/gravel
For tubeless - 28mm carcass and up

Two of my current rides have 25mm clinchers, and the ride is rather firm. Too firm for my liking, actually. The tires actually deaden the feel of the bikes they're on. I could put Veloflex tires and latex tubes on those bikes, but it almost makes more sense to pick up TLR-ready tires and run ghetto-tubeless.

beicster 

Thanks for the responses so far. i appreciate the lack of controversy. I also wonder about tire preference based on your weight. At my largest, I was 251. I am now down to about 225 and plan on continuing down to at least 190. My guess is that skinnier tires will be more comfortable when I get to 190. Anyone else have experience with losing weight and how comfortable various size tires are?

fender1

I am 190 and run 35mm Rene Herse Extra Light casing tires on Pacenti (28 hole rims) and HSon (32 hole rims) at 55psi rear on 50psi front. I have very few flats (knock in wood!) and very few issues with e wheels in general. The rims are the same width, the bakes are the same type and interchanging wheels sets if need be , is a non issue. As stated above, I only have two bikes so YMMV>

USAZorro

I used to have no issues with narrower tires up until I finished college and went into the Navy - just a few days after my beloved Super Course with 25mm 700c tires was stolen. I used to push the tallest gear more often than not. I was also no more than a buck twenty five and n insanely good shape for cycling and running. The person riding bikes then is a very different person than who I am now. I have ridden on bikes where I have felt beaten up after the ride is done, and prefer to avoid that. I don't recall that sensation on anything wider than 25s, apart from one sloppy, rutted day on a cheap MTB on the C&O.

Yes, much depends on the bike and the ride. Some frames have limited clearance and 25s are the largest I'd attempt. However, when clearance is not an option, I tend to go large. I won't go smaller than 28s on those, but 32s or 35s are what I look for. This said, I have bikes with 42s and 54s, and those are sweet also. As long I don't feel like there's excess rolling resistance, and I'm not perpetually dealing with flats, I'm pretty easy.

Andy_K 

The suppleness is huge! I think this is why it took the wide tire thing so long to catch on. Before Compass/Rene Herse, it was really hard to find supple tires wider than 28, and so a lot of people who were riding around on 700x25 racing tires were scratching their heads wonder why anyone would consider a 700x35, which were mostly touring tires, usually stiff and heavy.

The other part of you comment also mirrors my experience -- but literally mirrors in that I provide the flip side of it. I ride with @gugie a lot, and often we plan a time to ride but not a route. He probably hates that I usually show up with 700x28's so often because it makes me not want to ride gravel roads. I tend to follow the "widest tire that fits" rule but for most of my bikes that means 700x28.

gugie 

Well, we do tend to figure out the rehydration spot and build the ride around that. Gotta have priorities...

bear_a_bug 

I think it's valid to take your own enjoyment into consideration when it comes to "What's best". I have wide tire bikes, and skinnier tire bikes, and while I "know" that the skinny tires are not as fast as the wider ones (based on ride metric monitoring), they certainly FEEL fast - and that's a fun feeling.

I don't think everyone on this subforum subscribes only to riding and using equipment which provides optimum performance with their (mostly) vintage steel bikes* . For me, optimizing enjoyment is a far more worthy pursuit for this hobby.


*For optimum performance and those sort of concerns, please subscribe to Jan Heine's blog

masi61

79pmooney - asked if carbon fiber rims are stiffer.

I am asking not if they are stiff but are they more compliant ?

nick_a

It depends on the bike of course, but I've been riding a couple of modern steel frames with 700x42mm slicks over the last year or so, and it's been the combo of comfort and speed that I enjoy.

mstateglfr 

I dont have one preferred tire size for all my bikes. That sounds really odd and arbitrary since the bikes have different capabilities and that is largely due to tire width.

Main road bike has 32mm wide tires on it. I could go wider, but no desire. That size seems like a really good mix of speed, comfort, reliability for me and how I ride.
Second road bike has 25mm tires because thats what fits.
Third road bike has 27mm wide tires because thats what fits.
Gravel bike has 43mm wide tires on it. I could go wider, but no desire. That size seems like a really good mix of speed, comfort, reliability for me and how I ride.
Commute bike has 38mm wide tires on it. I could go wider, but I want to use the tires I have on it because they are fast and really have no purpose for me otherwise. Plus it has fenders so it isnt convenient to go much wider.
Single speed has 35mm wide tires on it. It has those tires because thats what I had on hand and I am not spending money on a bike that I want to want to use, but rarely use.


For a paved road bike, I really do enjoy the 32mm tires I have. They dont feel heavy or sluggish and I dont think about them when picking a line on crummy pavement.

masi61

I suspect that a modern set of 28mm tubeless tires compared with (say..) a 28mm set of Continental Gatorskin butyl tubed clinchers that the 28 tubeless (racing) tires are going to be wickedly superior in many domains of cycling performance such as grip, cornering, road feel, even superior flat prevention over the Gatorskins.

tiger1964 

I've become hooked on the performance of the Continental GP5000 tires, and I really like the look of the cream sidewall; and the max size that combination is offered in is 28mm. So I am running 25's and 28's on various bikes. If they offered 30mm in cream, I think I have more than one bike where I could stuff those in and would be willing to experiment. I ride 99.44% on pavement so, if I didn't that might change the answer. I am reading more and more about "fatter is faster" but some things I've seen sound like authors trying to convince themselves. I'm pretty sure I own nothing that would accept 35mm to 42mm.

