lifeguardsteve

OK, please excuse my ignorance- but I have just come across this concept of "Touring" (I am an endurance based athlete who has done Ultra Distance Ironman races for the past decade) and I am truly excited about the idea of long distance (cross country) self supported bike touring.

I am in the process of putting together my dream bike for touring- and have noticed that the 38mm tire on a friends borrowed hybrid are FAR more comfortable to ride on the road with than my 23mm race tires ever were.

My question is- Is there such a thing as too wide? I know my bike will be very heavily loaded in it's final configuration- and I am looking for comfort over speed in my touring tire- so is there a point (width wise) where wider becomes detrimental, comfort wise? And are there other important factors weighing against going real wide? And lastly, what is YOUR opinion on the perfect tire width for long distance touring?

Thanks,
Steve

kayakdiver

28-32mm tires are pretty common for touring. Some prefer even wider. The search function is your friend.

That being said. Most times it's the frame that is the limiting factor.

northboundtrain

You won't sacrifice comfort by going wider, unless of course you're bivouacked in a ditch because you didn't make it to the campground.

It's a trade off between comfort and speed and durability/flat resistance. Comfort is obviously subjective and depends a lot on how much weight you're carrying and what kind of roads you'll be on. 28mm is generally considered the minimum for comfortable touring and enough volume to avoid pinch flats, but if you were going ultralight (less than 20-25 lb load) then you might be fine with 25mm.

I would suggest having three folding tires to start a long tour. If one starts to wear thin, you can replace it with the spare, but keep it for an emergency. In small town bike shops, the tire selection is limited which is why it's good to have a spare. However, folding tires limits your options in terms of size and price.

Also, it's a good idea to leave enough clearance with the frame to allow for a wheel to go a bit out of true. So your frame may dictate how big you can go.

late

Schwalbe tires run small. The Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 40c is actually about 35c. Panaracer tires run about 1c small. Conti tires tend to run small, but I haven't seen their new line. So when you decide on the size you want, it's something to keep in mind.
Don't be afraid of getting a larger tire, you'll be on the bike day after day and some of those days will be really long. A little extra cush goes a long way.

3 Marathon Supremes should get you across the country nicely. You can find a
nice description of them on the Rivendell website.

BengeBoy 

- Bigger tires get heavier. Though the weight differences aren't huge given everything else you are carrying, there is no reason to just keep piling on bigger and bigger tires once you've gotten to a certain point.

- Clearance, especially if you want to leave yourself room for fenders. Even if you don't want to use fenders on tour, if you use the bike for commuting or winter riding you might want to make sure you have room to mount fenders.

One nice thing about the Surly Long Haul Trucker (a bike frequently mentioned here) is that it has plenty of room for big tires + fenders. Some bikes sold as touring bikes have a hard time fitting even 28c's with fenders mounted.

IMHO a touring bike ought to be able to handle 32c's with fenders mounted. 32c is a good place to start if you are going to be on normal-quality paved roads. You can get by on smaller tires; some people prefer bigger - but 32c would be a good place to start.

lifeguardsteve

Here is what I am leaning towards so far. My friends hybrid is (about) a ten year old Trek 700 with 38mm tires. I love the bike and I love the ride of the 700, which is why I am leaning towards getting the Trek 7500 (which from what I can gather is the 2009 version of my friends bike). As for tires, the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme's are probably at the top of my list from what I have learned so far. Since I really like the ride of the 38's on the Trek 700, and knowing how I will most likely heavily burden the 7500 with plenty of unnecessary goodies (at least at the start, when I don't know any better), and since "late" tells me the Supreme 40's run small (more like 35's) I am thinking of giving those a try. I do plan on putting fenders on- and have another question for those "in the know". I read somewhere on the Peter White Cycles web site the "29er's" were just another term for 700's. If that is so, I was wondering if the Cascadia 29er fenders (they are super wide- 65mm) would fit on the trek 7500? The Cascadia Hybrid fenders are 45mm wide, and will take up to a 35mm wide tire- so the Schwalbe 40mm (which is said to run more like a 35) may be too tight a fit for the Hybrid fenders. Any thoughts?

S

Cyclebum

Schwalbe Marathon XR or Plus, 32-35, is pretty much the standard against which other tires are judged for touring on 700 cc rims. I run on XR's and have no complaints. Larger tires with some tread seem to offer more puncture resistance and smooth out the bumps a bit.

This link is to an interesting stat page, including tires, by a fellow on tour for 3 years now.

jbpence

marathon XR here too. 35's for me here in china. so far. lots of gnarly cobblestone...

late

I may be wrong. I was basing what I said on what Rivendell said and they have changed their description. I don't think the new description is accurate, so the old one may not be accurate either.

Not a problem... the Schwalbes I have seen run a couple centimeters small.
Call Schwalbe North America and they can tell you the actual size.
Tollfree 1-888-700-5860

lifeguardsteve

Thanks again for the info. I have almost a year to build up the bike and test things out (taking shorter tours here through Florida) as I save enough vacation time to do a cross country tour- hopefully next Spring!

late

Another option is Continental. They offer 37c touring tires, and in the past the actual size was a couple centimeters smaller, resulting in the size you want. They even have a tire with Vectran like the Supreme.
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/pcocl...contact/pp.htm

NormanF

Yep. The new generation of tires has made Mr Tuffy tire liners all but obsolete. You can now have flat protection AND low rolling resistance.