Going from 23mm to 25mm or 28mm tires. Help me decide.
 

I'm making some changes to my TCR Advanced road bike to make it a little more comfortable to ride. I weigh 244 lbs and I'm just a hair under 6 ft tall. I already switched from an Arione VS to an Aliante VS and plan on switching the current 23mm tires to Continental Gatorskins in either 25 or 28 mm. Which one do I select? My occasional riding buddy says that 28mm will be too slow and overly soft. Another rider says that 25mm is the perfect balance.

What's your thoughts?

28's are "faster" and would match your weight better. If it fits your frame/fork.

Either one is reasonable. If you ride on crappy roads and chipseal etc get 28. If generally smooth asphalt get 25.

The roads here are generally crap! From the looks of the frame and fork, the 28s should fit. Do you guys have any recommendations other than the Gatorskins? From the reviews and comments on this forum, it seems to be an excellent all-around tire.

How wide are your rims. Do you mainly ride on dry roads?

The rims are Mavic Aksiums. I believe that the rim width is 24mm. Does that sound about right?

I don't like anything smaller than 28mm on the rear, and I'm only 185#.

I've been running 28mm Gatorskins on my most-used bike for years.
They are fine...as long as the roads are dry.

A relatively new tire that I would like to try is the Schwalbe One: Schwalbe ONE HS 448 | Schwalbe North America
The 28mm has an MSRP of $79, but you can find them for less that half of that on the UK online stores.
I have 32mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes on my foul-weather bike, and the traction in wet/snow is amazing.

Gators only if you get a lot of flats. They are a harsh riding tire that masks the ride of a nice bike.

Yes, I mostly ride on dry roads. Occasionally, I may get caught out in the rain, but for the majority of the time, it's dry roads for me. My Aksiums currently have Michelin Lithion tires on them and so far, I've only experienced 1 flat. I typically pump up front and back tires to 110-115 psi.

Lots of tires to choose from. www.biketiresdirect.com

I ride a lot of chipseal and won't hesitate to take the gravel road if the mood strikes me. I like Vittoria's Rubino and Open Pave CG III, Contintental Grand Sport Race and Michelin Pro4 Endurance (formerly Krylion). My Bontrager R3 rear tire had a split in the tread that caused a bulge as the carcass weakened so I can't recommend them. I got a set of their R2 tires real cheap so we'll see how they do. So far, so good but it's only been 250 miles. 700 x 23 or 25; not much difference to me; if any. 700 x 28 on my singlespeed are great for dirt and gravel roads, even light trails.


I would try lowering your pressure a bit. Drop it to 100psi and see how that feels.

What would you recommend in place of the Gatorskins?

I put on 28 Clements and really like them compaired to the 25s. When the 25s wear out. Both bikes will have Clements. I also weigh 30 pounds more than you.

My current bike comes with 25s and wouldn't even take 28s in the rear. The tires that came with the bike are 130 psi clinchers and you need more not less psi to handle more weight so you'd pump'm up the spec allowable on the sidewall. I looked at a pic of your bike on the web and it looked like it had a straight seatpost. If so, a setback seatpost probably will soak up more road jiggers and bumps than messing with tire pressure. And, from the write-up the Giant has an ingenious design that allows for 20 mm of setback instead of 5 depending on how it's set up.

GP4000S IIs are a great replacement. I used to run Gatorskin exclusively, but switched to GP4KSII's last year and have noticed no difference in puncture resistance and get a better ride.

I agree with the GP4000s or Michelin Pro 4 Comps (what I ride). I found gatorskins hard riding. The Pro 4s have been very good resisting flats. As for size, when I was 220 lbs I rode 23C tires, no problem. Now down to 179, I'm still on 23C. If you want to go larger than 23, I wouldn't go larger than 25C. A number of folks on this forum went from 23 to 25 and did not detect a difference in maintaining their average speed. I had some 28s years ago and went to 25s and saw a noticeable difference. I wouldn't go with 28s.

Love my 28s and I'm sub 180lbs.

Our tandem team weight is 282. We very much like Michelin PRO4 Endurance 25mm. Mounted on 23mm rims, they measure 27.2mm. They're fast and reasonably flat resistant. In winter when the roads are more debris-strewn, we run Conti 4Seasons in 28mm. Our favorite summer tire is Conti 4000s II in 28mm, which measure almost 32mm on our 23mm rims. The 4000s II in 25mm also measure a bit over and would be a good choice for a fast, reasonably flat resistant tire.

Any of those are fine, in my experience. However, I've been rolling tires from these folks this past year and I'm pleased with them (I go fatter than 28). They cost a bit more, but they also last better and roll nicely. https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/70...-chinook-pass/

Try the 1st or 2nd calculator at the below link.. If results significantly exceed the max PSI that your tire is rated for, you should consider sizing to a larger tire.
Bicycle tire pressure calculator

At your weight, I would be on 28s, but opinions vary. For 25s I like Conti GP GT Continental Grand Prix GT Folding Tyre, TYRES ROAD/TRI/TRACK FOLDING For 28s, the Panaracer Gravelking. Despite the name, it is a very smooth riding tire and seems pretty durable.

in my opinion, always get the fattest tires you can fit in the frame. i often find that im faster with more volume and my body is happer in the process

plus you can get more rad off the beaten path

im only 160# and i wouldnt run anything smaller than a 28 at this point, to me thats like a race tire

i also swear by the 15% drop method, and since adopting it years ago its made my ride quality a lot better

I read some pretty positive comments on Vittoria Randonneur tires in the long distance forum. They're available in 28mm but I imagine you may need a bike frame that takes 47-57mm brakes because I read those Randonneur tires apparently are a bit thick.

The rolling resistence of some manufacturers 28 tires like Conti are less than 25 but not all. However the added aero drag of 28 more than offsets that. That's why the majority of pros run 23s and 25s with 25 common especially with the wider rims.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=474261 These tires handle well and roll fast. 28mm. I added orange sealin the tubes removable presta valve.
got them on sale for $30 each at western. They are $34 now I believe

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm going to go with 28mm tires taking into account my weight. I'll probably go with the GP4000S IIs. Ribble can ship them to me for a total of $103 Canadian. That works out to less than $52 per tire. Seems to be a good deal!