Originally Posted by
OldsCOOL
On paper all looks good for your side of things. Yet, I can feel and see results on my personal TT courses in every little bit 5Lbs and up. It all adds up when you are doing intervals and steep hills where every fraction of mph counts. With wider tires you have to factor in a run-of-the-mill bigger, heavier tube. But then, I am one of those that figures for every 3 or 4 100gr reductions I have lost a pound on the bike (and the engine is trimmed, no obesity).
It all comes down to cost, 23mm tires are higher performance, how much higher is debatable. The cost of that higher performance is that they don't ride as comfortably or as smoothly, as wider tires. So it really is up to the individual rider, which they prefer. If I could fit 38's on the Raleigh, I would probably run those, as is, a 28 is about as wide as the rear will go, so I need to stick to those. Funny because the tires on it, with the old 27" wheels were 32mm, and the rim is actually smaller, so I need to figure out why that is, because I would prefer running 32mm tires on it. It's one of the things with the modern frames, they can be built to accommodate a wide tire, without a huge weight gain by the frame.