Fredo76

I retired my 40-year-old Specialized Turbo Rs (that had 25mm on the label but measured 21mm on Mavic MA40 rims) on my old training wheels and put on 28s (Specialized Turbo Cotton w/ latex tubes + sealant). My new 7-speed 'training' wheels got Veloflex 28s, also with latex tubes and sealant (I'm in goathead country).

I also put new 25mm Continental Giro sew-ups on my old racing wheels, and acquired two more tubular wheel pairs, and put 30mm front and 28mm rear Victoria Corsa Control sew-ups on them. Those are truly plush, and smart-looking besides. Sew, I'm set now!

My old racing wheels are actually lighter than the 50mm deep carbon wheels that I bought and have not yet ridden, fwiw.

My sole experience with tubeless has been a total flop - I cant even get the 48mm Rene Herse tires to seat. I'm told that a strap around the circumference might help for seating, but I can't help thinking that's a ridiculous necessity, especially for a person who has an air compressor already. Maybe I'll give it a try anyway, before I buy tubes for them, which is the predicted outcome.

Andy_K 

I think they're laterally stiff and vertically compliant. At least that's what the marketing material says.

Andy_K 

I've got a set of 700x25 GP50000 "Tour de France Special Edition" tires on my Bianchi, and they're fantastic.



While I appreciate @bear_a_bug's comments about how many of us here care more about how a tire feels than its actual performance, I know some of us also care a great deal about how a tire looks. It's better to look good than to feel good. Do you know what I'm saying to you? But these Contis look great and feel great.

tiger1964 

Agreed on all that; and they look good on your Celeste. I put a pair of those on one bike that I was not riding as much, realized 28mm would fit so I bought a set, and moved the 25mm TdF's to the bike I ride the most. Happy in all aspects.

But I saw a couple of holes and then read it's Continental's "wear indicators" so I guess they are getting thin. Thus (a) hoping to find a sub-$50 sale on more and I've been checking daily for a couple of weeks, and (b) hmm, do thinner tires wear faster? I weigh 190LB, running the tires at 120PSI.

masi61

AndyK - I agree that those tires look good but I also notice your rims are DT Swiss R460 which are tubeless compatible. You could set up your next set of tires on those same wheels with equally awesome looking tan sidewalled tubeless tires (same brand or Challenge or Veloflex) and possibly be even better still.

shoota 

I can assure you you're 100% wrong, but at the same time you're so, so right. Skinny tires feel and look so good, hard to argue that.

shoota 

Well, the local skinny fast bois ride 35s so I thought I'd try it too. I mean why not, they're lighter and not that much smaller than the 38s I normally run. Couldn't do it. It was actually shocking how much harsher 35s were on gravel than just 38s. Now I'm on 42s.

shoota 

Hang in there, most tubeless setups work just fine. I remember a few years back my buddy took his wheels to the shop to have the tires setup, They couldn't get them on. I brought them home, and with a standard Bontrager Air Chamber type floor pump, got them to seat first try. Seating tubeless is all about the initial airflow hit, not the sustained force of the airflow. This is why air compressors tend to fail.

Chuck M 

For my vintage bikes, I prefer a skinny tire. Mostly because when I was a kid, much of what I read was that a skinnier tire rolled easier. I enjoy my vintage bike boom bikes because I like to remember the miles I rode all summer long on my bike when I was in high school and so I equip them as I would have back in the day. The look of the skinnier tires just makes me happy. As most of my miles are not on the older bikes, I don't spend a great deal of money on the best tire or the best riding. Although I do feel like my Pasela 27 x 1.125 tires I have on one bike ride pretty well for what they cost.

The skinniest tire I currently have are 23s on an '84 Raleigh because 23s are what it was born with. And come to think of it, they don't ride too bad either and I think they were like $45 for a pair.




I did put 25s on my one modern bike because the GP5000 tan walls only came in that size and I wanted the retro look that they gave my newest bike. When they need replaced I will probably go back to 32s as this is the bike my longer rides are on and my old body deserves some break now and then.

Andy_K 

If you can see the dimples that means you've got plenty of life left in the tire. The way they work is that when the rest of the tread is worn away you can't see the dimples anymore. It's kind of an odd design for a feature that you typically don't notice until you've had the tire for a while, but that's how it is.

Andy_K 

I don't do tubeless, in part, because I have too many bikes. I rotate through them pretty regularly, so I'd probably only get a couple of rides in before it was time to refresh the sealant. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I'm just generally happy with tubes.

bear_a_bug 

Haha, totally! You think the skinny jeans I wore throughout my 20's were that comfortable? It's all about lookin' good, feelin' great - in that order.